Key takeaways:
- Car remapping can improve your vehicle’s performance, enhancing engine power and increasing fuel efficiency, for example.
- Car remapping should only be carried out by professionals, and it can be costly.
- If you remap your car, you could end up facing higher insurance premiums.
What is car remapping?
One way of improving your car’s performance on the road is through a process known as remapping.
This is a technical procedure that effectively reprogrammes your vehicle’s internal computer in order to increase engine power or deliver better fuel efficiency, for example.
But as well as the expense involved, remapping – also known as car chipping – can come with certain disadvantages and may also lead to higher car insurance premiums.
How does car remapping work?
Remapping involves reprogramming a car’s engine control unit (ECU). An ECU controls the car’s on-board computer.
The way it is programmed dictates how its engine performs and how it uses fuel, for example. A remap can involve:
- Just updating the ECU’s software.
- Updating the software and making certain adjustments to the vehicle’s engine, for example modifying the exhaust or air intake.
- More extensive hardware changes alongside the software update.
What are the potential benefits of remapping?
Remapping can change or improve a variety of aspects of your car’s performance. For example, by adjusting the fuel-to-air mix in your car’s engine, you can increase turbo pressure and deliver a faster engine response when you accelerate.
Some forms of remapping can alter variables like the engine’s ignition timing and fuel injection to deliver more miles per gallon.
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Is remapping safe?
Provided it’s done by a professional tuner, remapping should be safe. You should also be able to revert your vehicle to the factory settings and undo the remap if the results are not to your liking.
If you’re looking for a company to carry out a remap, seek recommendations from people you know or look for positive reviews online. Internet motoring forums can also be a good source of information about other people’s experience of remapping vehicles similar to yours.
What are the disadvantages of remapping?
If not carried out properly, a remap can increase the stress on certain components of your engine and can shorten their useful life. An experienced remap provider should be able to help you avoid problems like these.
Remapping and other modifications involved in the remap process can affect your insurance premiums, and you should inform your insurer about any remap (see below).
How much does remapping cost?
The price you’ll pay to remap your car’s ECU will depend on how complex the process is. Expect to pay a few hundred pounds for a software-only remap, rising to £1,000 or more for remaps than involve hardware changes to your engine as well as proper testing.
To get the best price, get quotes from more than one provider before you go ahead with the process. To work out if remapping is worth it, you should compare the costs and the likely impact on insurance premiums with the expected performance benefits.
Does remapping affect insurance costs?
In many cases, yes. If you make any type of modification to your car, you should tell your insurer as soon as you can – and ideally in advance. If a modification makes your vehicle more valuable, it will probably also lead to higher premiums.
Equally, if you boost your car’s performance, your insurer may think you stand a greater risk of being involved in an accident. Again, this could lead to higher premiums.
As with any modification, if you’re planning a remap, speak to your insurer in advance to see what impact a modification can have on your insurance costs. You may need to pay an additional amount to cover the rest of the current year’s policy.
Remember, if you fail to tell your insurer about a modification and then try to make a claim, it could be rejected and your policy deemed invalid.
And if you’re looking for a new car insurance policy on a remapped vehicle, you should declare the remap on the application process.
Remapping can deliver significant performance benefits at a relatively low cost. But if you’re considering a remap, make sure you understand the possible downsides as well as the likely impact on the cost of car insurance.
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