Searching around to find a new auto part can be rather overwhelming. With such a vast range of different brands and prices to compare, ensuring that you locate the right part for your vehicle can be tricky.
When looking to source your part you’ll have two options to consider, you can either go with aftermarket products or genuine ones.
Aftermarket products are usually produced by third party companies who are not your vehicle’s manufacturer. They will generally create a wider variety of parts for a host of different makes and models.
Genuine Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts, on the hand, are specifically produced with your vehicle in mind by the manufacturer of your car.
Whilst genuine parts do tend to be more expensive as opposed to aftermarket ones, this isn’t to say that the best option to go for will be the cheapest.
Here are three reasons why you ought to consider opting for genuine OEM parts over aftermarket ones.
Assured quality
What is most likely considered to be the biggest advantage associated with genuine parts over aftermarket ones, is that as the parts have been specifically designed with your vehicle in mind, you are guaranteed to be using the best possible part for your car.
Maintaining your vehicle’s performance and safety is essential, therefore why settle for anything but the best?
We spoke to VW Motor Parts, a genuine Volkswagen parts dealership who explained that with genuine parts “it’s definitely worth paying that little bit extra to have the assurance that you are using the correct part designed precisely for your car. As the products have been rigorously tested, this helps to ensure each part really does function at top level performance.”
Easier to locate
To sift through numerous aftermarket products and compare different prices is a very time-consuming process. What’s more is that you don’t even have the assurance of knowing that the part is even the right one until you’ve tried and tested it.
As discussed in LoveToKnow’s comparison of aftermarket and genuine parts, with aftermarket parts, ‘Because there are so many manufacturers and parts on the market, choosing the best one for your vehicle can be overwhelming.’
The advantage with genuine OEM parts is that you will be saving yourself much time and effort having to locate the right part due a more limited selection of parts provided by your car’s manufacturer.
Warranties provided
Lastly, should the new part from your genuine OEM become damaged, or is not quite right for your car, using the part’s warranty, you should be able to return and replace the part hassle free.
However, not all aftermarket parts offer warranties with their products. As the quality of aftermarket parts are not always as consistent as genuine parts, having the auto part covered by a warranty is advisable, yet if the company does not offer some form of cover, then this won’t be guaranteed.
We hope that you have found this article discussing both options for locating your auto part useful. As you can see, there are a few reasons justifying why opting for genuine parts is perhaps the more favourable option. Ultimately, though, it is your car’s ability to perform consistently and safely which is the most important element when it comes to purchasing a new part.