[Nithesh_M]

Most manufacturers design a lot of components in-house but then handover the design blueprints(parts drawing/assembly drawings) to 3rd party vendors who will manufacture them at a much lower price and ship them back to factory for assembly. This method was used to save time and resources(manpower/machinery etc) a long time ago on some non critical components but today manufacturers have pretty much made it mainstream with many major components both critical and non critical depending on how good the OEM's vendors are from a manufacturing basis(equipment, factory etc).

So the extra moolah you pay when you buy from a manufacturer is also inclusive of the engineering(R&D) cost recovery for them(which also includes their profit margin and is not necessarily the R&D cost for that part but the whole car in general) whereas if you buy it directly from the same OEM part vendor, they will charge you the price it takes to manufacture one + their profit margin which turns out to be a lot cheaper than the manufacturer's pricing.

Ofcourse, sometimes the manufacturer prefers to rely on foreign vendors for brakes/suspension components and some Japanese manufacturers prefer to import their spares(paying hefty automotive spares taxes) than rely on a local vendor for it. That is also another reason why aftermarket spares can be a lot cheaper than OEM spares.

[sam_sant2005]

Now let me add a new perspective to this discussion.

Mahindra for instance, sells accessories, spares at x or y pricing. Obviously for accessories they do daylight robbery (similar with other car brands too). Now if you go to m2all.com which is their certified spares online inventory, you get items for 'actual' price.

My experience was when I bought my XUV W7 AT 6 months back, I bought an alloy for 37k through Mahindra accessories. It was the black horse shoe shaped one. I had longed to have the OEM silver alloy but when I enquired the accessories guy told that it costs 68k so that is the reason I went with 37k one. Now after purchase I came to know about m2all website and when I checked, the OEM silver costed only 44000rs. Immediately I escalated and after 2 months of fight, Mahindra had the black horse shoe replaced with OEM silver alloys FREE OF COST, that is when I told them I would expose this in team bhp


And going one step even further, there is a site called boodmo where any brand, any spare is available. I happened to order door ajar lamps which are not currently available in Mahindra stores. It took a month to reach but they were OEM lumax in Mahindra packaging itself for the base spare price. Later I went to Mahindra dealership and asked them to fit it with base fitting charges. Saved 4k!

Hence my point here is, before you go outside to fix something, may be you should first try to check if you are being cheated on spare prices by dealership. If you find something unusual, escalate and force them to give on actual prices and not ballooned prices. It worked for me so far!

[hserus]

Boodmo is simply a way for you to shop in Kashmere Gate where they're based and which is Delhi's largest spare parts, lubes, accessories etc market. If you order Mahindra spares they will just pass the order to a Mahindra dealer and buy it through him, ship it to you.

M2all is good but it's delivery is hit and miss with long delays.

[sam_sant2005]

Originally Posted by hserus

Boodmo is simply a way for you to shop in Kashmere Gate where they're based and which is Delhi's largest spare parts, lubes, accessories etc market. If you order Mahindra spares they will just pass the order to a Mahindra dealer and buy it through him, ship it to you.

M2all is good but it's delivery is hit and miss with long delays.

May be your point is true on boodmo. However please note Sireesh Bangalore could not arrange door ajar lights for 3 months saying they are not getting it. Then I made this boodmo order and it came. When I went there to fix, they started asking me how I managed it and I said I have good contacts in Mahindra and if you want any spares I can arrange on commission

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by hserus

Boodmo is simply a way for you to shop in Kashmere Gate where they're based and which is Delhi's largest spare parts, lubes, accessories etc market. If you order Mahindra spares they will just pass the order to a Mahindra dealer and buy it through him, ship it to you.

M2all is good but it's delivery is hit and miss with long delays.

From my experience tata parts for boodmo are sent out of a rajasthan location.
However, for items not in stock in Rajasthan, you get random Kashmere gate parts almost all of which I have had to send back

[hserus]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

From my experience tata parts for boodmo are sent out of a rajasthan location.
However, for items not in stock in Rajasthan, you get random Kashmere gate parts almost all of which I have had to send back

They have one or two merchants named "RA" something that seem to be their own outfit - just because they're as common on Boodmo as Cloudtail on Amazon, and that's what ships from Rajasthan.

