Are Aftermarket Parts Good or Bad for the Industry?
4/1/2008
After reading your article on aftermarket parts [February Point CounterPoint, pg. 22], I was inspired to share some of my experiences with my supplier and issues I’ve had with aftermarket parts.
First, let me say that I’m not a fan of aftermarket parts. The reason
is because I make less money on them because they take more time to
install and they cause me more headaches than anything else. For all
you guys who respond to that by saying, “They keep cars from being
totaled,” I say, “Get real.” Most of the time, the difference in price
between aftermarket parts and OEM parts isn’t that much. If you really
don’t want the vehicle to total, instead of giving the customer
substandard parts, why don’t you knock a couple hours off the estimate?
If you really cared about the quality of your repairs, you would do
that.
For many years, I purchased aftermarket parts from a particular
supplier. I followed the same repair procedures I would have if I had
used OEM parts. For instance, if I was replacing a bumper cover, I
would pull the aftermarket part, make sure it was correct, paint it and
then install it. After all, that’s exactly what I would have done if I
had used an OEM cover. In instances where an aftermarket part didn’t
fit, I would call the insurance company, which would then tell me to
call the supplier. Both the insurance company and the supplier would
take pictures, agree that the part didn’t fit and then I would start a
warranty claim. Everything seemed to be fine.
Then one day a representative of my supplier came to my shop and
informed me that the supplier was no longer willing to do business with
me and provided me with a letter that stated as much. I, of course,
asked why, and the reason given to me was “excessive returns” (warranty
claims included in that number). The supplier believed the business
relationship just wasn’t profitable enough. This just didn’t make sense
to me. If my returns consisted of parts that didn’t fit (which were
both inspected by the supplier and the insurance company), then what
was the problem? The problem was that I wasn’t willing to put in extra
time to make these parts fit. But why should I? Who was paying me for
this? The answer is nobody. I just don’t think it’s fair for the
customer to get a repair where the fender was “modified” to fit. I also
don’t think it’s fair to ask a tech (who already complains he doesn’t
make enough money) to spend an extra hour making a fender fit.
The reason I share this story is so that I can also share my new
approach to handling aftermarket parts. I firmly believe that the
person who puts the aftermarket parts on the estimate needs to be the
one responsible for them. When I’m presented with an estimate that has
aftermarket parts on it, I immediately call the insurance company and
offer it two choices: Either pay me to prefit the parts, or it will be
responsible for the entire bill to replace them if they don’t fit. When
I first started doing this, I figured I would be fighting to the bitter
end. But to my surprise, the vast majority of insurance companies will
actually pay you to prefit the parts. I can honestly say that I’m in a
better position in regard to aftermarket parts than I’ve been in a long
time.
Aftermarket parts are not a solution to anything in this industry but
instead are one of its biggest problems. Insurance companies have found
a way to reduce their costs at the expense of myself and my techs.
While I wish I never had to use aftermarket parts, that’s just never
going to be a reality. We’re pretty much a DRP-free shop, and we like
it that way. It actually affords us some say in how cars are repaired.
When I see Tim O’Day from Gerber defending aftermarket parts, it makes
me laugh knowing that his shops are heavily dependent on DRPs and have
to use those parts to make their monthly numbers look good. I’m willing
to bet that given the choice between an aftermarket fender or an OEM
fender, he would always choose the OEM fender.
O’Day refers to insurance companies as his “partners,” and maybe that’s
where our differences begin. I try and repair a car as if it were my
wife’s. I work for the customer; the insurance company is simply the
entity responsible for paying the repair bill. If the insurance company
is really your partner, would it be asking for discounted rates and
percentages off the total bill and requiring you to use certain
percentages of used and aftermarket parts? That doesn’t really sound
like a partner with your best interest at heart.
Guy Hayenga, Production Manager
T&S Bodyworks
Tempe, Ariz.