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Comment by 27183 | Hacker News Reader

Why would you pay extra for some website the company could just take away from you on a whim? I have the bound paper repair manuals for my 1998 Dodge truck, my 1995 Toyota, and my 2002 Kubota tractor. Nobody can arbitrarily take those away. Why can't companies these days just print a shop manual and be done with it?

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>Why can't companies these days just print a shop manual and be done with it?

They would be losing money without overpriced repairs. That's why they lobby so hard against right to repair.

Even with some kind of right to repair it still seems they're trying to keep you hooked on their resources.

But as you said, service manual + schematics would be great for some people. But companies will fight tooth and nail against it. They lose control over obsoleting older products.

How did you come to the conclusion that they would lose money without repairs? I can't find any specific breakdown of their revenues for that segment.

The company wouldn't lose money, but the c-suite might miss bonuses and investors their dividends and inflated stock prices.

they want to lock you in to oem parts because otherwise people might use their tractor for 30 years before buying a new one

same reason car dealerships want you to only go to them for maintenance

Not just eom parts, also OEM service.

Which is a huge problem when you live in bum fuck nowhere like many farmers.

right but without the part supply under control someone could just do it themselves so they need both, though it's true plenty damage is done software-only

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