It depends on how much hassle it is to get to a dealer/indy, how good they are and what relationship you have with them.

I'd say it is fairly unusual not to be charged for diagnostic work on a car at a franchised dealer.

Cam-Tech-Craig wrote:

Adam, from a personal point of view. I carry an IID tool in all of my personal cars, this allows me to reset any minor glitches when away from my workshop, say on holiday... Or when I'm hundreds of miles away from home/work and one of the cars will throw a fit (always at the most inconvenient of times) and it saves me and my passengers (usually including my small children) both huge amounts of stress & time...

My family has to put up with me driving 7-10yr old JLR products that (and lets be honest here) do sometimes lock out suspension access or throw up the EML/go into limp home mode at times! The IID tool allows me to reset the issue (more often than not they are battery/sticky sensor related issues) and continue on with our holiday/journey

As far as I'm concerned, these devices are a MUST when we drive these deeply complex cars...

I would quite like one for many of the reasons already stated, resetting on long trips, checking to see if a code re appears, I like pre emptive maintenance, get it before it goes, plus changes to ccf. Still can't decide which one though as they aren't cheap so want to get the best one for my needs.  09 TDV8 Westminster, Mariana Black, Rear seat entertainment, hatch bag and 2 slobbery mutts

I know its not exactly the question posed, but also handy to have if you have one and you know someone is looking to buy a FFRR, as you can check faults stored prior to purchase.

Obviously if multi VIN and the seller lets you

. 2011 Range Rover Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8

Previous cars :
2003 Range Rover Vogue TD6
1999 Discovery Td5 ES
1995 BMW M5 3.8 6 speed
1992 Range Rover 3.9 Efi Vogue
1992 BMW M5 3.8
1988 BMW 735i SE
1989 Ford Sierra XR4x4 2.9i
1981 Ford Fiesta Supersport

I have one. Still haven't plugged it in yet - nowt's gone wrong since I bought it!

There you go Adam - it prevents errors!

This is all really interesting! I would dearly love the doors to auto-lock and the worrier in me is paying attention to the fault clearing stuff. Presumably, for the avoidance of doubt (and/or my ability to understand), any OBD tool will read the faults but which do all this fancy programming? Is it just the much quoted GAP?

Hi
Just to add the pluses of having IId tool, updated phone module, reset service light etc., so well on the way to paying for it self. Appreciate that if you have a newer car, the advantages may not be so great.
I haven't seen auto fold on the mirrors when you lock the car, perhaps you could give me a pointer where it is?  SC 4.2, 2012 face lifted, 25K miles, 1 previous owner
Triumph TR6 1973
Triumph Bonneville 1970
Previous:
2002 TD6
Merc SL500
Escort RS Cosworth
RR 3.9 Vogue
4.2 E type Jag replica (challenger)
Escort RS2000 (many)
Escort RS 1600 Turbo

Well since the dealers here in France are absolutely crap, they can't even write the word "service" I am seriously thinking of buying one. Being a non-tech It will probably take me a lot of time, but the satisfaction of telling these idiots that call themselfes specialised dealers, what might be wrong with the car, so they don't need days to discover the problem, will give me enough pleasure to get over that.
But... My cars do so well, knock on wood, that I will only use it to get me " lazy locking", auto locking and more of thoose toys installed.

As I have the IIDTool, All Comms, and Torque Pro on my Android Phone, I am clearly not an average owner. Does this mean I am an above average or below average owner ???

Fact is as my FFRR hasn't been near an LR dealership for over four years or so, and I do all my own work, all thanks to the diagnostics. Couldn't afford to run an older FFRR otherwise with all the parts etc. and thid helps to make the car a keeper. .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

Previous: L322 Range Rover TDV8 3.6 2008; L322 Range Rover TD6 3.0 2002; P38A Range Rover V8 1999

hum, i have to agree with the OP on this. I have toyed with the idea of getting a 'tool'. However, whilst not being technically incompetent, i feel that i may struggle to understand the implications of the more complicated faults. No offence to Cam-Tech but if my job was converting/servicing/modifying these beasts then i would carry more than one, knowing that i would be able to overcome/understand/clear faults and get home to fix them.
However, short of switching things on and off [which i believe should be more user available via MOST], i fail to see what i would use it for.
Maybe i have been fortunate, but when it breaks, feels bad, i am mostly at the mercy of the people who, if feel, are qualified to fix it.

Give me a spanner socket or screw driver any day. Don't think I could use one. It's bad enough using this tablet let alone diagnosing what's wrong with the car. Always been technophobic but I do have a go. Would be too frightened to use one as I havve trouble remembering where I've been, like when you've cured a problem on the computer if it happens again I can never remember where to go back to if it does it again.
Sorry if it doesn't make sense but we are all different and born with different skills, let's face it if we were all the same, life would be b####y boring

Adam, all I'd say is this. I have an IID and have used it once in anger. OK, we'll set aside the stuff like disabling TPMS and concentrate on one item, a breakdown.

Gearbox issue going away on holiday. Caravan on the back. Family all revved up ready for the hols. So one of the solenoids in the gearbox had gone weak and was sticking which caused the box to go into limp home mode and refused to come out. Hard reset on the car didn't clear it but the IID did.

So, staring down the barrell of a ruined holiday, complex recovery and far less choice over where to take it. What's the value of that? Thousands I reckon. Especially when you consider a full set of solenoids and fluid flush was 600 quid. A recon box (where they don't change the mechatronic unit) is 2 or 3 thousand.....you're a clever chap. I'd have paid for a recon box and still had the issue. The IID allowed me to carry on the trip using command shift and a gentle lift off at the 3-4 change where the problem was until I could get it back to my chosen place for repair.

Worth every penny Bud. Just think of it like insurance. Hope you never need it.

As another note if I asked santa (SWMBO)nicely, would you boys help me out with the techy jargon which to you might be everyday talk, as I have read in above posts ccf wtf hav'nt got a clue a lot of my misunderstanding is due to this. No offence to anyone on here I take my hat off to you but with an aging ffrr I will probably need one. In 6 yrs ownership of d2 it was only plugged in once when I binned the dreaded ace system.

CCF = car configuration files , with a good reader like a IID or Black box solutions you can't write these but you can switch things off and on like beep to confirm your alarm or global closing of windows . Before the tools came to the market this had to be done by the dealers at your cost . 2008 MY Supercharged
Rimini Red / Jet
four zone climate
remote park heater
and no ugly kid windows.
magnus satis quod turpis satis

thank you