When something goes wrong with your car, it is often unexpected and it is understandable to worry about the unforeseen expense. As a result, many people avoid taking their car to the official dealership in a bid to save money.
The problem with taking your vehicle to a garage other than your official dealership, however, is that you will often find that they fit aftermarket car parts, rather than genuine OEM parts.
Aftermarket parts are often cheaper, but as they are not made by the manufacturer of your car, you may find that you run into some issues. Let’s take a look at five reasons why you should invest in genuine parts over aftermarket ones.
Overwhelming choice
If you aren’t familiar with parts, there are so many different aftermarket brands out there that it can be overwhelming trying to decide between the different options available. With so much out there it can be hard to tell whether the part you opt for is going to be of good quality, or made from cheap materials.
Quality
As is often the case, when it comes to car parts you do get what you pay for. Cheaper materials keep costs down but affect quality. Stick with official parts for peace of mind.
Performance
Official parts are made in the same factory as your vehicle, so you know that they will fit properly, and work as intended.
When it comes to aftermarket parts, the same part is often intended to fit several different makes and models of vehicle, so it stands to reason that it will not perform equally well across the board.
But most importantly, you could be compromising your safety by installing parts that were not made specifically for your car. VW Motor Parts, who are official Volkswagen parts stockists told us “people don’t realise that things such as the airbag are carefully calibrated, and using a non-official part can affect whether the sensors can accurately tell if the airbags need to be deployed.”
Even more dangerous is installing unofficial airbags themselves. Police issued a warning in 2016 after counterfeit airbags were sold on eBay, which would potentially not deploy in the event of an accident.
Warranty
Aftermarket car parts are often sold without a warranty, so if anything goes wrong you aren’t protected. Genuine parts tend to be covered by a warranty, which means you have peace of mind.
It’s also worth noting that using aftermarket parts can void the warranty of your car if it is still new enough to be covered, so always check with your dealership before you make any modifications that you may later regret.
Extra cost
While some people do choose aftermarket parts intentionally in order to make modifications to their cars, this can raise the cost of insurance.
Additionally, although you may save money in the short term by buying an aftermarket part because it is cheaper than the genuine equivalent, due to the variety in quality you may find that it does no last as long as the official OEM part would have done and you actually have to replace it sooner, which can end up costing you even more money than you would have in the first place.
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