That is absolutely right. You can bet your life that as soon as someone sells, say, a really top-quality oil pump for £50, everyone selling the cheapie crap ones will claim them as the same 'top-quality' and ask £40 for their junk. Then we would be back where we started.
I think the only answer is for mini suppliers to make sure that parts ARE good quality before selling them. Maybe to only sell one brand too.
If you ask minispares what is best, they will tell you ''these parts are much better'', so why not just sell those parts? It would probably mean that they would be able to sell them at a slightly cheaper price too, because they would sell more of them
I agree whole heartedly with above sentiment. Until people start looking deeper at the parts. A quick web search for part number AAU1365 which is the main roller bearing at the heart of the gearbox reveals several web results. We will on stock the original spec RHP bearing, and at our normal retail price they are just over £50. In the same search results, under exactly the same original Rover number you will find a substantially cheaper aftermarket bearing.
And this is just one item, I could name many many more.....
In this instance we have a choice. A potential failure of a cheap bearing could cost an awful lot of money to repair and replace, with the ability to ruin an entire power unit. We will stock the cheaper one? Hell no? Does the end user know that he cheaper isn't original when comparing? I'd say not.....
We will not stock parts for the sake of it. We are currently out oof stock of some common items, as our regular suppliers have not been able to source them. Chrome boot hinges for one. Now I know I could order some in and have them next week. Why don't I? Because the quality is truely awful. The hinges are so wobbly it's untrue.
We strive to continue to supply high quality good fitting parts at all times. However, there are sometimes problem items, and things can go wrong, but that's not limited to the mini market place.
Sourcing product is harder than ever. Just this last week another original supplier to rover that was till able to supply us parts went to the wall, the list of parts that need remaking gets longer
I will say though, that if you have a faulty part, no matter who supplied it, you should address them ASAP to get it returned and resolved
