Right to repair.

Discussion in 'Current Events' started by Polydectes, Jan 21, 2020.

  1. Polydectes

    Polydectes Well-Known Member

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    I stumbled onto this in my internet surfing and it was something I've never heard of. I'm a free Lance mechanic but I don't often work on ag equipment.

    I suppose I stumbled upon this with the German cars. Being freelance I can tell people I don't work on those. And the reason I don't work on them is because the price of repair parts are so horrendous pinches out any profit for me.

    So getting to right to repair. What apparently manufacturers of ag equipment are doing isn't playing needlessly complicated software to pinch out the DIY type farmer. So what you're left with is a repair a piece of equipment that could be the five figures and you have to wait for them to do it at their leisure.

    This has caused Farmers to start buying older equipment.

    I've noticed this is the case with iPhones various Apple tech. I had an iPod a few years ago that I paid a lot of money for and apple jerked me around with it so I've decided that would never buy an Apple product again. Seems it's gotten worse. I heard up to $1,200 to repair a two year old $2,000 computer. But if you go to someone who is not an official Apple repair then it's sometimes a couple hundred dollars.

    So what does this have to do with right to repair? Right to repair is an effort to force the manufacturers not to put proprietary gateway's on their product.

    I think doing this would be in the interest of everyone that has things that sometimes need repair. This seems to be in the same vein as trust busting.

    It seems to me to be uncharted territory, what do you think?

    https://www.thedrive.com/news/31761...nd-of-40-year-old-equipment-to-all-time-highs
     
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  2. Diablo

    Diablo Well-Known Member

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    Good idea.
     
  3. Polydectes

    Polydectes Well-Known Member

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    What buying old tractors or RTR legislation?
     
  4. StillBlue

    StillBlue Well-Known Member

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    I'm in.
    I always advise people to only buy Linux compatible peripheries so they have the option of leaving MicroSoft and owning their computers. They still work on Windows but the option to change is there.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2020
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  5. Bush Lawyer

    Bush Lawyer Well-Known Member

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    Now this:

    ........Pisses me orf.

    What profit do you want for just making a bloody phone call to the supplier of the part? That is the biggest problem with mechanics these days. They rip you off on the cost of parts with massive margins THEY impose for doing SFA.
     
  6. Polydectes

    Polydectes Well-Known Member

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    Delete
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2020
  7. Polydectes

    Polydectes Well-Known Member

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    I advise people to never ever buy Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Porsche, or VW. These cars will bankrupt you if you plan on keeping them for a long time. Maintenance and repair is horrendous.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2020
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  8. Polydectes

    Polydectes Well-Known Member

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    It's the supplier that sets cost. I make no profit on parts just the labor to install it. If it's so crooked fix your own damn car.
     
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  9. StillBlue

    StillBlue Well-Known Member

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    Or you could bring in your own parts, bet you' d pay more. I've never met a mechanic that wouldn't install safe parts for you. Bring in a used ball joint for example and then maybe not.
     
  10. Polydectes

    Polydectes Well-Known Member

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    Sometimes people bring in parts sometimes people ask me to get them. If it's just a run to an auto parts store or a nearby dealership I won't charge them for it. But if I have to drive 2 hours away I'm going to charge them for gas or have it shipped and they will have to pay for shipping. most people would rather me get the parts because they know I'm going to buy the right thing. Occasionally I'll have somebody that has their own parts. I don't mind installing them unless they're junk. I'll talk to them about it if the brand new I'll try and convince them to return it. But sometimes you have to go with the cheap I understand.
     
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  11. Polydectes

    Polydectes Well-Known Member

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    One thing I tell people never ever to buy, is the higher-priced lifetime warranty parts particularly from AutoZone which is a part store here in Texas. This is a scam sometimes it adds 30% to the price.

    I'll tell you how the scam works if you're interested.

    I don't much care for scammers.
     
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  12. hawgsalot

    hawgsalot Well-Known Member

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    So let me get this right, technology is supposed to slow down so the farmer can learn to work on equipment. Look nobody is forcing farmers or consumers from purchasing tech, you can always buy basic tech. As for your example, farmers have to run real lean and be very efficient on all fronts. Tech always them to save labor and resources and is why they purchase it. It does cost more but the benefits are immeasurable.
     
  13. Polydectes

    Polydectes Well-Known Member

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    No tech is being used to monopolize repairs.

    They are. They are driving up demand for older equipment that's why I included an article about that.
    It doesn't. If you have to wait a week for some dope with a property software code to plug into your equipment so you can use it it's not efficient that's why they are buying older equipment.
    No not really, that's why they are buying older equipment. The benefits are outweighed by the expenses and wait times. Demand for older equipment has increased quite a bit because of this.
     
