Affiliate disclosure
Quick answer
CheckEngineCalc earns commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this site, at no extra cost to you. No brand pays for a tier position, a top pick or inclusion, and the ordering logic is capability first in every case.
The disclosure
CheckEngineCalc is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you follow one and buy something, this site receives a commission. The price you pay is exactly the same either way.
What that does not change
It does not change which tool sits in which tier. Tiers here describe capability: whether a tool reads and clears codes, streams live data, commands components, or carries manufacturer-level coverage. A tool cannot be promoted into a capability it does not have, and no commission rate would make that possible.
It also does not change the advice to buy less. Every kit page carries a "what you can skip" section, every roundup says who should not buy the top tier, and the scanner selector routinely returns a cheaper tier than the reader expected. A site optimising purely for commission would do none of those things.
No paid placement
No brand has paid for inclusion, for a tier position or for a top pick on this site, and none can. There are no sponsored posts and no paid reviews.
Where the products come from
Every product shown is drawn from a catalog of verified live listings, and the price, image, brand and title all come from real responses rather than being typed in by hand. A listing that does not return an image or a price is rejected rather than patched, which is why you will never see a placeholder product or an invented figure here. Prices change constantly and every card says so.
Common questions
Does an affiliate link cost me more?
No. The price is identical whether you arrive through a link here or by typing the product name into a retailer directly. The commission is paid by the retailer out of its own margin, which is why affiliate revenue is compatible with recommending the cheaper tool when the cheaper tool is the right one.
Does commission influence which products you recommend?
It does not influence the ordering. Tools are grouped by the capability they actually have, and within a tier the value pick is chosen by price position rather than by commission rate. The site also routinely recommends the cheapest option in a category and tells readers to skip purchases, neither of which would make sense if commission drove the choices.
Why does the disclosure appear only in the footer?
Because once is what the rules require and once is what is useful. A disclosure repeated on every product card, in every total and under every byline stops being read, and the most valuable space on a page is better spent on the information the reader came for.