the VCM has to be de-registered by the previous owner before you can register it and pay for updates in the US system. $500 per year EVERY YEAR including the years not updated before you had it.
OR
de registered in the US and registered as owned in europe at 125 euros per month per dealership regardless of however many VCM's you have.
OR
there was someone up t'north reflashing them and using the chinese software (ebay), but you can never update them with a later version of IDS or they timeout again.