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Car makers like Jaguar Land Rover and Peugeot have been accused of using special software to raise spare parts prices.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/04/car-makers-used-software-to-raise-spare-parts-prices/
Ever had the nagging suspicion that your car's manufacturer was charging outrageous prices for parts simply because it could? Software might be to blame. Reuters has obtained documents from a lawsuit indicating that Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot, Renault and other automakers have been using Accenture software (Partneo) that recommended price increases for spare parts based on "perceived value." If a brand badge or other component looked expensive, Partneo would suggest raising the price up to a level that drivers would still be willing to pay. It would even distinguish parts based on whether or not there was "pricing supervision" over certain parts (say, from insurance companies or focused publications) to avoid sparking an outcry.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday June 06 2018, @06:03AM
Government monopoly certainly doesn't help, but it goes a lot deeper than that. Consider consumer electronics where the only difference between the high end device and the low end is the firmware they load, or a cut jumper. That is, they build all high-end models, then take an extra step to make it a low end model (and so the low end model is actually slightly MORE expensive to manufacture).
Then you see things like stores throwing people out for writing down a list of prices.
Some of it is because if ill conceived patent and copyright law, and some is because of the lack of consumer protection. You may be old enough to remember when retailers handled warranty returns for their customers as a matter of course. Now they expect the consumer to deal with the manufacturer and leave them out of it.