Cost
Why an $80 Quote Becomes $100: A Landed-Cost Guide for 12V Alternator Buyers
Two suppliers quote the same 12V alternator for the same vehicle. One is $15 a unit cheaper — $1,500 across 100 units. The decision looks obvious. It stops looking obvious three months after the container arrives, when the returns, the reshipments and the warranty conversations have all been invoiced. The lower quote assumed a lower total cost. It rarely is. What follows is the arithmetic a distributor needs before signing: what the unit really costs landed, what a cheaper programme can absorb in after-sales cost before it stops being cheaper, and how to compare two quotes on the same basis.
Read the guideIn this guide
- Key points
- 1. Why two quotes cannot be compared on unit price
- 2. Building the landed cost
- 3. Branded or unbranded: which programme costs less?
- 4. How much after-sales cost the cheaper option can absorb
- 5. After landed cost, calculate cost per sellable unit
- 6. Comparing supplier quotes fairly
- 8. Closing