Are aftermarket parts really worth it? The owner of this car better hope so.
Do men or women make better drivers? It’s a question that I suspect has been debated ever since Henry Ford started mass-producing his Model T at the turn of the twentieth century.
One thing is certain: I know the question has always been a hot topic of discussion in my house, although I’ve always smugly maintained a slight edge over my wife in the debate.
Admittedly, the Honeybee would point out that I’m not a driver without blemishes on my record. She’s right.
During the past four decades I have three moving violations. Two of them for illegal left turns.
Then again, she got hit with a ticket for the very same offense not long after I did.
She also has a lead foot. And I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that, as a teenager, she managed to crash her car into a tree stump. (Don’t ask.)
Then there was the time she put a nice dent along the side of our mini-van after brushing against a mailbox while backing out of her friend’s drive-way. We chuckle about it now, but I can assure you, it wasn’t funny then.
Unfortunately, my days of having the upper hand in the who’s-the-better-driver debate came to an end awhile back after I got into a car accident on my way home from work.
To make a long story short, I ended up rear-ending a car on the freeway. Thankfully, nobody was hurt.
And while I know a guy who buys junk cars, I didn’t need to go that route because the speed at impact was not much more than ten miles per hour; as a result, the only appreciable damage to either car was on my 1997 Honda Civic: a slightly bent hood, a cracked grille molding, and a broken headlight housing bracket.
Assessing the Damage
Of course, I called my handyman father-in-law, Tony, who also happens to be a retired car mechanic, to come over and assess the damage. I was hoping he would tell me we could simply bend the hood back into place. However, he recommended we err on the side of caution and get a new one.
So I called the Honda dealer to see how much it would cost to replace the damaged parts. Here was the quote:
- Hood ($387.30)
- Passenger-side headlight assembly ($232.00)
- Grille molding only ($38.30)
With tax, the total bill came to $719.25.
Tony then suggested we go online to see if I could save a little money by finding suitable “aftermarket” parts. In case you’re wondering, aftermarket parts are not made by the original manufacturer. Even so, a lot of people swear that aftermarket parts are worth it. Anyway, here’s what I found:
- Hood ($129.64)
- Passenger-side headlight assembly ($43.54)
- Complete grille assembly ($43.00)
I bet you can guess which parts I ended up buying.
In the end, I decided to pass on the aftermarket grille because it looked nothing like Honda’s stock version.
Still, the aftermarket prices were so much cheaper that I tacked on a driver-side headlight assembly too for another $90.00.
After taking a few minutes to find an online coupon code that knocked $25 off my bill, the bottom line was just $257.59, tax included.
Comparing OEM and Aftermarket Parts
So … are aftermarket parts truly worth it?
As my recent experience shows, OEM parts are extremely expensive. A study by the Property Casualty Insurers of America found that it would cost $73,049 to rebuild a 2005 Ford Mustang GT with car company crash parts — three times what it cost to buy the car new — and that excluded the cost of paint and labor.
Thankfully, aftermarket parts help keep repair costs down by ensuring a competitive market exists for consumers, which is why most insurance companies advocate using them.
According to Edmunds, there are pros and cons to both OEM and aftermarket parts. For example, in addition to being less expensive, aftermarket parts are widely available. And, ironically, aftermarket parts can even be of superior quality to their stock counterparts. However, Edmunds also cautions consumers that aftermarket parts can also be of spotty quality.
Some aftermarket parts may not come with a warranty either. In my case, all the parts I purchased came with a 1-year guarantee. That’s the same deal that Honda offered, although Honda’s guarantee included labor.
If you’re making collision repairs, Edmunds recommends using only manufacturer parts. That’s because body panels may not fit properly or have improper crumple zones. Just keep in mind that it’s not uncommon for insurance companies to make you pay the difference between the aftermarket and OEM prices — and that can be a significant sum.
The good news is, the non-profit Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA) thoroughly tests all of their certified aftermarket parts to ensure they “fit, perform and last the same as the originals.”
Even so, there will always be those who don’t think that aftermarket parts are worth it. But ultimately, the final decision is up to you.
Either way, it’s another one of those debates that isn’t going to be settled anytime soon.
Photo Credit: Marianne O’Leary
The Ford dealer wants nearly $30 for a plastic screw that keeps the headlight from vibrating on the passenger side of my hubby’s truck. It’s just a slight vibration – the original one got damaged in a small collision.
The plastic screw is not much bigger than my fingernail.
Ridiculous!
I’ll say it’s ridiculous — that’s highway robbery! So did you try looking for an aftermarket part or alternative replacement part? I bet you can find one over the Internet if you type in the Ford part number and “aftermarket” or “alternative part.”
With something like a plastic screw, you might just take the broken one to a hardware store, and they can match it up with a metal screw for a few cents.
Get a plated screw, and/or spray some rust preventative such as WD-40 on it.