When you order based on specific part numbers you get exactly what you ask for. I ordered Ford parts and got them with actual Ford dispatch stickers on them showing that they were sent to some Ford ASS as spares.

[designersf]

I want to give my $0.02 because there's a lot of information which I don't think is right.

Disclaimer: I work at a reputed supplier in the US that has manufacturing plants around the world (including multiple in India).

Let me tell you one thing from my experience - Parts developed for OE applications and sold directly to OEs go through extensive development. The average time it takes to develop the suspension component I work on is ~2-2.5 years from RFQ (When OEs send suppliers 'Request for quotation' for a particular part) to SOP. In the US, the average cost of a part we sell to OE customers is approx US$15-30 depending on the complexity and specifications. OEs order the parts for production vehicles and their service requirements for dealership/service center consumption. By contract, we sell them the parts at the same price I mentioned above but they sell it in the dealerships/service centers for anywhere from $80-150 depending on their pricing strategy. OEs make anywhere from $50-$135 profit on these parts and the supplier does not get any cut.

Our company has an 'Aftermarket' division which makes parts that are 'OE replacement' but not exactly OE for anywhere from $40-70. Let me tell you one thing about the aftermarket division - They can develop and sell 'OE replacement parts' within 1 - 1.5 years. This gives you a clear idea of what you are getting.

To give you an example, a very demanding German OE asks for 720 hours of salt spray corrosion resistance on their suspension component (salt is used in the winter to melt snow). While this is met by suppliers for parts supplied to OEs, the 'OE replacement' parts which is made by the aftermarket division look about the same but are designed to meet only 240 hours (The degree to which a part resists rust is not such a big deal in India as there is no salt on the roads in winter). The case is the same for general durability and longevity as well. As mentioned by someone before, the part tolerances are also relaxed. OE expectation for this suspension part in the US is about 10 years or 100,000 miles minimum while 'OE replacement' is rated for 50,000-70,000 miles max.

Interim conclusion - From my experience, 'Genuine OE parts' from OE's service center are of much higher quality than 'OE replacement'. It all comes down to what you want from a replacement part and how much you want to spend. (I bought a replacement part for my '08 Sentra and noticed how the 'OE replacement' started rusting within 1 year while the 'Genuine OE' that my car came with showed very little rust after ~8-9 years).

However, there is a caveat. If a supplier supplies to an OE, their aftermarket division can mimic the OE design without much effort and sell a similar part for a lower cost. In this case, it is worth buying an 'OE replacement' instead of 'Genuine OE'.

What I say above is my own experience in the US. It may or may not translate to other countries but as an engineer who develops parts to meet the demanding needs of customers, I wanted to give me $0.02 when people say 'OE replacement' is as good or better than 'OE Genuine parts'.

[hserus]

Thanks. That is doubtless 100% true for more significant components such as suspensions. What about for consumables such as oil / air filters? What about for rubber parts?

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by designersf

However, there is a caveat. If a supplier supplies to an OE, their aftermarket division can mimic the OE design without much effort and sell a similar part for a lower cost. In this case, it is worth buying an 'OE replacement' instead of 'Genuine OE'.

In this scenario, There is an assumption that the OE replacement and Genuine OE are the same thing
1. - Is this 'mimicking' the oe design a photocopy of the genuine design, or are there IP/legal constraints which necessitate (at least on paper) engineering ordinary parts(non software, or parts with copyrighted or trademarked logo/design elements) from scratch?
2. If the design is exactly the same, does it make sense from an economic/logistic to use the same exact materials and processes to manufacture both, or are the oe replacements manufactured separately, depending on pricing and positioning, inferior/superior to the Genuine stuff ?

