Now celebrating its twentieth year in business, ECU Testing handles hundreds of ECU repairs a day from its facility in Derbyshire. But the story didn’t start with high tech test benches, purpose-built labs, or a multinational client base. It began in the mind of a teenager on a Derby council estate.
Growing up in a household where money was tight, Roger Bagg left school at 13 with one goal: to become an auto electrician. “Somebody told me, if you want to make money in cars, go into electrics,” he says. “In the mid-90s, most cars were mechanical, with carburettors and pointsbased ignition systems. But they were just starting to bring in ‘black boxes’, which took over the management of the engine. These were the first ECUs. Taking care of them was a bit of a dark art. A computer was now running the engine and no mechanic knew how to deal with it. If you could do it, you were some kind of a local genius.”
As cars started to evolve from purely mechanical systems to increasingly complex electronics, Roger saw an opportunity. Working in a garage by day, Roger enrolled in college to study Electronics and Microprocessing in the evening. Quickly, he moved from tuning engines, carburettors and old-fashioned mechanical engine systems to becoming an expert in ECUs. Word spread and the garage soon developed a reputation as a specialist in the Midlands.
As the garage became known for its diagnostics expertise, the technology was still relatively new. So much so, that there were only two companies that would supply or repair ECUs. They were overpriced, unreliable, and slow to be repaired – if they could be repaired at all.
Roger explains: “We were seeing more and more control units in cars: ABS, body control, handling, communication, gearboxes, infotainment. Demand was growing, but the two suppliers just couldn’t keep up. We would send a part off, it could often take two weeks to come back, and there was only a 50 per cent chance it would actually work when we got it back. The quality wasn’t there and the time frames weren’t ideal.”
Roger wanted to build a business that would do things better, with high quality, quick turnaround, no-nonsense pricing and honest customer service.
The turning point
Starting the business with no backing, no equipment and no premises, Roger made do. The first step was to remove a unit from his kitchen, leaving a piece of exposed worktop which would become his basic test bench (much to his wife’s delight!). With a rudimentary electronics rig, a microscope and a soldering iron, ECU Testing was born. After teaching himself to repair a few control units with common failures, Roger set up a website and started offering the service online.
Using early SEO techniques and a marketer’s mindset, Roger built a website packed with educational content. “Mechanics would search things like ‘ABS light on Audi A4’ – and I made sure ECU Testing showed up every time. It was an online business first and foremost, but I also built up a lot of partnerships with local garages, who came to me because I was fast and reliable. Before I knew it, I was repairing ECUs for 18 hours a day,” he says. Demand skyrocketed. Within a year, Roger quit his day job and started hiring.
From the outset, ECU Testing stood out for one thing: its unmatched ability to reverse-engineer the latest ECU faults, often years ahead of the competition. Even in the early days, Roger focused on creating a dedicated R&D team, a turning point that solidified ECU Testing’s reputation. He explains: “We don’t try to fix everything – we focus on what matters. We’re first to market with 70-80 per cent of new rebuilds.”
Today, the business operates from a state of- the-art, 30,000 square-foot facility in Derbyshire. The 80-strong team includes dedicated quality assurance and technical support teams, alongside an industry-leading R&D department. This team of technical experts designs and builds state-of-the-art remanufacturing equipment, enabling advanced investigations into faulty control modules. Custom-built hardware-in-the-loop testing rigs replicate real-world driving conditions – including load, heat, and vibration – to uncover hard-to-detect faults reported by customers.
Roger continues: “Every unit we rebuild is re-engineered to eliminate the fault and original manufacturing flaws. We have a 0.2 per cent defect rate. We’re confident in our processes and want our customers to be too, so every unit comes with an unlimited mileage lifetime warranty as standard.”
More than 700 phone calls come into ECU Testing each day. Most are from mechanics needing help. The advice is free. “Nine times out of ten, they’re calling for advice. The team is happy to walk people through diagnostic and troubleshooting steps. If they need to, they send the unit in.” The human first approach continues online, where ECU Testing offers detailed diagnostics guides and explainer videos based on real search trends. “We’ve always educated the market. And that builds trust.”
Sustainability by design
ECU Testing is committed to being a responsible business. Every ECU repaired avoids the need for manufacturing a new one, dramatically reducing CO2 emissions. Additionally, over 70 per cent of each unit is reused, resulting in minimal waste. The company has also recently invested in a vast solar farm, located on the roof of the building. In addition to powering the entire facility, the solar panels also feed the grid, further offsetting ECU Testing’s carbon footprint.
From a single worktop in a Derby kitchen to a business that handles repairs for thousands of vehicles, ECU Testing’s story is one of relentless focus on quality. Roger’s vision – born from frustration and fueled by curiosity – has grown into an industry-leading company. And as vehicles become ever more complex, ECU Testing remains committed to a simple promise: to stay at the forefront of the industry, keep drivers moving, support mechanics, and demystify technology – one control unit at a time.
