Do you drive a General Motors vehicle? Regardless of whether you have a Chevrolet, a Buick, a GMC, or a Cadillac, there is going to come a time when you’ll need to pick up some GM auto parts for your car, truck, or SUV.
When you do this, you’ll be able to pick from two options. There will be OEM parts for your GM vehicle as well as aftermarket parts for it.
If you don’t know the difference between the two, it can make it challenging trying to decide which direction you should go in. You might not know whether you want to invest in genuine GM parts or aftermarket car parts.
Today, we’re going to discuss the differences that exist when it comes to GM performance parts versus aftermarket parts. Read up on them below so that you’re able to choose the best possible parts for your GM vehicle.
What Are OEM Parts?
The “OEM” in OEM parts stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. This means that OEM parts are parts that are manufactured by GM for the GM vehicles that they’re designed for.
When you buy GM auto parts that are OEM parts, you’ll know that they’re coming straight from GM. They’re not being produced by a third-party company that has figured out how to manufacture the same parts as GM does.
What Are the Advantages of Going With OEM Parts?
There are quite a few benefits that you’re going to get to enjoy when you go with OEM parts as opposed to aftermarket parts. When you’re in the market for GM parts, you should consider these benefits and see if it would be worth buying them.
- OEM Parts Will Be the Highest-Quality GM Parts Available
If you’re going to have any of the GM auto parts in your car replaced, you don’t want to put just any old parts into their place. If you stick low-quality parts into your car, you could come to regret it since they could do damage to your car and even put your safety at risk in some cases.
Fortunately, you won’t have to worry about these kinds of things when you go with OEM parts for your GM vehicle. You’ll be putting the same exact parts that you have to replace back into your car. You’ll sleep better at night knowing that they’re of the highest quality.
The absolute last thing that you want to do is make a repair to your GM vehicle and then have to make the same repair soon after because you used cheap parts. It’s the No. 1 reason to go with OEM parts over aftermarket parts.
- OEM Parts Will Help Your GM Vehicle to Last Longer
Modern-day cars are lasting longer than ever before these days. The average car has a lifespan of about 12 years, and it’s not uncommon at all for people to get 200,000 miles or more out of a car before it kicks the bucket.
But here’s the thing: Your car is only going to last as long as the GM auto parts that you put in it. So if you make the mistake of putting cheap parts into your vehicle, it could conk out on you way sooner than expected.
OEM parts are the only parts that can help to extend the life of your car. It shouldn’t come as a shock if you’re able to get at least a few more years out of your car by using high-quality OEM parts in it.
- OEM Parts Will Come With a Warranty Included
No matter what kind of GM auto parts that you use in your car, there is always going to be a small chance that those parts might fail on you sooner than they should. It’ll be your job to get them replaced ASAP so that you’re not driving around with faulty parts in your car.
You’ll be happy to know that you should be able to replace OEM parts that fail ahead of schedule without spending a dime. They’ll have warranties on them that will protect you from having to pay to get them replaced if they fail within a certain window of time.
You won’t get this same kind of treatment with aftermarket car parts. Most aftermarket parts don’t come with any kind of warranty attached to them. So you’ll be responsible for paying to have them replaced regardless of how long they last you.
What Are Aftermarket Parts?
In a perfect world, everyone would be able to install OEM parts in their GM vehicles. It would only make sense that they turn to the OEM for parts when the parts in their vehicles break down on them.
But buying OEM parts isn’t always an option for everyone. With the average car repair cost coming in at between $500 and $600 right now, many people rely on aftermarket parts to keep their repair costs on the lower side.
Aftermarket parts are parts that look and feel just like OEM parts in most instances. But they’re manufactured by companies that don’t have anything to do with GM.
What Are the Advantages of Going With Aftermarket Parts?
As we just mentioned, it would be great if everyone could purchase OEM parts for their GM vehicles. But since that isn’t always possible, aftermarket parts come with a whole host of their own advantages. You should learn about them before discounting them as an option.
- Aftermarket Parts Will Be Cheaper Than OEM Ones
The biggest benefit of buying aftermarket parts instead of OEM parts is that you’ll almost always be able to save yourself some money by doing it. Aftermarket parts tend to cost just a fraction of what OEM ones do.
It’s not all that out of the ordinary for some OEM parts to cost several hundred dollars more than aftermarket car parts do. It could bring your car repair costs way down and help you pocket so much extra money over the life of your car.
- Aftermarket Parts Will Usually Work Just as Effectively as OEM Ones
To be clear, not all aftermarket parts are going to be as effective as OEM parts. There are some companies that aren’t all that concerned about quality that specialize in making aftermarket parts. These parts often fall short in many areas and shouldn’t be installed in your car.
But many aftermarket parts are going to look and feel the same as OEM parts. You’ll essentially be getting the same parts that you would if you were to buy OEM parts for a lot less money.
You will need to shop around for quality aftermarket parts that you know you can trust. But it might be well worth doing it if you’re on a tight budget and can’t quite afford to purchase OEM parts for your GM vehicle.
- Aftermarket Parts Will Sometimes Be More Readily Available Than OEM Ones
GM is obviously the only company that can produce OEM parts for GM vehicles. As a result, you might have a hard time getting your hands on OEM parts in some situations when there just aren’t enough parts to go around.
This isn’t going to be an issue as far as aftermarket parts are concerned. There are lots of companies that produce aftermarket parts for GM vehicles. So when you need to obtain a particular part, tracking down an aftermarket part shouldn’t be a problem at all.
If you insist on only going with OEM parts for your GM vehicle, there will be times when you might have to wait for long stretches of time to get your vehicle back after a repair. That wait will be a direct result of OEM parts not always be as readily accessible as aftermarket ones.
It’s another decent reason to consider going with aftermarket parts for a GM vehicle when you need to have something fixed on it. You may be able to get your car back out on the road so much faster than you would be able to otherwise.
Would OEM or Aftermarket GM Auto Parts Be Better for Your GM Vehicle?
At the end of the day, there are pros and cons of choosing both OEM parts and aftermarket parts for your GM vehicle. You’ll have to weigh them out to see which types of GM auto parts you should buy for your car.
It’s always a good idea to at least try to get OEM parts for your car if you can. But there might be some times when it’ll make more sense to purchase aftermarket parts for it. It’ll all depend on the specific situation that you find yourself in at the time.
Would you like to read more about finding the right auto parts for your car? Get some useful tips by poking through the other articles posted on our blog.