Genuine Replacement Car Parts

If your car needs any repairs, either through a fault or following an accident, you will need to take it to your local garage to repair it with replacement parts. You’ll either have the option of buying aftermarket parts to make these repairs or genuine OEM parts.

If you go to your official dealership, you will always be given genuine replacement parts, but many people choose to go to independent garages to save money on labour and parts. But not everybody actually knows the difference between the different types of part, so which should you choose?

Read on to find out three reasons why you might want to ask for genuine replacement parts the next time you need to have repairs done.

Safety:

Safety should always be your number one priority when driving any vehicle, and with this in mind, genuine parts will undoubtedly give you greater peace of mind than their aftermarket counterparts.

We spoke to VW Motor Parts who told us “many people don’t know that genuine parts are manufactured specifically to fit your exact make and model of vehicle, whereas aftermarket copies are often made to fit several different types of car. This means that they may not fit or perform in the same way that the original parts your car was built with did.”

While some aftermarket parts are deliberately reverse engineered to perform in a certain way, others are simply made with cheaper materials and mass produced and may not be entirely compatible with your vehicle.

Many people do not know that if you replace things such as bodywork that is not made from the same material or is of a different weight from the original part, your car might not be able to correctly calibrate the deployment of the airbags, something that could put you at risk.

Furthermore, fake parts are often sold by less reputable individuals, and the police regularly crack down on the sale of counterfeit airbags which would not deploy in an accident.

Value:

While you may certainly save some cash in the short term by opting for aftermarket car parts to make repairs, the cheaper manufacturing process and materials used often means that they break more easily, and they may even cause additional damage to the vehicle, which can end up being far more costly in the long run.

Particularly if your car is still fairly new, you would often be better off paying a little more for genuine parts that will perform better and last longer.

Warranty:

Another thing to consider if you own a newer vehicle is that if you do choose to use aftermarket parts you could end up voiding your warranty. This is not always the case, and if your car is under warranty you ought to be able to take it to the dealership for repairs during the warranty period anyway, but it’s certainly something that is worth checking before you take it anywhere else.

Sometimes if you are having repairs done through your insurance company they will have a preference for the cheaper aftermarket parts, so be sure to ask the necessary questions before approving any repairs.

Similarly the actual parts themselves generally come with a one-year warranty if they are genuine, and your dealership may even honour the costs of the labour if you do need it replacing so this is worth bearing in mind and investigating should you find yourself in this position.

We hope that this has shed a little bit of light on the subject of which parts you should choose the next time your car needs repairs, but if you’re still confused about what the difference between aftermarket and genuine parts actually is, this article from Green Flag explains it rather well.