Home Cars in our yard Directions / Map Inventory Search Contact / Hours Links
Aftermarket auto body parts (collision replacement parts) provide all consumers an option of good quality and low price parts while they undergo auto collision repair. This alternative creates and maintains an equal competition in the auto repair marketplace to prevent a virtual monopoly of OEM (Original Equipment Manufactured) parts from auto manufactures. The following article clarifies the common misunderstandings for the public:
(source from National Association of Independent Insurers)
Fictions and facts about aftermarket parts
Fiction: Aftermarket parts are inferior in quality to OEM.
Fact: CAPA sets stringent standards for aftermarket parts. CAPA's testing process includes an industry-recognized 500-hour salt spray test to indicate rust resistance. CAPA also tests metal composition, welds, screws, resistance to chipping and scratching, and administers other tests recognized by the Society of Automotive Engineers and the American Society of Testing Materials.
Fiction: Aftermaket parts are unsafe
Fact: Whether they are aftermarket or OEM, crash parts do not affect the safety of a vehicle. That is why there are no federal safety standards for any crash parts, except headlamps and the hinges on hoods (to prevent the hood from going through the windshield in a crash).
Over the years, crash tests performed by the critics of
aftermarket parts have shown that these parts perform no differently than OEM parts.
CAPA-certified fenders and hoods have been proven safe under the most stringent tests
conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which used procedures established
by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, and Allstate's tech-Cor in
wheeling, III. Body shop owners, insurance company representatives, and members of the
media witnessed one of the most recent and controversial, conducted in 1997. Experts
determined that the aftermarket parts performed as well or better than an OEM parts,
particularly the hood, which is the only aftermarket part related to safety concerns (all
others are cosmetic).
Fiction: Competitive collision repair parts can invalidate
OEM warranties on other parts or on the vehicle itself.
Fact: When a crash part has to be replaced, any original
warranty on that part lapses. The warranty on the rest of the vehicle is unaffected. After
the replacement part is installed, the new warranty takes over. Warranties on aftermarket
parts are as good as OEM warranties. Furthermore, federal law prohibits manufacturer from
basing warranties upon the exclusive use of OEM parts.
Fiction: Competitive collision repair parts diminish the
value of a car.
Fact: Cars that are competently repaired to pre-accident
condition should have no diminution of value. However, because the state of the car before
the accident is subject to interpretation, repairs should restore it to pre-accident, no
"like new" condition.
Fiction: CAPA parts are made overseas and cause Americans to
lose jobs.
Fact: Although both aftermarket and OEM parts are
manufactured overseas, many of CAPA's certified parts are made in North America.
Ironically, auto manufacturers outsource the production of OEM parts - in some cases to
the same companies that produce competitive parts. Collision products made domestically
include steel and aluminum bumpers, urethane bumpers, reinforcement bars, radiators,
condensers, lights, grilles and fenders. The aftermarket parts industry currently
represents nearly 30,000 U.S. jobs, including importers, distributors, manufacturers,
recyclers, and shippers.
