Millions of dollars are spent each day on advertising, marketing, developing and promoting brand names for every single automotive product or part.
In the automotive repair industry, many brand name parts have survived because of a strong marketing plan and a product that delivers. If I find a product I like and it does the job with few problems, I will use it until something changes.
But lately, it seems there have been some changes in the quality of major brand parts that make it hard to decide which parts to use.
As a shop owner, I constantly am bombarded with advertising from parts manufacturers and suppliers. This advertising comes from OEM suppliers who call everything but original parts "sub-standard." Then I receive advertising from aftermarket parts manufacturers claiming their products either are the same quality as or better than the original parts.
So does this mean the parts supplier is making a better part for the automakers and a lesser quality part for the aftermarket? Or does it mean that the aftermarket part is really an OE part?
Another trend I have noticed is line switchovers at the warehouse. This is done to fill the line because a brand does not make that part any longer. If a company has spent millions of dollars marketing a brand, why would it put its name on a potentially lesser quality product or have a competitor's name on the part?
Another example tarnishing a brand is re-boxing. A company that sells a brand of fuel pumps that had been around for many years (and that I've had problems with in the past) recently approached me.
Their sales representative said the product had been redesigned, but it produced only half the pressure it was supposed to and required dropping the fuel tank again and installing the brand of pump I normally would install. I called the rep and he picked up the pump to have it tested. The tests showed that it was not their part, and that it had been re-boxed because of a change-over at the warehouse.
Another term I have encountered recently is "running change." For example, I ran into some difficulty getting wiper blades that Ihad used for many years to fit properly on the wiper arm and was told the clip had to be seated a certain way in order to fit. So I tried again, with poor success. My techs also complained about the clips and were reusing the old clips to keep the blades attached to the arm. Finally, after a blade flew off a customer's car during a rainstorm, I called my parts supplier and was told that a change had been made at the manufacturing level. This is a "running change." I don't think it's the type of brand recognition the company is looking for.
Companies need to realize how much it costs them in negative advertising when they cut corners for economic reasons. Building a brand involves more than a nice ad in a trade magazine.
Chuck Hartogh is president and founder of C&M Auto Service Inc. of Glenview, Ill. He is an ASE-Certified Master, L1 Technician who has been in the industry since 1976.
