Repair costs can sometimes exceed resale value!
One problem with making repairs - besides the problems Conrad Waddington discovered - is that it costs far more - like ten times as much - to fix something after it is made than it is to just make it.
And indeed, during assembly of, say, a car, mistakes are made - and quickly repaired. A friend of mine at GMI worked at an assembly plant, and they told me that if the parking brake didn't work on a car coming off the line (or some other defect in the rear end) they just jacked up the car on a lift and swapped out the entire axle assembly. There was no time to fiddle around with fiddly bits or try to diagnose the problem. Maybe later, the axle assembly would be returned to that department or division for rework - where they had all the parts and tools and most important of all, an assembly line.
And that, in short, is why American cars fared so poorly in the 1970s and early 1980s. The sales prices were skyrocketing - more then doubling during the 1970s alone. But then you had to take the car back for one repair after another. Even under warranty, the inconvenience was annoying.
But out of warranty? Costs could add up quickly. Meanwhile, your neighbor is driving that "funny Japanese car" for years and years with nothing more than an occasional oil change.
In my previous posting I detailed how I am (attempting) to repair my 30-year-old golf cart. Fortunately, the parts combined are about $50 or so and my labor is cheap. If I was to take this to a "buggy" place, I would have to borrow a neighbor's trailer, make an appointment, drive there, and wait days for the work to begin, for parts to arrive, and the work to be done. And with labor rates over $100 an hour, it would not take long for the repair cost to exceed the $300 I originally paid for the cart, many years ago.
That's why you don't see a lot of 30-year-old golf carts around. There reaches a point where it is simply cheaper and easier to buy a newer cart with all the fancy features and more readily available parts, than to screw around with an antique.
But the same is true for newer products. It simply isn't cost-effective to take an older laptop or cell phone in for repair, when a newer model (used) can be had for $199 on eBay. They stopped making batteries removable on cell phones and initially people were upset (I know I was!). But then I realized that (a) cell phone batteries are lasting a lot longer then they used to, (b) my cell phone is already woefully obsolete as it is, why bother even putting a battery in it? and (c) I can just buy a newer used phone for not much more than the cost of battery replacement at a dealer.
So yea, you could call it "planned obsolescence" but the bottom line is, building or rebuilding anything piecemeal will cost ten times as much as it costs to make it in a factory. The guy building a hot rod in his garage is doing it for the fun aspect - he isn't saving money at all, particularly if you factor in his labor. The cost of parts - such as for my buggy - may seem cheap, but then again, I am paying at least double what a factory pays for the same parts, ordered by the containerload.
And therein lies the conundrum. I have kept this buggy alive over the years, replacing the controller, installing a lift kit, replacing the batteries, putting on two sets of tires now, re-upholstering the seats, and so on and so forth. Eventually it becomes a Ship of Theseus, as everything, other than a few core parts, are replaced.
And the few parts I haven't replaced probably will go south someday soon. The entire steering mechanism is loose. Sure there are parts available (another $50 to $100 there) to rebuild the steering box and whatnot. And the motor? Only 30 years old and although a 36V motor, has been running on 48V or more for the last five years. How much longer will it last?
Sure, you can find used parts more cheaply than new ones - but they are also worn and may not last very much longer, either. Putting used parts on a car is something you do to sell it, not to keep it.
Eventually you have to call it quits, the only question being - when? I use the rule of thumb that when repair costs exceed resale value it is time to move on. You throw $2000 at a car worth $2000, that doesn't make it worth $4000. And no, that doesn't mean it is fixed forever and ever, amen, either.
So maybe, someday soon, we may sell the old buggy and upgrade to something newer. Or decide that our buggy days are over - at least for the time being. We'll see. Better to sell something when it is working and worth something than to wait until it is just good for parts only.
One thing is for sure - if I had to hire someone to fix this buggy for me, I would have sold it long, long ago!
