What Is The Difference Between OEM and Genuine Parts?

If you’ve ever had to fix your car or had to purchase parts then you might have had a ton of questions. There are a lot of us that aren’t gearheads and don’t actually understand the intricacies. You might not have had to buy the parts, just had a few questions that had to answer at the shop. One of the questions in either place you may have had to answer is if you wanted OEM parts or Genuine parts? Well if you don’t know then this probably sent your mind into a stall, why would you want anything other than genuine parts? What’s the difference between the two? Here we’ll go into detail about the difference between the two and how it ultimately affects you, the car owner. 

The first thing we have to do is break down exactly what each of these descriptions are before we can tell you which one you need and why you might go with each option. They make sense when you know what they are but you still may not know what you want to do with your car. An OEM is Original Equipment Manufacturer. In the olden days, it used to be that all car parts were made in house at the factor where the car was built. For efficiency’s sake now different parts of your car are assembled all over the world. the parts are shipped for final assembly in the factory where your car finally comes together. 

OEM parts are not built to be installed on the car when it’s built. These parts are made specifically to be replacement parts for various vehicles, although they are made often by the same people who built the parts that were originally fitted. These parts are built for your car and they are exactly the type of part that was originally on the car. 

Genuine Parts are quite similar to OEM parts. The difference is that they were parts that were originally supposed to be installed on the car when they leave the factory. These parts are often priced higher than OEM parts because they carry the brand logo. Genuine parts often hold very little advantage over OEM parts although there are cases when that’s not true. 

The last type of part that you might encounter when upgrading or repairing your car are what people call aftermarket parts. These are often reverse engineered from original parts, meant to either modify or upgrade the car in one way or another. If you decide to work with aftermarket parts then you have to understand that they are not what the manufacturers intended for the vehicle. Sometimes, they’re better, and sometimes they’re worse. It’s up to you and your auto shop can often help. 

It’s important to understand these distinctions because if you own a car you will probably be faced with this choice. There are times when you might want to spend more than a genuine part and there are going to be times when an OEM part is going to be just fine. The choice is going to be up to you.