RE: JC 60cc Engine
Ahh, but there's a rub in that. The dealer sells an engine represented by the manufacturer to have a warranty of "X" period of time. That places a liability on the manufacturer to provide the dealers with the parts required to perform warranty work. Not having the parts means the dealer, at least those that possess honor and ethics, have to disassemble engines originally intended for sales to have parts for warranty repairs. That eventually runs the dealer out of business because what he had bought for a profitable sale is being used up for parts, labor, and shipping he's not reimbursed for. Pretty soon he is paying for the privelege of making a sale instead of profiting from one. There lies the road to bankruptcy for the dealer.
Having followed the trail of so many Chinese engine manufactuers, some have a very solid track record of failing to EVER send out warranty parts to the dealers or "factory authorized" repair stations. Nor do some of them bother to reimburse the dealer for sales lost due to disassembling complete engines for parts. Bill Jensen, the poor guy, has been assailed by people told he did warranty repairs for certian engine lines but he never sees any parts come in for the work. So he can't do any warranty work on that product. This is where the "dealers" fall down. By not insisting on having a parts inventory BEFORE they start marketing the engines, they end up with zero leverage later when those parts are needed. In effect, their desire to make a quick buck on an engine sale overrides any sense of commitment they may have had where supporting the product is concerned. So they enable the manufacturer with their own level of greed.
Then you have another class of dealer. The one that's only in it for the quick buck. Many of those are the E-Bay sellers but there are people that do this on a much larger scale. They initiate a relationship with an engine manufacturer, buy a container or two of engines, sell them out, and disappear when the problems start to appear, only to reappear selling the same product under a different product name a few months later. You and I can easily name one engine that goes by about 6 different names. All have the same parts but each has a different price point and warranty policy, as worthless as it is.
Now we move to the manufacturers that cut off their previous dealers in engines and parts. Some of those also fall into the previous category. RCG/RCGF, Area 51/JC, are two of at least three that have done this. Their dealers sold a lot of engines but some tiff or another occurs and the Chinese manufactuer gets pithy and cuts off their dealers, leaving all the previous customers on the hook without any means of obtaining warranty repairs from the previous dealers. No parts are availble because the manufacturers suddenly refuses to honor their written warranties. No matter how much one of those dealers wants to support the previous customers they cannot because they cannot get any parts. The new dealer picking up the line thinks "I didn't sell those engines and I don't have any parts so why should I take it in the shorts? I already know the manufacturer is not going to reimburse me for working on those engines."
The Chinese know perfectly well there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING the consumer can do about it. They know they are fully isolated by geography, that any legal action brought by a consumer will never see the light of day because of the level of debt bought up by the Chinese, and there is no way to enforce the collection of any judgement even if a case ever went to court. Worst case is they change their product name from ABC to DEF and motor on after initiating a new round of stupid low pricing to grab attention. That has happened a few times already.
Well, I hate to tell them, but there is something that can be done about it. A couple of things really. One is real simple. If people don't buy engines made from manufacturers that have a history of cutting off dealers and warranty work then that manufacturer will eventually get hungry. Those manufactuers might finally fail, leaving the good businesses in place to sell good products. The new dealers will pay a stiff price but they need to get involved in leveraging the manufacturers too. Force them to support their earlier products. There are some legal angles as well but since I'm not an attorney I can't voice them. Those are real hard on dealers though, and it's not the fault of some dealers that manufacturers don't give a chit about their customers.
Now ya'll know why I'm not an engine dealer.