Re: DEPOSIT INSURANCE?????
To state the obvious yet again, the major problem is the possession / ownership / location of the WIP (partially completed vehicles) which is unlike the example of the pool, house or similar property. Would it be feasible to enter into lets say four individual contracts for four individual stages of the build. At the end of each stage the customer can verify that the currently contracted stage is complete, sign off the contract to that effect and pay the appropriate sum of money for that stage. The customer and supplier can then enter into a new contract for the next stage of works to an agreed scope and cost. The partially completed product that is now owned by the customer is then supplied back to the manufacturer for the purpose of completing the newly agreed and contracted scope of work.
Now lets assume that the partially completed vehicle, which is now owned by the customer, is worth $20,000.00 and the manufacturer goes into receivership half way through the currently contracted stage of work, which is worth another $20,000.00. My assumption would be that the owner of the partially completed vehicle will be entitled to reclaim his/ her property and would only be liable for the completed portion of the current contract. If in the worst case scenario, there was a deposit paid lets say 20% or $4000.00 and no work had been completed the net loss would be $4000.00 which is a lot more bearable than the 20% of $100,000.00 and worse again as Jonathan has said, would be getting 99% of the way through the build and payments and then lose everything. For overseas customers the only hurdle would then be the verification stage, which I am sure, could be easily overcome. I now know (20/20 hindsight) that if I were buying a similar product overseas I would be looking at employing a project manager to be my eyes and ears for the duration of the contract. It would probably only take one or two visits a month to keep things on track and verify the status of proceedings. This would be an inexpensive insurance and peace of mind in the scheme of things.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twocents.gif