  14. mdrobster

    mdrobster Well-Known Member

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    Don't buy a Google phone either. If I log out of my Google account on the phone, it wipes out my contacts, as well as always providing suggestions.

    I plan on going back to a Samsung.

    Right now linux and Microsoft are merging their technologies, where can on the other. Visual studio for Microsoft allows the developer to right code that will run on any platform, apple and Linux.
     
  15. hawgsalot

    hawgsalot Well-Known Member

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    See by your own admission the market is taking care of it, "Demand for older equipment has increased quite a bit because of this." Absolutely no reason for the government to get involved. Nobody is demanding someone buy a new tractor, in fact they dealers have plenty of new and old ones on the lot, hence capitalism.
     
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  16. jay runner

    jay runner Banned

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    The proliferation of extreme complexity wrapped in red tape is part of a concerted effort to take all freedom from average people.
     
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  17. Texas Republican

    Texas Republican Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    This sounds like the auto companies trying to extort high prices for their replacement parts so your car costs $10,000 to repair after an accident compared to $6,000 if you can use parts not made by the original manufacturer.
     
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  18. Sanskrit

    Sanskrit Well-Known Member

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    Here is a brief summary of existing antitrust law that attempts to address this issue in the U.S., but has been mostly defanged by the gov-edu-union-contractor-grantee-trial lawyer-MSM Complex towards the unjust enrichment of its large corporate cronies and our infinitely corrupt establishment politicians. This is just another way that big, central, corrupt government spits in the face of the 29+ million companies of the non government-dependent private sector in servicing its large crony clients and contributors.

    https://repair.org/anti-trust

    Note the cases at the bottom of the article are few. Insider establishment regimes and the judges they install are generally hostile to antitrust enforcement. It's also an Executive Branch exclusive bureau enforcement power, so it is often not enforced so that crooks like the Clintons can go around and collect speaking fees from their crony corps after leaving office. On a side note, this was a major cause of "too big to fail" and the financial crash of 2008. Clinton suspended antitrust enforcement in the financial sector leading to a huge, unwise merger wave, that in turn led to the catastrophe of 2008... for everyone but the cronies who got bailed out. Then the Clintons went around and collected tens of millions of "speaking fees" from the exact same banks that were allowed to merge in the 90s.

    GOP are bad enough, but NEVER EVER vote for a Democrat if you want your interests as a small business private sector taxpayer to be represented and protected.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2020
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  19. Cubed

    Cubed Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Right to Repair should be the default.

    I've purchased this produce. It's now mine do with as I see fit.

    or at least, that is how it should be. Forcing planned obsolescence, creating brand new and proprietary screw bits, and simply locking out the system from the user is completely at odds with the 'free market' that Western Democracies say they support.

    If I **** it up and break it, that's my fault. But trying to make stuff like Tractors somehow a 'hardware as a service' where you 'lease' the vehicle from the creator in perpetuity is absolute horseshit.
     
  20. NMNeil

    NMNeil Well-Known Member

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    On a side note, here in New Mexico we are trying to get the legislature to require that all auto mechanics/technicians be licensed. If we succeed perhaps Texas will be next, and hopefully nationwide after that.
    Cutting out the shade tree mechanics can only increase your profits.
     
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  21. The Wyrd of Gawd

    The Wyrd of Gawd Well-Known Member

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    Didn't they go through that years ago with the trouble codes on cars where only dealers could read them? Now you can do it yourself.
     
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  22. Bluesguy

    Bluesguy Well-Known Member Donor

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    Are you talking about warranty work? Of course the manufacturer has every right to insure any warranty work is done by someone they have certified and using certified parts. If you get a repair done by someone not certified by them then the warranty is invalidated. If the software code is proprietary no they aren't going to release it to the public they don't want their competitors to get hold of it. Do you think Tesla is releasing all it's software code and ability to repair to the general public? And it seems the market is doing it's job here no need for government to intervene.
     
  23. NMNeil

    NMNeil Well-Known Member

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    Where there's a will, and money to be made, there's a way
    https://www.fastcompany.com/90209541/meet-the-renegade-whos-teaching-the-world-to-fix-totaled-teslas
     
  24. jay runner

    jay runner Banned

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    Who repairs something under warranty if the warranty is honored? Why work? They have to work, provide parts, and provide supplies. You already paid for that in the price of the item you bought.

    But if you have made any slight modifications at all, done any hacks, the warranty is invalidated, and you're on your own. Just slip a fusible link into a wire somewhere as see if they don't find it, and you got no warranty.
     
  25. MolonLabe2009

    MolonLabe2009 Banned

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    That's the same for any new vs old vehicles.

    Old vehicles are less complicated.
     

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