Are equipment manufacturers restricting your right to repair?
Are we, as an industry, walking into a trap? A trap laid – deliberately or otherwise – by equipment manufacturers? Are we on the brink of a new era where we’re not just discouraged from maintaining our own equipment but actively prevented from doing so?
For years, construction equipment manufacturers – much like their counterparts in the automotive sector – have had us over a barrel when it comes to parts. “Failure to use genuine parts will invalidate your warranty,” they warn. It’s written into purchase agreements, lease deals, and operator manuals.
Setting aside the fact that these parts are for a machine that YOU own and YOU paid for, it has always irked me that manufacturers go out of their way to ensure you pay top dollar for replacement parts and consumables. You can shop around for the machine itself, comparing models from various brands and sources. But once they have you locked in, they slam the door shut to ensure any parts added to your machines are supplied by them, and them only.
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