[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by vikram_d

You should be very careful while buying automobile bearings from outside. Close to 70% of them are fake bearings even with the bearing dealers themselves.

Secondly most of the automobile bearing that come out into the open market are those that have been rejected by the automobile manufacturer due to various reasons.

This does not mean that you don't get genuine bearings outside. You do, but you need to be able to tell a genuine bearing from a fake one.

I am aware of that vikram. I have been buying spares for cars for the last 20 plus years & by now, I know where to buy the genuine stuff. Thanks anyway.

[filcord]

It certainly is a Restrictive Trade practice IMHO. But I am not well-versed in MRTP practice. Need some expert to pronounce here.

[condor]

vikram_d : Secondly most of the automobile bearing that come out into the open market are those that have been rejected by the automobile manufacturer due to various reasons.

@Vikram, the word "most" indicates > 50%. Do you mean to say that more than half the bearings available in the market are faulty (to whatever extent) ? And if they have been rejected by the manufacturer, then they would not be fit for use.

How are 'most' of these pieces rejected - after visual inspection / after trial ?

More bearings would be available in the market than supplied to the manufacturers. If most of the bearings available in the market are faulty, it indicates a very very bad quality ratio at the vendor end. This should not be the case.

It is more likely that in the market, there are more spurious parts than rejected parts.

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by condor

@Vikram, the word "most" indicates > 50%. Do you mean to say that more than half the bearings available in the market are faulty (to whatever extent) ? And if they have been rejected by the manufacturer, then they would not be fit for use.

How are 'most' of these pieces rejected - after visual inspection / after trial ?

More bearings would be available in the market than supplied to the manufacturers. If most of the bearings available in the market are faulty, it indicates a very very bad quality ratio at the vendor end. This should not be the case.

It is more likely that in the market, there are more spurious parts than rejected parts.

Well the auto manufacturers are pretty finicky about the bearings. It seems that they get rejected even if the noise levels of the bearings are not acceptable to them. Noise is just an example. There are plenty of tests that are done on bearings

They have various test benches to test different things on bearings. The tests are done on those on a sample basis and even if a very small percentage are found not ok, the whole lot is rejected.

Quality ratio depends on the vendor. Some of the major names like Tata, FAG, SKF & Timken have good quality systems. But some of the others are not so good.

Also when the bearing manufacturer themselves find fault with a particular batch. The whole batch is off-loaded into the open market rather than being sent to the auto manufacturer.

Yes there are more fake bearings in the market than rejected bearings.

[1100D]

In US they have parts counters with dealership at the showroom itself. Even Merc parts are sold over the counter.

[akhilesh51]

Maruti does OTC sale but most dealers refrain from providing parts to customers.

They make one or other excuse about part unavailability with the same part miraculously appearing if the car is serviced at MASS.

Sometimes good ideas dont really carry on due to shoddy implementation.

[Jomz]

Originally Posted by YC.BALENO.CHD

Maruti Zen's spares from arch rival's dealership?
You sure if it was an authorized hyundai dealer? Did not you find why they had zen's spares with them?
Were they genuine spares and not used ones?
This really sounds very strange.I am surprised,though good for you that you got the spares for your car.

Cheers!!

He was an authorized Hyuindai service centre then- Now he got sales too.

THe reason why he stocked Zen spares were because, since there were not many hyundai's in that part of town, he needed to sevice maruti's and fiat's to make a profit. He had palio spares too.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Some issues which may never have crossed our minds:-

EurActiv.com - Carmakers to lose design protection for spare parts | EU - European Information on Transport & Services

Ministry of Consumer Affairs - Business Info - Consumer Guarantees Act - Manufacturers and Importers

Spare Parts and their Protection / 2

NYS DMV - (Brochure) Know Your Rights in Auto Repair

http://www.maine.gov/ag/dynld/documents/clg6.pdf (pdf file)

Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress)

• • (7) Consumers in the United States have benefited from the availability of an aftermarket parts supply, or parts and accessories used in the repair, maintenance, or enhancement of a motor vehicle. The American economy has also benefitted from the availability of an aftermarket parts supply that provides jobs to over 5 million workers in 495,000 businesses, and generates $200 billion in annual sales.

• • (8) Vehicle owners in the United States should have the right--

• • • (A) to all information necessary to allow the diagnosis, service, and repair of their vehicles;

• • • (B) to choose between original parts and aftermarket parts when repairing their motor vehicles; and

[greenhorn]

Just checked with the TASC.They also do over the counter sales.In fact,just bought a fuse from them.Attaching a bill from the TASC and the authorized spares shop .

