HeavyHitch said:
Ted, how would you handle the insurance...say someone buys a kit welds it themselves, ends up getting hurt because a weld broke or it wasn't assembled correctly. I would think your insurance would frown on that. I know ours did when we thought of offering kit hitches.
If you worry about every potential lawsuit no one would start any business. The best thing to do is mitigate your risks. Being that your selling an unassembled kit your already in a fairly safe position.
Don't take it from me, talk to a lawyer but my bet is that since you have no control of the assembly or welding it would be hard to sue when the weld breaks, simple wording in the instructions and on the selling website that your kits are designed to be assembled by experienced welders mitigate your risk even further.
You are just selling cut steel parts, if you provided a faulty material or had a fundamentally faulty design I could see potential liability problems, but material certificates are standard in the industry, transferring the responsibility to the supplier and steel maker, and the cost of an pe's stamp on a drawing of your design for something like a blade should be under a grand transferring the design liability. (one time expense) Finally i would also basically steal (but in your own lawyer approved language) the warnings, warning labels, and operating instructions from JD, land pride, and other implement manufactures, as their theirs most likely have been designed for and tested by historical legal actions. These 4 actions should make any insurance agent and your lawyer happy.
I wouldn't offer any warranty (other than for material or cutting issues) because you have no control of the assembly, welding or use.... Besides selling replacement or piecemeal parts a a higher margin then the complete kit will be a nice profit center.
I'm in the process of a startup in a much worse field for liability issues, (firearm receivers requiring gunsmith fitting) and have basically learned after many (expensive) meetings that anyone can sue for anything all a business owner is mitigate the personal risk by incorporating and dotting your "I"s and crossing your "T"s
One other thought... don't let any one assemble and sell your kits under "your company name" with out becoming an "additional insured" on their policy. If they want to make a business of assembling and selling implements from your kit have them sell them as their own (ie joe smith brand) not as your brand unless they add you to their policy.
Sorry for the long post but I hope it helps..