QUALITY OF PARTS

The automotive repair industry, like many others, is currently plagued by inferior parts.  The majority of parts manufacturers are globally sourcing their production facilites.  Even brands like AC Delco are now purchasing and reselling some parts made oversees.  Many of these globally sourced parts are inferior to American made products.  We have installed these parts on customer's vehicles when requested by the customer "to do the job as cheap as possible".  Many parts, especially electrical parts, didn't work right out of the box.  Others failed in a matter of months.

It should come as no surprise that inferior parts come at a cheaper price.  The globally sourced parts can be more than 50% less costly than the better, often American made, part.  Higher quality parts are not always made here.  Most brake rotors are currently being manufactured in China.  Some are being made to higher standards than others and an inferior rotor can cause brake squeaks.

To further complicate the situation, many inferior parts manufacturers are selling their product using the same part number found on the better product.  A consumer has no way of knowing which quality of part was actually installed on their vehicle by looking at their repair invoice.  In fact, some repair facilities don't even list part numbers.  Accordingly, when a customer comes to us with a brake squeak after having new brakes replaced at another facility, there is no way of knowing what parts were in fact installed, except for the price.  Which begs the question: Would a car repair facility charge regular price for inferior parts? 

What can you do as a consumer?  Know your repair facility.  Choose a garage recommended by others who have had a good experience there.  If you are still in the process of gaining trust with the facility, ask them to save the box your parts came in, before repairs are started.