[muneemmk]

Genuine Maruti,Tata and HM spares are available from spare parts dealers in most citys ,but in Coimbatore the biggest spare parts shop(Aditya/Alagendra Auto Spares) have different counter for almost all the manufacturers, I was amazed at the way the shop was setup because,when I inquired weather the parts are original they conformed that they do have both original and duplicate in stock and the originals comes right from the manufacture. The counter were there for Honda,Ford,Toyota,Opel,Chevy,Fiat etc. But I guess some one from that city might be able to explain about the genuineness of these spares

Earlier the Honda two wheeler spares were not given off the counter that changed when Honda decided to appoint authorized spares reseller in almost all the citys.I used to work in Honda two wheeler spares, when we did no counter sales the monthly sales were about 10lakhs,but after the counter sales have started the sales have been in the 20+ Lakh region isn't it enough reason for them to sell it to the local mechs ?why wouldn't the manufacturer adopt this strategy,they might make a seriously quick buck if they get their acts right,at the cost of the a s s losing it's customers.

[Ravveendrra]

There used to be a time when one walked to one's favourite sutomobile spare parts shop and bought whatever spares one needed. One after the other, the manufacturers stopped supplying spares to independent shops and sold spares only through their dealers. Soon, that too stopped and they put up signs saying "No Counter Sales" which meant that they would not hand over the spares to you. You had to get your vehicle repaired at the dealer's A.S.C. in order to obtain spares. Workshop manuals and equipment are even harder to come by. Electronic codes and programmes are never disclosed under some kind of an Un-Official Secrets Act.

Too many owners are complaining about poor standards in A.S.C.s and unscrupulous dealers. A major factor that drives them back to these incompetent or unscrupulous A.S.C.s is the unavailability of spares in the open market.

My solution to the problem is that manufacturers should and, should be compelled, to make spare parts, manuals etc. freely available to owners of cars.

IMHO, this move will remove the monopoly that A.S.C.s have on the service, maintainance and repair industry. I feel that this monopoly restricts the car-owners right to get his vehicle serviced/repaired by a facility of his choice and is odious, irrational and a restrictive trade practice. This will ensure the survival of independent workshops and provide better service to car owners.

I wonder how many agree with me.

Cheers,

[diffsoft]

+100% agree with you.

My 2 paisa below

I think the industry may have to change its mindset. Today, as I understand car makers offer a paltry sum to dealers ( ~ 1 - 2%??) on every car sold with the hope that they can recover their investments through A*S*S. Dealers, having put up heavy investments - prime land for showroom and land for servicing, frontage, inventory and software. A lot of it is likely funded by bank loans. Over the past few years, these investments have risen manifold.

Dealers are hence under pressure to generate cash flows and A*S*S is the only reliable source of revenue - even if cars do not sell.

Further if the dealer indulges in counter sales only along with counter sales + A*S*S, then his servicing folks on his roll are not fully utilized and that adds additional pressure on the financials.

One other disadvantage that dealers will face is that because most non-authorized centers are proprietorships, there will generally be no taxes slapped thus working out cheaper as well.

[WhiteKnight]

Yes and YES.

As the owner of the car, one should be allowed to purchase spares from the manufacturer directly.

I guess this is one good case for Consumer court. If an owner decides a DIY, hasn't he got the right to get spares, since he has already bought the car?

[mrwalker]

Originally Posted by diffsoft

Dealers are hence under pressure to generate cash flows and A*S*S is the only reliable source of revenue - even if cars do not sell.

One other disadvantage that dealers will face is that because most non-authorized centers are proprietorships, there will generally be no taxes slapped thus working out cheaper as well.

Would be hard to find anyone that disagrees with the assertion made. I do agree partially with the logic proposed above, that for dealers A.S.S. is an important source of revenue that needs to be preserved.

However there are A.S.C.s for certain manufacturers who are not dealers so the above-mentioned logic doesn't apply there.

The main point is that instead of improving the A.S.Cs/ S.S.S. centres service capabilities, thereby ensuring that customers are willing to pay a small premium for complete peace of mind, manufacturers seem to have focussed on a strategy of blocking non A.S.C.s from service.

While this may be theoretically a good move (purely from the manufacturers/ dealers/ A.S.Cs point of view) it is bound to surrender to the law of unintended consequences because the underlying problem i.e. poor/ irregular quality of service at A.S.Cs has not been resolved. Observable impact would be the growth of spurious spare parts/ black markets in genuine spares, which will negatively impact the manufacturer's reputation in the long run.

[NutsNBolts]

It is a must. Dealers who offer A.S.S try to run dealership on corporate models but fail miserably due to myriad of reasons. Simple thing will be, someone buys a car, registers at the manufacturer website with chassis number and is allowed to browse through spares database neatly categorised with part number, a picture and price; allowing him to choose the nearest spares parts dealer. Here owner emerges the king and manufacturer has a satisfied consumer.