These terms are between you and VLD INVESTMENTS LTD, trading as DME Unlock (“we”, “us”) — an independent mobile vehicle-electronics service operating in Pennsylvania. VLD INVESTMENTS LTD is the party you are contracting with and the party that takes your payment. They apply when you book an appointment, when you pay us, and when we work on your vehicle — whether that work is a DME unlock, coding, or both.
You agree to them by ticking the box at checkout. We record which version you agreed to, and when. If we change these terms, the change applies to bookings made after the change — not retroactively to work already paid for.
2. What the service is
We do two different things. A DME unlock removes a factory restriction that prevents your engine control unit from accepting new software over the diagnostic port — a one-time procedure that enables flashing, and not a tune. Coding is separate: it changes how the vehicle behaves rather than how the engine runs, and involves no change to engine software at all. Section 3 deals with coding specifically.
An unlock by itself does not add power, change how your car drives, or modify your calibration.
Except for the S68 packages in section 4, we do not sell, supply or license tuning software. Platforms such as bootmod3, MHD and xHP are purchased by you, directly from them, under their own terms.
Where you have bought an “unlock + Tune Flash” service, you buy the tuning platform licence yourself, directly from the platform, before the appointment — for now it is not included in our price and we do not resell it. We load a map you already own through your own licensed platform. The map is not ours and we do not warrant it.
Except for S68 cars, which are covered by section 4, we perform the work at your location with the DME in the vehicle. We do not remove your DME and we do not take it away.
3. Coding
Coding changes the vehicle's configuration — lighting, chimes, warnings, displays and comfort features. Nothing is written to the engine control unit and no engine software is altered, so it is a lighter touch than an unlock and is reversible. We record what we change so it can be put back.
You choose what is changed. Where you ask us to disable or reduce a warning, chime, reminder or driver-assistance alert — a seatbelt reminder being the common example — you are asking for the removal of something the manufacturer fitted for safety reasons. You accept full responsibility for that decision and for the consequences of driving the vehicle in that state.
We will not disable a safety or emissions system where doing so would be unlawful, and we may decline any specific request without giving a reason.
Some coded features are not lawful to use on a public road in every jurisdiction — playing video on a screen visible to the driver while moving is the obvious one. Whether and how you use a feature after we enable it is your responsibility.
Coding is reversible. Ask and we will put any of it back, though a return visit is chargeable.
A dealer software update can silently revert coding, in whole or in part. That is normal, it is not a fault on our side, and redoing it is a fresh appointment at the usual rate.
Not every request is possible on every car. If something cannot be done we will tell you, and you will not be charged for it.
Coding sold as an addition to an unlock appointment is priced on the basis that we are already attending your vehicle for other work. It is not available as a standalone visit at that price.
4. S68 cars and off-site work
The S68 V8 runs on a newer control unit that cannot be unlocked in the vehicle. For these cars, and only these, both DMEs are removed from your car, unlocked off-site and reinstalled. Everything else in these terms applies to S68 work too; this section covers what is different.
Your car cannot be started or driven from the moment the DMEs are removed until they are reinstalled. Please arrange other transport for that period.
Standard turnaround is typically 5 to 10 days, priority 3 to 5 days and express 1 to 2 days. Both are estimates, not guarantees: carriers, weather, travel and third-party availability are outside our control, and we will tell you promptly if anything moves.
While the DMEs are out of your car they are in our care, and we handle them accordingly. If one is lost or damaged while in our care, our liability is as set out in section 8.
Before the DMEs are removed, the cancellation terms in section 9 apply as normal. Once they have been removed, the work cannot be cancelled for a refund, because its costs are committed at that point.
Where your package includes a tune, we supply a tuning licence for your vehicle and a calibration produced by a third-party tuner. It is licensed for your vehicle only. Sections 6, 7 and 8 apply to it in full.
A custom calibration involves logging and revisions after your car is back with you. The turnaround estimates above cover the unlock, not that process.
5. What you are confirming
By booking and paying, you confirm that:
You own the vehicle, or you have the owner's express permission to authorise this work.
The vehicle is not leased, financed or insured under an agreement that prohibits modification, or if it is, you accept sole responsibility for that.
You have told us about any existing fault, warning light, previous tune, previous flash attempt, accident damage, aftermarket wiring or prior work on the DME or engine electronics.
The vehicle has a healthy battery and charging system, and will be somewhere flat, dry and safe to work on at the agreed time.
Withholding a previous failed flash or an existing electrical fault is the single most common cause of a job going wrong. Tell us up front and it is usually not a problem. Tell us afterwards and it is your cost.
6. Warranty — read this one
Unlocking your DME, and any software you flash afterwards, may void your manufacturer, dealer, extended or third-party warranty in whole or in part. You accept that risk entirely. We are not responsible for any warranty being reduced, voided, denied or withdrawn.
BMW and other manufacturers can and do detect modified control units and flash history. Assume anything done to your DME is discoverable by a dealer.
