E46 Expansion Tank

[TurboLlew]

Not even close..

Are you are aware that the "pirate parts" sold are actually from the same manufacturers in some cases. THe expansion tank that I purchased actually had the BMW logo scratched off of it as my spares shop could not sell "BMW branded parts"

You going to tell me that going to a spares shop and buying a genuine LUK clutch is not the same as the one I buy from the dealer at twice the price.

Or pay BMW R800 for a coil where I can buy the exact model from Bosch for R250.... erm..

If you for example just redo the top gaskets for your BMW,say TB, Tappid covers, and front timing case, and a few other minor bits you can easily pay R4000 for the individual gaskets from BMW, yet you can buy a complete engine gasket set from Victor Reinz for your engine for about R4000 including head gaskets. Now I wonder who makes gaskets OEM for BMW...

Dont mean to be a d**s, but your statement is unfounded 335... All it costs is research, and you can use quality replacement parts on your BMW for a fraction of the price...

Agreed but it is slightly more complex of an issue.

Pirate parts are not Bosch, LUK etc. (not to me anyway). Pirate parts are copies of those brands masquerading as original (counterfeit) and generic/no name parts (motoquip/autoquip etc). There are also parts that fail QC and might even be in packaging that make their way into the trade. Notorious for parts made in China under license where batches are rejected but get sold off instead of being destroyed. This is not isolated to car parts and neither is it isolated to 'dodgy' stores... MotoQuip branded wheel brushes that had the Meguiars logo burned off the handle (yet still visible) made their way into Makro a few years ago as an example and cost R79 as opposed to over 250. We even posted on the Meguiars forum about it... In this case, some of them are going to be perfectly fine and others in the batch are not (same as buying clothes at a factory shop).

Grey imports are another issue in that they may be for the same car/application but might have minor regional differences (checking the actual part number is important vs. the local label that someone might have put on). Found this more with Jap cars though.

However in principle, if buying from a reputable place, with warranty and if it is the same part from the same manufacturer as OEM, why not? Gaskets, plugs and belts are prime examples. My father in law just bought a serpentine belt from Merc... it has the Gates logo on it. The Gates belt would have been around a third less. The only thing that has given some people cause for concern is the counterfeit brand name parts that some outlets stock.

If the same part is within 5-10% of the cost from Midas, I would still go BMW since I feel you have better recourse if something does go wrong, part is guaranteed to be original etc. but with the horror stories some people have at dealers (like your example of double the price) this isn't the case always. I've generally been able to work with the parts guys at BMW, Hyundai, Honda even Subaru to end up with reasonable enough pricing that I could buy from them (even if in 50% of those examples, the rest of their service has been poor enough that I didn't fit it at them :hammerhead. I've just bought three brand new items from BMW that cost me less collectively than they are selling for on eBay used before shipping (as an example). Half the price for the same part though? It's a no-brainer to get it elsewhere.