Peter/all

It's a very 'today' issue isn't it - OE or not OE..

As you know - the ultimate 'supplier' of the part to the customer is liable for it's quality, guarantees are a goodwill application to augment the legal status for customer retention purposes (although the original supplier of the part to you will be required to fulfill same requirement).

It's an obvious thing to say but as Tom summarises, you have to go with what's best to do the job. A vote with your feet and taking business else where is the only way you're going to provide your customers with the quality they expect from you, but this may come at an increased cost. Equally customer financial constraints also dictate which parts are used - tricky when they then expect them to last forever..

As we all know there's regulations that cover the quality and supply of parts, but as we all also know - 12,000 miles/12 months is sometimes a cover all.

Give me a steer on what could be proposed, in an ideal world, in terms of an industry approach to purchasing parts, based on sensible suggestions and fair competition you never know what might stick.

Clearly I can't make any promises but if the seed is planted now, it'll always be something we can chip away at - for example is a 2 or 3 year/24,000 or 36,000 mile guarantee completely unheard of?

All the best
Chris