We make no representation that any warranty, goodwill claim, service contract or recall remedy will remain available to you after this work.
If a dealer later refuses a claim, reverses goodwill, or charges you to restore factory software, that cost is yours.
Coding is a lighter touch — no engine software is altered and it is reversible — but it is still a change to the vehicle's configuration, it is visible to a dealer, and we make no promise about how any dealer will treat it.
We will not reimburse warranty repairs, denied claims, diagnostic charges, or any cost arising from a manufacturer's response to modified software.
7. Emissions and legal use
Modifying engine control software may not be legal for vehicles operated on public roads, and may breach federal and state emissions law. Software you flash after an unlock is your choice and your responsibility.
Any calibration you load is intended for off-road and competition use unless it is a legally certified product you have verified yourself.
You are solely responsible for the road-legality, emissions compliance and inspection status of your vehicle after this work.
We do not advise on, certify or guarantee compliance with any emissions or inspection requirement.
Coding does not affect emissions equipment, but some coded features are restricted on public roads. Section 3 covers that, and the responsibility for using them is yours.
We will not remove, disable or defeat emissions control equipment, and we do not supply software that does.
8. Risk, damage and limitation of liability
Work on vehicle electronics carries inherent risk. We take it seriously: we read and retain a backup of your original DME data before anything is written, we work from a regulated supply so voltage does not sag mid-write, and we verify the vehicle starts and communicates before we leave. None of that makes the risk zero.
To the fullest extent permitted by Pennsylvania law, we are not liable for damage to your vehicle, its control units, wiring, software or components; for a bricked, corrupted or unrecoverable DME; for towing, storage, rental, replacement transport, lost wages, lost time or missed events; or for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss of any kind.
We are not responsible for pre-existing faults, latent defects, prior damage, prior modification, or the consequences of work performed by anyone else.
We are not responsible for hardware that fails during or after any procedure, unlocking or coding, where the failure was not caused by our negligence.
A backup is taken as a precaution. We do not guarantee that any particular unit can be restored or recovered.
Where we are found liable despite the above, the total liability of VLD INVESTMENTS LTD for any claim is limited to the amount you actually paid us for the appointment in question.
Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud.
If something does go wrong, tell us immediately and stop driving the vehicle. Continuing to drive, or letting someone else attempt a repair or reflash before we have seen it, ends any responsibility we might otherwise have had.
9. Appointments, cancellation and access
Appointment times are estimates. Traffic, weather and the job in front of yours can move them, and we will tell you if that happens.
You need to give us a flat, dry, safe place to work with room to open the bonnet and doors, and reasonable access to the vehicle for the whole appointment.
Cancel or reschedule at least 24 hours ahead and we will refund in full or move you at no charge.
If we arrive and cannot work — nobody there, vehicle unavailable, no safe space, severe weather, or the vehicle is not as described — we may charge a call-out fee of up to $100 to cover the trip, and refund the balance.
If we determine on arrival that your vehicle is not supported, or that it is not safe to proceed, we will not perform the work and we will refund what you paid less any call-out fee.
10. Payment and refunds
Payments are processed by Stripe and taken by VLD INVESTMENTS LTD. We never see or store your full card number. Prices exclude sales tax, which is added at checkout and shown separately.
Prices shown are in US dollars and include travel within our core service area unless we have quoted otherwise in writing.
Tuning platform licences, replacement parts and any third-party software are not included and are paid by you directly to those providers — except where an S68 package includes a licence and calibration, as set out in section 4.
Once the unlock has been completed the service has been delivered and the fee is non-refundable, whether or not you go on to flash the vehicle. The same applies to a coding session once the agreed changes have been made.
If we cannot complete the unlock, or cannot make the coding changes you asked for, for a reason that is not your fault, we refund you in full.
Please raise any problem with us before filing a chargeback. A chargeback filed without contacting us first will be disputed with the evidence of work performed.
11. Recording and privacy
We may record appointments — video, and in some cases audio — for our own marketing and as a record of the work carried out. Where we publish footage we remove or obscure your number plate, VIN, address and anything else that identifies you or your vehicle.
You can tell us not to record, before or at any point during the appointment, and we will stop. There is no price difference either way.
If anyone else is present and does not want to be recorded, tell us and we will not record them.
We keep your contact details, vehicle details and job notes so we can support the work and handle repeat visits. We do not sell them.
Retained DME backups are kept so we can help you later. We do not share them with anyone else.
12. Independence
VLD INVESTMENTS LTD, trading as DME Unlock, is an independent service provider. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, authorised by or associated with BMW AG, BMW of North America, MINI, Toyota, Robert Bosch GmbH, or any tuning platform. All trade marks belong to their owners and are used only to describe the vehicles we work on.
13. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be brought in the state or federal courts serving Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, and you and we both consent to that jurisdiction.
If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in force and the unenforceable part is narrowed only as far as necessary.