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Comment by ajross | Hacker News Reader

That's just not true of modern vehicles and you know it. You can't get a dash display replacement for a 2021 Audi or whatever from anyone but Audi, etc... You can't get an engine control computer for your new Toyota from anyone but Toyota.

It's absolutely true that engine parts can be made in a machine shop by a suitably talented artisan, so there remains a third party parts market for those things where there isn't for e.g. 20nm digital logic fabrication, NMC battery cells, etc...

But that's because one of those things is century old technology and the other isn't. It's not a business model thing, at all.

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The point was being able to buy things without a warranty or even owning the appropriate car. Whether third parties sell them is less important.

Audi instrument clusters, for 2021 models [1] — Audi appear to be willing to sell these to me, even though I don't own a car.

[2] seems to be a third party retailer.

[1] https://parts.audiusa.com/productSearch.aspx?&ukey_make=5792...

[2] https://www.audionlineparts.com/

> Audi instrument clusters, for 2021 models [1] — Audi appear to be willing to sell these to me, even though I don't own a car.

GP didn’t say that Audi doesn’t sell it, but that you can’t “second source” it:

> You can't get a dash display replacement for a 2021 Audi or whatever from anyone but Audi, etc...

While their is a limited time period where a new car only has Dealer parts before the aftermarket and refurbished market kicks in. largely this is because there is not really a market for parts while the manufacturer warranty is in effect so more parts manufacturers do not bother.

The difference here is the dealer will sell you the parts most of the time no questions asked, no proof of ownership needed, no need to have the dealer install the part, etc etc. My understanding is that not even Tesla will sell you the parts, you have to bring the car in, they have the look it over, tell you what parts you need, and then you pay them to install it.

this is VERY VERY different than your Audi example

But Audi will sell you the parts in your example.

The display went out in my wife's 2018 Toyota, I went online and bought the part through a dealer and installed it myself.

That's not very possible to do with Tesla, and I think that's the point here.

https://epc.tesla.com/en/catalogs/2/categories/37/subcategor...

The Tesla screen is available from Tesla's parts departments. You don't even need to own a car to buy it.

Salvage yards will have 2021 parts in a couple years or so.

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