In Russia, it was allowed to sell car parts supplied under parallel importation, that is, proprietary, but imported without the permission of the copyright owner.
Under a recently signed government decree, auto parts from about four dozen car brands (Toyota, Volkswagen, Skoda, Renault, etc.) are now allowed to be imported without authorization. The list also includes common brands of auto parts manufacturers (Bosch, Mahle, Wabco, Gates, Wabtec, and others). This will saturate the market, which is experiencing a shortage of auto parts after the sanctions, and could drive prices down — by some estimates, original spare parts supplied by independent importers could be at least 20-25% cheaper, Kommersant notes. Money”.
However, the downside of such legalization is the risk of flooding the market with counterfeits. After all, spare parts are now not the official distributor of the brand in Russia, but an independent supplier. And now on the market there are counterfeits of such high quality that not every buyer and consumer can distinguish them from the original. Not to mention the packaging, which is even easier to fake. Therefore, no matter how hard the customs try, the goods can be bought from a gray manufacturer, packed in the original packaging of a well-known brand and already cleared as original in Russia.
How to protect yourself?
Although the scheme does not debug, experts advise with extreme caution to buy certain groups of parts that come under the parallel import scheme.
So it is better not to buy maintenance components (TO): filters (air, oil, cabin, fuel), oil, spark plugs, as well as car suspension elements, especially anti-roll bars, hub bearings and other elements, the general manager advises on sales Future Motors auto parts Artem Kakhimov.
It is not profitable to falsify expensive components: body elements, optics, car interior elements. Therefore, you can buy them without much fear.
In order to protect yourself, it is better to buy spare parts from large and reliable players, shops or network car services of major distributors. Their reputation does not allow them to transport counterfeit products, they have more options to check the products, in addition, they usually give a guarantee. It should also be understood that the original spare part will always cost at the upper end of the market, if the price falls to the mass market level, this is already a reason to be wary.
A picture: Depositphotos