Vehicle spare parts sourcing.

 

Purchasing your vehicle comes with a lot of emotions and thoughts. This is because you commit a lot of funds to get the vehicle and the uncertainty that comes with it.

After the purchase of the vehicle, whether new or preowned, there comes the maintenance of the vehicle i.e. the after-sales service. This includes regular maintenance routines such as engine oil changes, oil, and fuel filter change, brake pads ( if need be ), air cleaner, etc. As the vehicle ages on, delicate parts such as the shock absorbers, belts, bushings, rod links and others get to be changed.

Image courtesy: www.carandbike.com 

Sourcing spare parts for your vehicle can be a headache whether your vehicle is new or not. According to www.thebusinessresearchcompany.co, the global motor vehicle parts market grew from $ 2.336 billion in 2021 to $ 2.515 billion in 2022.

Spare parts availability is and has been a great selling point for automobile manufacturers, dealerships, and franchises when selling new vehicles but this has not always been the case when car owners want spare parts for their cars. 

They are therefore compelled to look outside the dealership or franchise . In this conversation, we will look at the differences and similarities in sourcing your car spare parts from the dealership or franchise and the open market.

Quality of Product

The main point every car owner or technician considers when buying a spare part is the quality of the part.  

Dealerships and franchises source their spare parts from the Original Equipment Manufacturers ( OEMs ) as part of their business agreement with them, especially when they have a service centre aside from their sales department. With this agreement, they are supplied with original parts with assured levels of quality. Dealerships and franchises are not permitted to source spare parts from the open market or generic parts else they face a penalty from the OEMs should anything go wrong.

Whereas at the open market, the dealers buy and stock generic parts that work with various models and also stock spare parts from some OEMs but do not have any formal agreement with them.

So, a businessman from Ghana who operates a car garage or a spare parts shop can travel to Germany to buy generic spare parts as well as original spare parts from an OEM store and bring it to his shop in Ghana to sell.

Warranty 

According to industry practice, a warranty on car spare parts lasts up to 90 days but this is not absolute since there are some conditions attached.

If you purchase a car spare part from a dealership or a franchise, they will honour the warranty on the part of a trained technician from the dealership or franchise who works on your car and fixes the part. 

If you purchase the spare part from them and a technician who is not authorized by the franchise or dealership works on your car, they will not honour the warranty because they can not guarantee the technical ability of the technician who worked on it. This 

also depends on the type of spare parts, whether it is an electrical part or a mechanical part.

With open market dealerships, most of them do not offer a warranty on the spare parts sold because they do not have formal agreements with the OEMs and other spare parts sources, be it a new or used part. If any warranty is offered, it will be at the discretion of the dealer.

Pricing

Prices of car spare parts differ most of the time between the franchise or dealerships and the open market. In Ghana, prices at franchises and dealerships are mostly higher than the open market for spare parts with the same quality. 

This is largely due to higher taxes, overheads cost, and the profit margins by the dealerships and franchises aside from the cost of the parts, shipping, and others.

Some will argue that, since they have agreements with the OEMs, they will spare parts at a relatively lower price than the open market dealer, which is true.

Procedure

Whenever you visit a dealership or franchise to purchase a spare part, the spare parts consultant will request your Vehicle Identification Number ( VIN ), also known as a Chassis number. This is a unique alphanumeric code that helps to get the exact part code or number so that you can be supplied with the correct spare part. 

VIN Number of a car

Every OEM has unique software for generating part codes or numbers available to their affiliated dealerships and franchises.

Whereas when you visit an open market shop, the parts attendant will request the name of the part you need, the model of the vehicle, and the year of manufacture. 

At times, they will request the old spare part for physical comparison so that they can supply you with the right spare parts. 

Parts Availability

Franchises and dealerships especially, stock spare parts of brands and models they sell and distribute. When newer models are introduced in their showrooms, they stock basic maintenance parts such as oil and fuel filters, air cleaner elements, brake pads, and other seasonal parts such as wiper blades. With time, they begin to stock other parts.

As older models, which could be between 10 and 15 years, are faded out of the system for newer ones, some of their spare parts are no longer stocked once they run out.

This is quite different from the open market shops. For them, they stock spare parts for as many brands as possible since they are not restricted or affiliated with any OEM unless they have dedicated their shops to a specific brand.

They also stock parts for much older models as long as they are in the system and there is demand. 

Franchises and Dealerships and Open market shops complement each other; they serve different customer bases in the automobile space. Always insist on genuine parts irrespective of where you are sourcing them to save yourself from future cost costs.

I believe this should guide you whenever you want to source spare parts for your car and what to expect.

About the Author 

Edmond Nana Flynt is the CEO and founder of Flynt Automobile, an automobile startup that is also into automobile events, consultancy, and sales agency services.

Email: edmond@flyntautomobile.com

Whatsapp: +233 (0)20 946 1390

LinkedIn: Edmond Nana Flynt