I think you are going to see this situation getting worse and guess what its all our fault!!!
At a recent meeting the discussion turned to parts costs.
The suppliers informed us that due to competion driving down the cost of equipment and more stuff being taken off contract they arent making the dosh that they need to run their expensive fleets of cars etc.
Therefore they are increasing the cost of parts to us.
Whats worse they only do this if the equipment isnt on a contract, therefore if they maintain kit it loks like they are cheaper due to the lower parts costs, something to look out for when entering into a purchase me thinks!!!
The way arround it is to get an agreement at purchase stage to supply service kits etc at a set price for a set period of time. As always suppliers are more keen to do this prepayment for kit as they may not get the sale otherwise.
Obvously you still end up paying somewhere, but at least there are no supprises in the short : mid term on costs to maintain.
