For the people who run file services.

Tools and files

• Master or slave tool: which does a file service need?A master tool opens and edits files; a slave reads the car and sends the locked file to its master. What each means for your shop and your costs.3 min read
• What do the words of the file service business mean?Master, slave, read, stage, checksum, boot, BDM, SW and HW numbers and the rest: the words of the tuning file business, each in a sentence or two.3 min read
• What do the ECU file types mean?What the common ECU file extensions mean, which tool writes which, and which ones a file portal should accept. A plain reference for file services.2 min read
• OBD, bench, boot and BDM: what does each read mean?The four ways a car's file gets read, in plain words: what each one needs, what it gives you, and what a file service should ask the customer who sends it.3 min read
• What do an ECU's software and hardware numbers tell you?What the hardware number, the software number and the data set in an ECU file tell a tuner, and why they decide whether you have seen this car before.3 min read
• What is a slave file, and who can open it?A slave file is a read locked to one master. What it looks like when it reaches you, who can open it, and what a portal can and cannot do with it.3 min read
• Which tuning tool should your customers buy?Customers will ask you which tool to buy. How to answer honestly: what to ask them, what really decides it, and why your portal should not care.3 min read

File Match

• How does File Match work with locked slave files?How the portal matches locked reads from KESS3, AutoTuner and other tools, when a decrypt is needed, who can do it, and which reads always go to a person.3 min read
• How does File Match decide what to send by itself?The order File Match checks a new job in, what each kind of match does, why only the very same file goes out alone, and how to test it safely in Simulate.3 min read
• How many of your files are really repeats?Count your own repeat tuning files before you pay for automation: a simple way to find exact and near repeats in your folders, and what each number means.3 min read
• How do you bring old tuning files into your library?A step by step guide to batch upload: which files it takes, how it pairs originals with tuned files, how it reads the car and the work, and what to check first.3 min read
• How do you import WinOLS projects into a file library?What the portal reads from a WinOLS project file, how versions become tuned files, why some projects are refused, and what to tick by hand after the import.3 min read
• Why must every tuned file say what work it does?A tuned file with no work named is never sent by itself. How the portal reads work from file names, what happens to a file with none, and how to fix old files.3 min read
• What is File Match, and what does it do for a file service?File Match sends a repeat tuning file by itself when the read and the work are the same as a job you already finished, and hands everything else to a tuner.3 min read
• When does File Match hold a file back?Every reason File Match keeps a repeat file from going out by itself, what you see on the job when it does, and what to do about each one.3 min read

Starting a file service

• How do you choose a tuning file portal?The twelve questions that separate a file portal you will still use in three years from one you will leave, whichever you end up choosing.3 min read
• Should a workshop tune its own files or buy them?Writing your own files means more margin and more risk; buying them means less of both. How to decide, and what to check at the file service you buy from.3 min read
• How does a new file service find its first customers?Your first customers will not come from ads. Where they really come from, what to say to them, and how to make sure the first ones stay and tell others.3 min read
• What does it take to run an ECU file service?The tools, the skills, the systems and the habits a file service really needs, in the order you will need them, from people who run one.3 min read
• What is a white label file portal, and what should you check?White label should mean your customer never sees another company's name. What to check on screens, emails, invoices and downloads before you trust the claim.3 min read

Prices and payment

• How do you stop chasing payment for tuned files?Late payers cost a file service more than discounts ever do. How to get paid before the work, without offending good customers or losing the regulars.3 min read
• Credits or card: how should customers pay for files?Credit packs bring money in early and suit regulars; card per job suits everyone else. How to run both without confusing anyone, and what to watch out for.2 min read
• How should you price a tuning file?Per file, per stage, by vehicle or by credits: how file services set prices that customers understand and that still pay for the bad days.3 min read
• Flat fee or per file: how should a file portal charge you?The three ways file portals charge, and how each behaves when you are small, when you grow and in a slow month. How to work out which suits your shop.3 min read
• How does VAT work when you sell tuning files in Europe?Selling files to businesses and to people across borders: the usual VAT rules in plain words, what a portal can do for you, and when to ask your accountant.3 min read

Running the shop

• What should you ask a customer before tuning a file?The short list of questions that stops rework: the car, the tool, the read, the hardware and what they want, and how to ask without a phone call.2 min read
• How do you move a file service off WhatsApp?WhatsApp gets a file service started, then starts to cost it. How to move customers to a portal without losing any, and what to do about the ones who refuse.3 min read
• How do you move from another file portal safely?What to bring, what to check, and how to change portal without your customers noticing anything but a better one. A step-by-step plan for moving.2 min read
• How can a file service keep working at night?You cannot answer every file at night, but a portal can take the order, take the money, send repeat files and answer the easy questions while you sleep.3 min read
• Why should a file service keep every tuned file?Your past work is your most valuable asset. How a searchable file library makes tuners faster, keeps quality even, and helps answer questions years later.3 min read
• Who should see what in a file service?Owners, tuners, technicians and the office need different things. How to set up roles so that people see their work, and not every customer's money and files.2 min read
• How fast should a file service answer?What customers expect, what you can honestly promise, and how to run Express and Urgent jobs so that the work paid for speed is never the work that is late.2 min read

Dealers and growth

• How should a master tuner bill its dealers?Per file, credits, monthly statements or a mix: how a master charges a dealer network without spreadsheets or arguments, and who pays for what.3 min read
• How does a master tuner's dealer network work?What a dealer network is, how files move from a dealer's customer to the master and back, who owns what, and what to set up before you sign your first dealer.3 min read