Price Shopping for a Third Party Maintenance Contract
Price isn't everything, or is it?
With shrinking budgets companies are needing now more than ever to keep costs down. For many, third party maintenance has become a great option because it can save a ton of money over OEM contracts. The tricky part comes when it’s time to shop for a third party maintenance provider. Like so many other industries, price shopping for your TPM contract is a natural way to continue the savings when you are on a tight budget. You gather several quotes and look at the bottom line—which one is the cheapest? Done. Right? Not so fast. Did you look closely at the quote? Are you comparing apples to apples?
What's included in the price of a TPM contract?
A third party maintenance contract quote is much more involved than a 9x5xNBD or a 7x4x24 service plan. Sure, those elements will be part of the quote, but like we’ve talked about before, do you know what the “4” in the 7x24x4 plan means?
How about the Parts Stocking strategy? Do you know which parts will be stocked and where?
Do you know what to expect when it comes to response times & coverage windows? I hope so.
But why does this even matter?
If your budget is set and you can only spend a certain amount, you may not even care or be able to afford the more comprehensive and therefore more expensive plan. It’s all about the price anyway, right? Gathering mismatched quotes won’t let you know which contract will give you the most for your money and therefore will mean you won’t be able to take advantage of the best price. The company with a higher price might have been quoting a more extensive plan than the company with the lowest price. You may be able to get an even lower price from the first company if you are comparing the same sort of plan.
So how do you get the third party maintenance contract you want for the price you need?
Talk to the companies you are gathering quotes from. If you need to stay within certain budget restraints, some providers will work with you to build a contract that can fit in your budget and have the features that are most important to you. Don’t be afraid to ask and give feedback when it comes to price when you are shopping.
At M Global, we always encourage people to treat the quote process as a conversation. If there is something in there including the price that doesn’t work for you, we want to talk about it.
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