All motorist will sooner or later faces the problem of choosing what parts - original or aftermarket - used for maintenance and repair of his "iron friend.
In the vast spaces of the Internet you can find millions of indisputable arguments as supporters exclusively original, and most ardent of his opponents. Advocates of the original conviction that originally specified by the manufacturer to reach the car parameters, and accordingly - reliability, durability and functionality, is possible only if the replacement of spent or broken item exactly the same "family". And it is difficult to argue.
But opponents of using only original spare parts also have a number of arguments, the chief of which - the high price, a significant proportion of which is exactly belong to a car brand. And many are simply not ready, and sometimes not in a position to pay such a high price, especially since the modern market auto parts offers the widest alternative in the form of analog-substitutes.
Actually, not so simple, and the truth is known, is somewhere in the middle. In this article we try to give a clear and understandable definition of original and non-original spare parts, and try to carry on the possibility of a complete and impartial analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of using these parts in the car, which, ultimately, help you make the right choice.
Original Spare Parts - parts and assemblies of identical parts and nodes supplied to the assembly line manufacturer. These parts are mandatory branding and unique number car manufacturers.
The main advantages of using original spare parts:
1. Quality and compatibility of parts meets all requirements and is guaranteed by the manufacturer of the car.
2. The range of original spare parts provides consumers with a 100-percent demand for the repair or maintenance vehicle parts.
3. When searching and purchasing spare parts for the unique original number significantly reduces the risk of acquiring an incorrect product, as well as counterfeit goods.
4. When warranty service and repair many operations in the technical centers are carried out exclusively with the use of original spare parts, due to the requirements of maintaining safeguards on the car.
The disadvantage of using original spare parts is not so many, but they are significant:
1. High price. Typically, the cost of original parts for 30-50% higher than the cost of comparable quality (and often - and produced at the same factory as the original) analog;
2. Long waiting times in the absence of the ordered items in stock, its official representative (from 2 weeks to several months). For reference, the full list of details only one car model is a few tens of thousands of items, so a single representative of the manufacturer is not able to keep a warehouse full availability of original spare parts.
Aftermarket parts - product of independent producers specializing in the production of parts specific group (eg, suspension and steering, braking system, engine , electrical, etc.) for various makes and models of cars. These parts can be produced as a private-label manufacturer, and other brands of companies-packers.
Advantages of using non-original spare parts:
1. Lower, compared with the original price. Secondary market auto parts may propose analogs of substitutes and more expensive than the original. Typically, this is linked to either embedded in them additional properties (not expected of a car manufacturer), or actually higher quality parts, produced by a specific company - the undisputed leader in the production of this group of parts (but not a supplier of conveyor car manufacturers). In any case, the choice of non-original spare parts, if you want to get a decent replacement, we should not rely solely on low price. Qualitative analogy may not be cheaper than the original more than 30-40%.
2. Save time searching for and acquiring the necessary details. If original parts in the market is usually present no more than 2-3 major suppliers, for the most unoriginal detail in "running" segments (filters, brake pads, batteries, etc.), the competitive environment may number up to ten or more brands. Accordingly, the total capacity of storage of all these providers far exceeded the supplier of original spare parts for the consumer the necessary materials.
The main disadvantages of using non-original parts include the following:
1. Using parts that do not have official approval manufacturer, can give rise to invalidation of the warranty on the car.
2. Among the non-original spare parts more often, according to specialists, there are serial marriage and frank falsification that ultimately can lead to serious and costly breakdowns of complex assemblies and mechanisms vehicle.
3. The range of non-original spare parts are usually much more modest view of the fact that for the free sale of manufacturers try to produce a top-selling items (some auto parts for foreign cars are only original, basically it refers to little wear and rarely breaking for spare parts such as interior parts, engine and suspension beams etc.).
4. The probability of errors and misleading information in the directories of producers of non-original spare parts is much higher than in the documents of the car manufacturer, hence the higher the probability of purchasing the wrong parts.
5. Finally, the violent competition among the many companies and brands, supplying the secondary market a variety of spare parts, always pushing them to lower prices for the proposed product, and this, unfortunately, most often achieved not by increasing productivity and minimizing costs, and banal decrease the quality requirements of raw materials, locating production in developing countries and the deterioration of the characteristics of the final product.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the ordinary motorist is not easy to determine in all the diversity and ever-changing trends in today's market auto parts. It's like medicine - a lot of clinics, and the correct diagnosis and prescribe appropriate prescription can not all doctors.