Second Hand Spares

[bobokines]

Just browsing the forums and wondering what the general feeling is about using second hand spares.

Personally, I won’t have any second hand spares in my van. (I did rob a glass door off a dead machine once when I dropped the customer’s door and smashed it to a million pieces). 😳

Surely we can’t give an honest guarantee on parts that have been taken off another machine!

There are times of course when the machine is old and/or obsolete and only second hand parts are available, but I won’t normally get involved.

Bob

[Phidom]

Re: Second Hand Spares

It helps if you know where the source machine came from. If I go to a job and it turns out the machine is beyond economic repair i will often take it for spares or reconditioning. The faulty parts will be discarded in either case. If I can offer the customer the choice of a new motor at £110 or a second hand one at £45 I am likely to get more jobs completed, as the £110 item is usually rejected in favour of a new machine. I do give a guarantee but obviously don’t always have a replacement used part if the first one fails. In such cases I would offer the customer the choice of a brand new part for just the difference between its cost price and what I charged for the used part; or money back but I keep the machine. In the second case I may hold on to the machine until another seconhand part turns up. In my experience, parts that have worked OK for a few years in one machine will go on to work OK for a few more years in another.

[leavemetogetonwithit]

Re: Second Hand Spares

I live in an area of the country where a lot of poor folks live.(That’s official). If I can help a fellow poorman by using good secondhand parts then I will do so. It’s normally only worth the bother where it’s something reasonably expensive of course but I would not be above using an Askoll pump which was showing virtually no bearing wear and charging the customer £5 for it , especially if the rest of the machine is on a wing and a prayer. There are people round here up to their eyeballs in debt who can’t get any more “interest free” from Currys or wherever. Where motors are concerned, I rarely buy new. Ditto timers and modules.
With this new WEEE directive on the way, I reckon there should be an increase in s/h parts supply on the way. Also the cost and inconvenience of getting old machines taken away is already increasing and might hopefully have a rejuvenating effect on our trade.
I have only ever come across a couple of customers who specifically requested that replacement parts be new when they were £30 +.
I’ve often been asked if I have a secondhand doorcatch or suchlike to avoid the cost of a new one!
I operate the same policy as Phidom vis a vis guarantees.
Reduce,Re-use,Recycle. Ditch the throw away society that’s what I say.
One condition though. If I really thought that a new design of machine was going to save bucketloads of energy or water over the old wreck needing TLC then I’d advise that. But I’ve found the claims in that area are usually exaggerated.

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