Counterfeit automotive parts pour into U.S.

[In3briatedPanda]

BIGGER problem now. It's exploded in numbers

I suspect part of the problem is that China is actually suffering internally, and they are trying harder to get more sales/money into China.
one guy I know reproducing AMC parts - stuff that you haven't been able to find in even good used condition for 30 years - he's getting that stuff done in weeks instead of months each time he has an idea. They are taking in project left and right and cranking out stuff really fast. They are hurting, but will never allow it to be seen in public.
So they are working harder than ever to satisfy our desire for cheaper and cheaper stuff.
(we are sort of doing it to ourselves, with the "I can buy it cheaper at walmart" mentality)
I'm done doing that- I want quality stuff and i'll pay a couple bucks more to buy it locally from a mom and pop shop just because I don't want the cheap crap to win.

"I'm done doing that- I want quality stuff and i'll pay a couple bucks more to buy it locally from a mom and pop shop just because I don't want the cheap crap to win."

I am a plus/minus up to 50 dollars to support local. If the item i want is available local and within 50 dollars more or less than online, Ill have it today, thank you.

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[In3briatedPanda]

It doesn’t matter where you buy it…… or from whom, there’s always the chance of everything you buy being fake. People are getting lazier while fewer people are looking at the details.

Dealership is looking to cut costs…. Parts guy buys parts from a different distributor than he normally orders because they’re cheaper. Parts come in……a part time employee unpacks the parts and doesn’t notice anything different. Meanwhile, the same thing can happen at the distributors. You just don’t know…

Ill take 'never worked in a dealers parts department for 800 alex' I mean this as a funny, because i laughed hard.

what youre stating is 100% illegal and could cost a franchise their license. it is 100% not worth it.

Lexus does an outstanding job of combating this. I have never seen 'grey' parts come on my truck from a PDC, always from online sales brought in by an outside source. Ive gotten weird stuff from amazon and helping friends on the side. id bet most dealers offer genuine parts and sell only genuine parts.

If you think someone is going to sneak a return in, it wont happen here. if it did, we'd take the loss and destroy the part.

maybe some other brands can chime in, but Lexus would murder you for this.

secondly, my moral compass would have me leave whatever company did this. I dont mind working retail, but im not in it to shit on my community to get marginal sales gains. thats the only reason to offer 'grey' parts, make YOU more money. its garbage sales tactics.

TL/DR: its called fraud .

 

[Lost1wing]

Correct "GREY" have been around for decades.. Grey are the mfg parts for a country outside the USA and are not tested for US standards nor approved by the mfg for the US. This recent news story did mention counterfeit air bags and showed some AC Delco spark plugs.

I have purchased grey market cameras in the past. (Nikon). Not for sale in the US market only. Same camera was sold in Italy and across the globe as a Nikon. Difference was price, serial number and firmware. Back in the 1980s, Kobelco had grey market excavators. US market had a K903. The rest of the world had a SK-03. Same excavator just sold in the American market at a much higher cost. Most do not know it, but our Nation has cheated on for decades.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

what youre stating is 100% illegal and could cost a franchise their license. it is 100% not worth it.

Absolutely!
Had a nice talk with a guy who did some work on Lexus vehicles. The part for a dash was backordered. There was an identical Toyota part he could have gotten that same day - but - to put that Toyota labeled/boxed part on the Lexus?
No, you don't. He echoed - not only is it not legal, but Lexus would rip you apart if caught.

secondly, my moral compass would have me leave whatever company did this. I dont mind working retail, but im not in it to shit on my community to get marginal sales gains. thats the only reason to offer 'grey' parts, make YOU more money. its garbage sales tactics.

TL/DR: its called fraud .

Out there on Amazon, Walmart dot come, eBait and many other places - yeah, it's common as hell. It happens, every second of every day. And sometimes for an individual, it works out just fine - that cheaper part with a Chinese funky name works fine.
But I'm often wary of parts sold as brand name parts by iffy-named sellers.

