Keep in touch!

Do you find that the products you buy break easily? That it is difficult to find replacement parts when a product is faulty? This experience has become the norm. Nowadays, there are very few products we bother to get repaired; instead, we usually just buy new ones, which is often easier and less expensive than paying for the repair itself.

This is what is referred to as planned obsolescence; a strategy which aims to deliberately shorten the lifespan of a product in order to accelerate purchase renewal.

You’ve probably heard rumors of printers equipped with a chip programmed to stop working after 5,000 copies. Is there a real manufacturers’ plot to program the death of certain products for the sole purpose of forcing us to consume more?

And what if it was the consumer market itself that forced consumers to always want to renew the goods they possess? In most cases, the drop in quality is not necessarily planned as a scheduled obsolescence, per se, but rather a direct consequence of manufacturers making their products accessible to a greater number of potential consumers, at the most attractive price possible.

One way to achieve this is to use lower quality materials. Caught in the cycle of consumption, the buyer is now, more than ever, considering price as the key deciding factor in a purchase. The consumer takes for granted that they will upgrade to a newer model within a fairly short period of time, and thus is content buying a product with a limited useful life offered at the best price possible.

In the automotive industry, obsolescence is more aesthetic than technological. Nowadays, major automakers are able to manufacture vehicles of superior quality and reliability at competitive prices.

In order to convince automobilists to change, car designers create vehicles with exciting new design and styling that quickly make older models seem outdated. Do you think a BMW 3 Series E46 manufactured in 2006 looks archaic compared to the 2012 F30 model? Your answer may be yes. However, the differences are more aesthetic than anything as the inner mechanics have changed very little.

In fact, the trend in the industry tends to indicate the opposite: focusing on reliability, manufacturers are equipping new cars with parts that tend to last longer, as many mechanics will tell you. This holds particularly true for Japanese cars.

“Imagine a manufacturer decided to produce brakes of a lesser quality in order to force consumers to replace them more often. And what if this strategy were to become public? The consequences would be disastrous for the company because we’re talking not only about quality but safety as well,” says Chantal Lamarre, Carrus Sales Director. Furthermore, when a repair is required because of a collision, insurers, in collaboration with collision repair shops, generally ensure the use of original replacement parts, recycled parts or aftermarket certified parts.

Some companies offer non-certified aftermarket parts, and these are not always necessarily manufactured to the highest standards and will not generally last as long. Though, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for, not a penny more!