What is the Difference Between OE and Aftermarket Parts?
Aftermarket and OE parts are terms many people may be familiar with but not fully understand. When the time approaches to replace parts in your vehicle you may be faced with the choice of using either aftermarket or OE parts, and it’s important to understand what the difference is.
What is an OE/OEM Part?
OE simply stands for Original Equipment, while OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. An OE part is created by the original manufacturer of a vehicle, built specifically for that application. All of the components fitted to a brand new car leaving the factory will be OE.
OEM signifies a part created by an authorised manufacturer of that part. These are used as replacements for when the OE part fails. These will typically be fitted by the car manufacturer’s official technicians, but they can also be available from a local garage if they are OEM certified.
What are Aftermarket Parts?
Aftermarket parts are manufactured as a copy of the original. They are not associated with the original manufacturer and are sold as a cheaper alternative to replace the OE part. A good aftermarket brand will reverse engineer the OE part and work out ways to improve upon it.
Pros and Cons of Aftermarket Parts?
Pros
Price
Aftermarket parts are a much cheaper alternative to OEM. When it comes to certain costly repairs it is always ideal to reduce the cost as much as possible. Use of aftermarket parts, which tend to be at least half the price of OEM, can greatly reduce this burden. Additionally, most insurers will prefer this option to reduce costs.
Availability
There is a wide selection of parts available today in the aftermarket and this freedom of choice is a huge benefit. Not only does this competitive space allow for more variety and cheaper prices, it is also more convenient to get the parts. An OEM part will need to be ordered specially and may take time to arrive, while most aftermarket parts are available for next-day or same-day delivery. One may already be available from a local motor factor or garage.
Quality
Quality always varies, especially when there is so much choice. However, a lot of parts available in the aftermarket meet OE standards with some even exceeding them.
Cons
Quality
While there are a lot of OE quality parts available, the variety does mean that there will be parts that do not live up to the original and may even fail prematurely.
Warranty
Usually, all OEM parts come with warranty as standard. However, not every aftermarket part comes with a warranty.
Summary
What is the Difference between OE, OEM and Aftermarket?
- OE – Original Equipment, this is what is fitted to the vehicle at the time of manufacture
- OEM – Original Equipment Manufacturer, this is a brand tasked with creating OE copies to be used as an authentic replacement for OE parts
- Aftermarket – Copies of OE parts, created and sold by a third party as a cheaper alternative to OE parts
What are the Pros and Cons of Aftermarket Parts?
Pros
- Cheaper price
- More variety of parts
- Some parts can be higher quality than OE
Cons
- Some parts can be lower quality than OE
- Some aftermarket parts do not come with a warranty
GT Automotive – Offering OE Quality in the Aftermarket
GT Automotive was formed around our OEM brand, who supply OE parts to our global client base. Our directors are directly involved with OE projects and this knowledge has been utilised in GT Automotive. We know what goes into an OE part and we have taken this same attention to detail in our range of aftermarket parts.
All genuine GT Automotive parts are branded with our logo and are fully traceable. You can rest assured knowing that each GT Automotive part is backed by 4 decades of OE experience and comes with a year/12,000 miles warranty.