[Leoshashi]

My experience till date:

1. Where OEM is as good as the Branded spare part: Have experienced this with companies like Subros, Lucas TVS and Denso where compared to MGP, price of OE spare is almost 50%, but the part quality and stuff is exactly same. For example, MGP Alternator for my car costs 10k in MGP(made by Denso), 5k in Denso aftermarket. Subros compressor in MGP costs 15k, same thing in Aftermarket costs 8k. MGP distributor made by Lucas costs 10k, same thing in aftermarket directly by Lucas costs 7k. In such cases I prefer to save some cash since it's the exact same stuff I'm getting without any evident compromise in Quality.

2. Where quality of OEM was worse than branded: Have experienced this case too. Case in point, Lumax. In MGP, Lumax HL for a car costs Rs. 600, the same thing directly from Lumax stores is available for as little as Rs. 280. But there is a day and night difference between the quality, fit and finish. I am not sure how, but this has been my experience with both Lumax and Minda. The parts they supply to Manufacturers are of far greater quality than those they supply in market through their own channels. In such cases, I'll prefer the manufacturer branded part anyday.

[cooldude1988765]

At the outset I would like to thank everyone for their valuable suggestions and i apologize for the long hiatus.

Update with regards to the shocks is that I purchased the parts (same brand as what was already on the car from the factory) from a large automotive parts dealer in Ranigunj, Hyderabad and replaced them at my FNG. It costed me just under 5k all in including tips to the guys who worked on the car.

I have driven around 2-3 thousand kilometres since the change and i cannot notice any difference between the stock shocks and the replacements.
Its too early to tell but i promise to keep this thread updated in case there are any issues.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions once again.

[greendream]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Where quality of OEM was worse than branded: Have experienced this case too. Case in point, Lumax. In MGP, Lumax HL for a car costs Rs. 600, the same thing directly from Lumax stores is available for as little as Rs. 280. But there is a day and night difference between the quality, fit and finish. I am not sure how, but this has been my experience with both Lumax and Minda. The parts they supply to Manufacturers are of far greater quality than those they supply in market through their own channels. In such cases, I'll prefer the manufacturer branded part anyday.

I am to purchase fog lamps for my swift zxi 2007. One of them is gone, I understand that I will need to buy a pair. What do you suggest?Thanks in advance.

[coolkurt]

Originally Posted by cooldude1988765

I have driven around 2-3 thousand kilometres since the change and i cannot notice any difference between the stock shocks and the replacements.
Its too early to tell but i promise to keep this thread updated in case there are any issues.

Glad to hear its worked out well. The stock struts in my civic lasted all of 9 years before I went in for a replacement. I've gone for the OEM struts this time around and it's holding well after almost 4 years. But I think I've got lucky with them. The other good part that's worked out for me is the engine mount. Paying 1/4th of the cost I'd have paid for at HASS.

Most of the other OEM parts I've bought lasted less than what I'd have gotten them for from Honda although reliability has been good. But then, I've paid a lot lesser for them as well. So I guess it evens out.

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by designersf

Interim conclusion - From my experience, 'Genuine OE parts' from OE's service center are of much higher quality than 'OE replacement'. It all comes down to what you want from a replacement part and how much you want to spend.

The stock stabilizer link rods of my car survived for more than 5 years before giving up. The authorised service center quoted me around 5K INR for the replacement of the both side link rods. The cost felt bit higher to me for such small looking (but important) parts at that time.

Later I bought aftermarket TRD link rods which costed me around 2K for both. The link rods gave up within couple of years and started making unbearable noise.

Finally I replaced the link rods at the authorised service station. Hope they deliver performance of the stock link rods.

Now I started believing that if you want to save some money on the maintenance of a failed stock components then better to first try getting it repaired from some skilled technician at aftermarket garage. If the components is non-repairable then better to get it replaced at the authorised service station unless you have some reliable source which can supply quality spare parts with assurance of reliability.

[scorpian]

Originally Posted by greendream

I am to purchase fog lamps for my swift zxi 2007. One of them is gone, I understand that I will need to buy a pair. What do you suggest?Thanks in advance.

You dont need to buy a pair, you can purchase the one that is damaged in MGP. However check if the other one is dull or faded,or else one will look nice and shiny and the other one dull.