Your understanding is correct. It doesn't matter if the equipment is free: if it breaks down during a planting window or harvest season you stand to lose signif

Your understanding is correct. It doesn't matter if the equipment is free: if it breaks down during a planting window or harvest season you stand to lose significant amounts of money. Dealers may not have the parts, may not be able to provide the repair without calling in a technician, or may be located far away. People are talking about R2R making things more expensive but the opposite can be true: service centers can often be lossy operations, so if you have to service machines at a lower rate (because people are DIYing it basically) it stands to reason you no longer have to price that in. Scaling out repair literature and part availability is cheaper than the actual service.