There's no easy answer to the question, "Should I buy genuine (OEM) accessories or aftermarket?' There are arguments for and against and we outline them below.
Reasons To Buy From The Dealer (OEM/Genuine Options)
Convenience
If you're buying a brand new car, it's a big purchase both financially, emotionally and it can also take up a lot of time. It's invariably more complicated than you first think. Even a simple straightforward purchase will necessitate a fair amount of research to ensure you've made the right choice and got the best price (Note: maybe sure you use PriceMyCar to help you with this!) but if you involve finance, insurance, a trade-in and maybe a bunch of options it can get complicated very quickly. So, if you do have accessories to add, there's a strong case for just getting it done at the dealer and get your car delivered boots n all rather than traipsing around after delivery adding the final touches.
Resale
Not so significant if you're keeping the car for a while (say 10yrs+) but if you're planning changeover your new 4WD in 3-4 years and it's fitting out with a heap of options, you can expect to get a greater resale on that additional value if you've gone with the manufacturer accessories in the first place.
Warranty
No matter the quality of your aftermarket parts, some OEM's will claim that third party installations may void certain parts of the standard new car warranty. Unlikely for peripheral items like headlight protectors or roof racks or replaceble parts like spark plugs but cut a sunroof in your new car after delivery and if there are any issues, you may struggle to get a resolution at the dealership.
Quality
Once you decide purchase outside of the dealer network, you’ll have access to the best and the worst in terms of quality. There’s no accountability like you’ll get with OEM products so there is an increase risk that the product may not cut the mustard.
Reasons To Buy After Delivery (Aftermarket)
Cost
It will almost always be cheaper getting your parts of accessories through a third-party provider such as SparesBox. And this certainly doesn’t mean that they are inferior in quality just that a new car dealership with all its trimmings and overheads is more focussed on sales, finance, and servicing so sourcing and fitting accessories may not be as efficient as elsewhere
Keep it simple
With all the smoke and mirrors when it comes to new car pricing (PMC Plug – check our crowd-sourced data before you even speak to a dealer!), sometimes it better just to focus on the car itself so you can compare apples with apples. Dealers will ‘throw in’ extras or sell at cost to get the deal. On the flipside, they may use these options to build profit margin into the deal…. It’s easy to get confused.
Choice
Generally, a manufacturer will offer one or a very limited number of options when it comes to accessories. Visit a specialist after you’ve got your car and you’ll be able to customise your purchase to precisely meet your requirements.
Stamp Duty (avoiding it)
In most state and territories if you order OEM options with your new car, these will be reflected on the sales contract and therefore attract a stamp duty charge. It’s not a huge amount but if you can avoid paying and extra 5% tax on your $5,000 worth of parts and accessories, then why wouldn’t you?
