Fake Britian - BBC One today. Car parts
Discussion
Watching the rest of that airbag episode, i got the part where thedy have fake coats and dvd's at the customs office. They keep baning on about how fantastically high quality the stuff is, how indistinguishable the stuff is from real etc even down to holograms. they claim it was only spotted because of the low duty valuation on the box.
How can they actually tell they are fake? What if someone has simply put a low valuation on a box of genuine stuff to lower the duty? In which case, could they be seizing a box of kosher gear as "fake"?
How can they actually tell they are fake? What if someone has simply put a low valuation on a box of genuine stuff to lower the duty? In which case, could they be seizing a box of kosher gear as "fake"?
mat777 said:
? What if someone has simply put a low valuation on a box of genuine stuff to lower the duty? In which case, could they be seizing a box of kosher gear as "fake"?
Definitely possible - many "fake" goods are just sold out the back door of the OEM factory.I bought some Ripcurl / Quicksilver T shirts in Bangkok for £3 assuming they were fakes, 15 years later they are still wearing well.
Ozzie Osmond said:
V8RX7 said:
Definitely possible - many "fake" goods are just sold out the back door of the OEM factory.
I've spent many years in the motor trade and I've never heard that one before. Any evidence to back up your statement?I guess the closest in motoring terms would be Valeo etc selling parts to OEM and then removing the OEM name and selling them under their own name or someone NOT removing OR adding the OEM name back on - it would be impossible to detect the "fake" goods as they aren't fake.
Ozzie Osmond said:
V8RX7 said:
Definitely possible - many "fake" goods are just sold out the back door of the OEM factory.
I've spent many years in the motor trade and I've never heard that one before. Any evidence to back up your statement?Ozzie Osmond said:
I've spent many years in the motor trade and I've never heard that one before. Any evidence to back up your statement?
Depends where they are produced I guess.Clothing for example, Northface have a factory in Vietnam, every market is full of back door Northface gear sold for pennies. Mostly end of line stuff or failed QC, small miss stitch or similar that you wouldn't accept when expected to pay £200 in London.
Ozzie Osmond said:
V8RX7 said:
Definitely possible - many "fake" goods are just sold out the back door of the OEM factory.
I've spent many years in the motor trade and I've never heard that one before. Any evidence to back up your statement?
ks in this thread...And some fair points.
I've had very mixed results using autofactors some pattern stuff looks awfully made.
Saying that I recently bought a throttle position sensor at one of my local factors thinking it'd be a really bad pattern part.. nope the ford logo had obviously been ground off the part numbers also matched.saving me £36 vs ford
Saying that I recently bought a throttle position sensor at one of my local factors thinking it'd be a really bad pattern part.. nope the ford logo had obviously been ground off the part numbers also matched.saving me £36 vs ford
Anyone buying safety parts from eBay is a total idiot - problem is they could be the car coming towards you VERY FAST, sadly.
Parts bought from a UK parts supplier should be completely safe - the quality may not appear to be there but they should have been safety tested and should be 'fit for the purpose'.
There's a massive diff between eBay sourced airbags/alloys and the same thing from a UK-basedpattern maker/supplier - let's not get to excited here.
The "goto your dealer and they'll be sure to use original parts" is missing the words "often at a ridiculously inflated price".
Parts bought from a UK parts supplier should be completely safe - the quality may not appear to be there but they should have been safety tested and should be 'fit for the purpose'.
There's a massive diff between eBay sourced airbags/alloys and the same thing from a UK-basedpattern maker/supplier - let's not get to excited here.
The "goto your dealer and they'll be sure to use original parts" is missing the words "often at a ridiculously inflated price".
Nealio said:
The various Federal Mogul brands actually carry fairly involved anti-counterfeiting measures such as holograms and computerised codes on the packaging which you can check online to ensure they're authentic
TMD (Mintex, Pagid, Texar etc) hologram all boxed products with tamper evident seals, anything that's genuine Brembo will have hologramed packaging. THB anti-counterfeit measures on aftermarket branded parts seems to be fairly standard now. In terms of genuine parts at none genuine prices a quick search on the bay should throw up plenty of new factory nav units for most brands at bargin prices being sold from locations near to the OE manufactures factory. QA failed, employee discount or plain stolen who knows...
Fake "branded" parts exist in most industries now but many industries either choose to ignore the problem or refuse to acknowledge that fakes exist.
drivin_me_nuts said:
very upset. my new Gucci thong is a complete fake.
Pics or STFU! 
The BMW alloys looks very convincing to be fair. Proper fail when subjected to the kerb test though.
Tbh, I stick to brands I know (and trust) from ECP/CP4L. I don't think I'd ever bother with random unbranded stuff on ebay when it comes to brakes etc just to save a couple of quid.
Also at least if you are buying items from a reputable supplier like ECP, you've got someone to go back to in case of issues unlike an ebay seller who mysteriously stops replying to emails.
The Crack Fox said:
nixon1 said:
Most of the stuff is coming from China
I wish OEM's had the balls/power to stop this. 'White boxing' is well known in the industry. It's where you contract a local manufacturer to make 200,000 widgets, handing them the plans, dimensions and specs. They actually manufacture 400,000 of them, give you your 200,000 and then sell the rest on the grey market with untraceable packaging or worse still your own branding on it. Unless you can afford to have station someone in the faraway land supervising the production facility 24/7 it is going to happen.
It is common knowledge that most of the better quality 'fake' leather goods sold in Italy such as designer belts, wallets and handbags are out the backdoors of the factories that produce the real deal.
Oh, and the point made above about importers deliberately undervaluing genuine goods obtained on the grey market is spot on.
PS. I recently bought some shock absorber mounting bushes for my 330i from an online German seller. They were a 10th of the price the dealer sells them for. They were marked up exactly the same as the real deal except the letters BMW had been abraded off.
Sogra said:
One final observation is that manufactures don’t make enough from the sale of the car to have a viable business model, you could decrease parts cost but then the price of the cars would go up with a reduction in investment and developments of new models and systems.
Manufacturers make plenty of money from the sale of cars. It's the dealers that don't have much margin in it.Face for Radio said:
Manufacturers make plenty of money from the sale of cars. It's the dealers that don't have much margin in it.
Really?So what happened to Saab, Ford, GM, Pug, Renault... recently? The all struggled/died sadly (And still are)
I think that their outlook will be on the whole life profit, and the need to retain a % of parts sales/labour...
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