Of course, sometimes those after market parts are counterfeit parts that do not meet OEM standards for strength, etc. That’s probably not a big deal for some parts on cars, but for anything that is critical, like the brake system, I think you are better off with OEM.
The REAL problem with counterfeit parts is the airline industry, where counterfeit parts do not meet FAA standards. You don’t want critical parts failing mid-flight.
That’s actually quite disturbing, DC. I hope the issue isn’t too widespread. Thankfully large passenger jets in the West have enough redundancy built into to them that a malfunction of one part (or even an entire subsystem like an engine, for that matter) is not supposed to ever result in a catastrophic system failure. Not so sure about the smaller commuter airliners — but I suspect it’s the same thing.
The airlines, thankfully, do not want counterfeit parts, but they do want to purchase “real” parts as cheaply as possible, and therein lies the temptation for parts suppliers. The result is, airlines now have to take the time and expense to test parts they purchase to ensure they are the genuine thing.
http://www.generalaviationnews.com/2011/03/16/counterfeit-parts-threaten-aviation/
Were you enjoying the scenery, texting or just thinking about your wonderful wife and were a little distracted?
Well, Dr. Dean, its a long story. And, by the way, technically, the first and last options are kind of related! 😉
That’s a MONSTER difference in price! With the savings between OEM and aftermarket prices you can now take her out to celebrate her new “better-driver-than-you” designation.
Hey, I’m not admitting she’s the better driver now, Joe. Just that things are now, well, too close to call.
Plus with a 1997 Honda Civic you can get a carbon fiber hood with your mesh grill and a set of fake HIDs. I bet that would be similar to the OEM price, haha.
Don’t think I didn’t consider it!
Great info about the parts.
after market parts?
Being frugal is one thing, but being cheap is another.
If your car was a rolling pile of junk to begin with…
If you are not going to keep the car more than a few months…
if your not overly concerned with the proper function of the safety systems built into the car…
if you don’t care about the resale value or trade in value of your car…
just to name a few examples, then sure go ahead and use aftermarket parts to fix your car.
but if you plan to keep your car for years to come…
are not the best driver in the world and may need the safety systems to perform optimally…
are driving a leased car…
would like to park in your inlaws driveway when visiting instead of three blacks away…
don’t want to undergo extensive prosthetic or plastic surgery in the event of a minor fender bender gone awry…
then maybe you should consider factory OEM parts.
of course colored duck tape is also readily available and the Nascar crews swear by it!
I drive a twenty-one year old pickup. Last year I replaced all the front lights with aftermarket parts as the plastic lenses were getting hazy. The set even came with all four head lamp bulbs, but not the parking and turn signal bulbs.
The total set was less than one headlight without bulbs from the dealer, and I could not find anything superior in the OE parts.
Note: I am a retired auto mechanic with over fifty years of experience and know a bit about parts. There are some aftermarket parts that are not worth throwing away.
Our family has used aftermarket parts for years. For the most part – no problems and a lot less spent.
BTW, OEM parts from junked vehicles are another way to go.
I did have a problem with a misfitting tailgate for my 1995 pickup truck and we have been warned by knowledgeable people that some aftermarket sheet steel body parts are not galvanized up to OEM specifications.
My brother has an automotive repair shop. He’s getting a wave of millenial customers who diagnose their car’s problems by entering the symptoms they observe online. Then they buy online the parts which the computer has told them are needed to fix the problem which their computer has diagnosed. The parts are cheaper than what my brother would charge picking up parts from the local parts store. The millenials bring in their malfunctioning cars, and tell my brother what is wrong with them. He very carefully has them tell him EXACTLY what work they want done, what customer supplied parts he will install, how they want their parts installed. He then writes every detail the customer has dictated on the work order, writes the amount of time to do the work ordered, and how much per hour he charges, and totals the amount so the customer knows what the charge will be. Milennial leaves, brother does the work ordered. Milennial returns, pays, picks up car, drives off lot, returns and says, “My car doesn’t work, you didn’t fix it.” Brother replies, I did exactly what you ordered me to do. What you and your computer thought was the problem was not the problem, it was XXX which was the problem, but you did not ask me to use my knowledge to diagnose and fix your car. You saved money by having your car diagnosed over the internet and buying your parts over the internet. And then the milennial is welcome to order more discount parts over the internet and find another shop to fix what is wrong. My brother has an excellent business for more than 30 years, and a very loyal customer base who are happy with his work. His regular customers let him, the mechanic, diagnose the problem, and supply the parts. It seems to work out pretty well for his steady customers.
I owned an auto repair shop for 40 years until I retired. Karen Kinnane wrote of her brother’s policy. I stopped installing customer supplied parts many years ago. My explanation for refusing was: “My best customers buy their parts from me. If I let you supply your own parts for the same labor, you would be getting a better deal than my best customers. THAT is not going to happen.”