And it could get even worse:
Still no part number.
Of COURSE no part number. What an ignorant request.
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Well give me the part number.
They aren’t going to have part numbers for the public for parts that are used to components or sub assemblies. Things like chips, transistors, common fasteners, seat stuffing, and so on do not have part numbers except for the specs and sourcing information used by procurement. Looking for a part number for a coil of steel will be frustrating until it is made into a fender.
All chips and transistors have part numbers. Sometimes they are custom, but those chips still have part number even if the parts and documentation are not available to the public.
This is a myth, and a dangerous one at that. An episode of “The Simpsons” explains this line of reasoning well. Homer walks into a store selling exercise equipment and looks at the price on a treadmill. “$5,000…I can’t afford that”. The salesman says “Can you afford $300 a month?”. “No.” “How about $10 a day?” “Easy”.
And lots of real-life salesman try this tactic as well, either mentioning a monthly payment to distract from how expensive the total price is, or in some cases refusing to talk total price at all, and only discussing a monthly payment. For example, several of the largest HVAC contractors here give their sales pitch in terms of a monthly payment, and don’t even discuss total price. One of these companies advertises HVAC units “starting at $189 per month”. Well guess what? The loan is for 10 years, and simple arithmetic shows that the sum of the payments is $22,680 for an entry-level system that the company I work for would have charged around $8,300 for.
Contractors selling solar panels often resort to the same tactic. I should know, because they send salesmen door-to-door in the neighborhood where I live, and these people not only have little to no technical understanding of the product, but they are often flabbergasted when I take out my cellphone and add up the monthly payments and tell them very bluntly that the price is too high. The solar companies also like to tout false savings, and most will refuse to sell a setup which generates less than your peak summer load, which means that for 6-7 months of the year, you are selling power back to the local utility for pennies on the dollar.
The bottom line is that a rational person contemplating the purchase of a consumer good–especially one which will depreciate as time progresses should consider if the item in question is worth the price being charged. Whether or not the purchase could be financed, and how much the monthly loan payment would be is really immaterial to the question of whether something is worth the price or not.
This is actually true for real estate and other investments as well. Last summer, people bid up the cost of houses here, paying crazy stupid money for lackluster houses. No doubt most of them rationalized the purchase in terms of a monthly mortgage payment, rather than the fact that they were spending $300k or more on a lackluster house, which sold for less than half that amount just 18 months earlier.
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I don’t need much of a car these days, there are no long trips in my future. There is a van to take me to medical appointments and I can order most things delivered. If my 2012 Camry rusts out before My license is taken away I will have my son in Florida pick me up a rust free old car in Florida., since there are no plug ins where I live, or plans for them, it sure won’t be an EV.
In times of plenty dealers add market value adjustment to specialty vehicles. This Bronco with off-road package in not basic transportation.
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All 3 quotes I got UNDERsized the system I need to match my energy needs based on NRELs calculations. I suspect it was to keep the total system price down.
All 3 would generate more than I use mid-day, mid-summer. Since we have net metering that is reconciled at year-end, the system should be designed to over produce when the sun shines to compensate for darkness. Same for seasonal variations. You want the net to be zero at year’s end.
Electric cars increase the need for panels from a little to a lot
OK, I’ll play… here are two. Both automotive grade. One a simple voltage regulator IC and and the second is an embedded micro-controller IC. Both with zero stock and long lead times.
Easy search on Digi-Key. Lots and lots of each type of chips with zero inventory and looong lead times.
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Well that’s a start. But I have yet to hear anything from an auto maker stating what parts they can’t get. I assume auto makers buy in bulk directly from the manufacturers. It’s a bit like the lumber pricing and the lack of new home constructions.
I wonder what part of a vehicle would need such a power MCU. Maybe the graphical climate control display?
I’m sure they are very concerned that you know exactly what parts they need. Let us know when they get in touch.
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Automakers are not going to reveal the part numbers they can’t get. To think they would reveal that is very naive as is the idea that powerful embedded processors are not common in modern cars.
My Mustang has 14 seperate addressed systems in its network. My Audi, 17. ABS/stability controls, electric power steering, SRS, audio systems, instrument panel, PCM, ect. All require processors. Heck, my power windows require one.
From past experience, we used a TMS320, 32 bit processor to control the electronic shock absorbers as far back as 1992
Why should you need to know that ? The part they have trouble getting this week might not be the same part they have trouble getting next week .
Buying in bulk ? Manufacturing has been using JIT ( just in time delivery ) for years.
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I measure my incoming cash flow on a monthly basis, so I measure and budget for my outgoing cash flow on that same monthly basis. I’m an accountant for many years, and this is how we do it for businesses. As for total cost, that is determined by the term, and I don’t want the term to exceed the life of whatever I’ve financed. When my wife leased her car, for example, the total cost over the life of the lease is irrelevant to us. The only number that matters is the monthly payment.
I always look at it exactly the opposite. I could pay a small amount per month…for basically forever. But there’s only a certain amount I’m willing to invest in cars.
Sorry, but you made a mistake. You just can’t play with @TheWonderful90s . But I guess I just made the same mistake.
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I also do this although I never buy anything with payments. If everyone did this, many sales would slump.
I was in need of a used car once. Stopped by a car lot. Seen a vehicle I was interested in. I asked how much. They said $179.00 or something like that. I said how much cash out the door? He said they don’t sell vehicles that way. I said I don’t buy vehicles your way and left. At the time I thought this is crazy, but they do it for people that can’t afford cars. If they were to add up the payments like you said they would probably have a heart attack on how much they’re paying.
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That is good for you but not the average person . We had payments on a new truck because it was zero interest through Nissan . Very few people can buy a house without a loan .