Why are genuine spare parts so expensive?

Angry faces suddenly appear in the empty space where I had hoped to catch my next breath, and in an explosion of noise, teeth gleaming, fingers twitching, and sometimes a shower of indignant moisture, I am told that official car dealerships deserve to be fed rolls of barbed wire… and peaches!

But of course, I say they do, with drawing pins in whipped cream for dessert, followed by a full-body aloe vera massage. But why?

Everyone knows that the original part is probably better quality and will likely cost more (and be more valuable). It may even be twice as much. But not five or ten times as much!

There are certainly cases where this difference is outrageous, but in the vast majority of cases, the part is not the same. By comparison, you can buy an Omega watch made in the Far East at a local Duka for about 1,800 shillings. For a while, it tells the time well enough. Or you can buy an Omega watch from a reputable jeweler and it tells the time, for a very long time, very well indeed. For 180,000 shillings.

In short, an original spare part that has all duties and taxes paid for by the official dealer is more expensive than a spare part from a thief in a back street who sees the taxes as a scam by the printers to force everyone to buy two notebooks.

There may be many reasons why official dealers deserve to have their teeth cleaned with a Brillo pad and fire hoses, but the fact remains that original parts are more precisely manufactured, with better materials, and cost more to manufacture; their dealers are forced to stock a larger quantity of a wider range of parts, both fast-moving parts with high turnover rates and slow-moving parts that require expensive storage. They are in it for the long haul, they incur higher costs, they pay better wages, and most of the parts they stock are original (OE) and carry a warranty.

The markups that car manufacturers charge for parts are much higher because they have to be. New car prices are constrained by fierce competition between brands, and profit margins must be low to attract customers. By contrast, customers who buy original car parts from car manufacturers constitute a “captive” market.

Inevitably, the prices of genuine spare parts will be higher than those of an independent operator who only stocks fast-moving spare parts, usually of counterfeit brands, almost always of lower quality, and almost always without a warranty or a significant tax component in their purchase or selling cost.

Perhaps what the customer should celebrate is that they have choice. No one is forced to use an official dealer or buy an original spare part. If you think a Sh5,000 part is “better value” than a Sh20,000 part, go for it.

Experience shows that in many cases the cheapest option is a false economy, calculated in kilometers per shilling of reliable service life.

This doesn’t apply to all parts of all brands, of course, but there is another dimension if a part is “safety critical” or “consequence critical.”

A safety-critical part is one that, if it fails, will not only cause engine failure, but also cause an accident. Steering and brake components are at the top of this list. A consequence-critical part is one that, if it fails, will not only require replacing the part itself, but will also damage something else. An example of this is the oil filter, a failure of which can damage or destroy the entire engine.

When it comes to safety or consequences, installing a part is like shooting a gun. If you use a part from another part, you won’t know which way the barrel is pointing when you pull the trigger. It could be pointing right between your eyes.

So, you have the choice that has always been around since highways (and bandits) were first invented: “Stop and hand over your money or your life.”