OEM or Aftermarket? Has One Trounced the Other Yet?
These days, one can obtain nearly all automotive components essential to a car, like crash parts or performance perts for instance, through two ways: by ordering these parts from an auto manufacturer which are companies that market these items stamped with their names. These are the original equipment manufacturers or OEMs as opposed to the aftermarket parts providers, the latter being companies that commercially distribute generic auto merchandise. That is, parts that carry no brand names. The fact of the matter was, before the aftermarket performance parts manufacturers emerged into the light and threw the OEMs into a fervent rush to stay on top of the game, OEMs were able to set prices as high as consumers would allow it. A thing costs as much as anyone is willing to pay for it—as the saying goes.
However, the arrival of the aftermarket parts manufacturers in the landscape altered everything for consumers and OEMs. Competition bloomed, preventing OEMs from ever assuming the degree of control that these companies had previously enjoyed. This admittedly threw a crimp in the works on the part of the OEMs since they were forced to share the profit with the Afternarkets. Nothing, though, could be done about the matter. Progress is an up-ward and onward movement, after all.
This resulted into a leveling down of prices on a considerable number of OEM products. Prices for a majority of these were dropped a near 30 percent. Consumers, though, can consider the matter as a decided blessing since the emergence of aftermarket parts initiated significant changes in the market dynamics that essentially improved a great deal for buyers.
This later gave way to the existing competition between OEM and aftermarket performance parts. And though talks discussing the merits of one over the other have already been made, time and again, the conclusions have been rhetorical at best since decisions ruling whether OEM pieces are better than aftermarket performance parts or vice versa, has proven moot so far. Both sides afford consumers a great deal of advantage in terms of functionality and durability.
Still, hecklers cannot be avoided and each has had its own share of complaints.
For instance, of the many issues that involve these two are talks of safety. Some critics say that using an aftermarket performance part does quite a lot in undermining the performance one’s vehicle by compromising a number of automotive processes.
However, on this note, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety or IIHS decidedly shed a different light on the matter as it released an official statement stating the fact that there the employment of such parts had no direct adverse effect in the driving performance of the machine nor did it pose any danger to the safety of consumers. The IIHS declared these claims on the basis of the crash test results that the institute had conducted.
Providing further support to the claims generated by the IIHS, the Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA) also informed the public of that generic parts do not, in any way, ruin the existing warranty of a vehicle. The company even contributed to the growing body of discussion about OEMs and aftermarket parts by putting forward the idea that a number of generic parts are produced by the same companies and are constructed in the same manner.
Thus, there is not a particle of truth to the notion that having aftermarket parts in place of OEMs is a sure invitation for danger as well as risk. Still, whether one chooses to use an aftermarket performance part or an OEM component, one can breathe easy knowing that one can go for either one without having to worry about safety concerns and issues.