 

[In3briatedPanda]

Absolutely!
Had a nice talk with a guy who did some work on Lexus vehicles. The part for a dash was backordered. There was an identical Toyota part he could have gotten that same day - but - to put that Toyota labeled/boxed part on the Lexus?
No, you don't. He echoed - not only is it not legal, but Lexus would rip you apart if caught.




Out there on Amazon, Walmart dot come, eBait and many other places - yeah, it's common as hell. It happens, every second of every day. And sometimes for an individual, it works out just fine - that cheaper part with a Chinese funky name works fine.
But I'm often wary of parts sold as brand name parts by iffy-named sellers.

oh for sure. this thread is related to online retailers, but im an dealer advocate and i dont want the wires crossed.

if you go to a dealer, youre less likely to get counterfeit parts. the reason the market is exists is us, consumers. being cheap/pay is stagnant (whichever way floats your boat) leads consumers to cheaper options. I have found that most guests in this scenario are third/fourth owneres and are in a vehicle they just cant afford. TBH, id be pissed off spending 4k dollars on lower control arms for my 14 LS too or replacing all four direct injectors on an NX for 2k dollars. Examples of why markets exist. Some dont care about quality, they just need to get to work.

 

[MaximusTX]

Show me the fuel filters

I get mine off Amazon with prime free next day delivery for $40

Mopar 68436631AA - Fuel Water Separator Filter

 

[GeneralMaximus]

this is not a new problem, not sure why its in light now (not degrading your post OP). grey parts been around for years and lexus/toyota been battling for years.

The reason its come to light is in the first sentence of the article that OP posted. Customs seizures of counterfeit parts have nearly doubled last year.

And like you said, sure some of those parts will work just as good as OEM. But theres no way for consumers to know. And its not just a problem in the automotive industry. Boeing and Airbus went through this fiasco last year, where they accidentally sourced a bunch of counterfeit parts.

https://apnews.com/article/airplanes-titanium-parts-false-records-348c7e984c42fc16a2707a0cb203672a

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The reason its come to light is in the first sentence of the article that OP posted. Customs seizures of counterfeit parts have nearly doubled last year.

And like you said, sure some of those parts will work just as good as OEM. But theres no way for consumers to know. And its not just a problem in the automotive industry. Boeing and Airbus went through this fiasco last year, where they accidentally sourced a bunch of counterfeit parts.

https://apnews.com/article/airplanes-titanium-parts-false-records-348c7e984c42fc16a2707a0cb203672a

I think it might have been Dell - been years ago, but they had to come in to our agency (government) and replace over 200 system boards in our computers.
Cheap capacitors were swelling and blowing. Apparently they had gotten some of these cheap parts. It cost them a bundle in parts and manpower as we insisted as a government agency that they come in and do ALL of them in a day!

 

[Cwg33]

I worked on rolling out 250+ Cisco 805 routers to store locations back in the 90’s. We purchased all routers from a Cisco Certified Gold Partner, but after testing the process & piloting the 1st batch of 20, we started having catastrophic failures with devices wiping the memory, etc. We found out the 2nd batch of 230+, was subbed from the Gold Partner since they couldn’t get them fast enough from Cisco direct. Turned out to be counterfeit, and Cisco had the FBI come retrieve all the fake routers from us.
Not even a low ball cost attempt. Paid Cisco partner prices, but still received counterfeit as the seller didn’t validate their supply chain.

 

[Janster]

Ill take 'never worked in a dealers parts department for 800 alex' I mean this as a funny, because i laughed hard.

what youre stating is 100% illegal and could cost a franchise their license. it is 100% not worth it.

TL/DR: its called fraud .

You can’t tell me it NEVER EVER happens.

Frau happens all around us. You hear about it on the news all too often. The fraud you hear about on the news are the ones who got caught. There’s more fraud occurring that didn’t get caught (yet) or are smart enough to ‘not get caught’.

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