Where would we be in this world without cars and trucks?

Boats, planes and trains are wonderful forms of transport for goods and people, but we can’t all live and work near water, rail tracks and airports. We have become so dependent on motorized road vehicles that most of us take them for granted. Their production and sale are good for the economy of many nations. Moreover, the purchase of a new car or truck is a special and exciting moment. However, maintaining them with routine and repair servicing and car and truck spare parts is often regarded as a dirty and inconvenient necessity. The showrooms are clean and the staff polite, but each customer will make many more visits to the service and body repair departments.

The main car and truck manufacturing nations are The USA, Japan and those in Western Europe. Many of these manufacturers also out-source the building of cars and trucks to local markets, usually for economic reasons connected to tax, labour costs and logistics of transport. Thailand is a classic example. Being on mainland Asia and the hub for land and sea transport, it is an ideal location to build and sell motorized vehicles and car and truck spare parts.

For Mitsubishi spare parts Thailand is able to offer plenty of options. The retail customer can choose to buy genuine Mitsubishi parts from main dealers, as well as genuine and OEM car and truck parts from non-franchised dealers. Although buying from a ‘proper’ dealer ensures the best quality, the prices are often artificially high and the parts may not have actually been manufactured by, for example Mitsubishi. In addition, the staff at main dealers are restricted in the advice they can give. For example, a wheel bearing or fuel or electrical component is rarely produced in the car or truck maker’s factory. These manufacturers source many components from companies such as Bosch or Goyo. The end users are often completely unaware that parts are produced in a factory and packaged as genuine or OEM. The genuine parts go through the dealer network, with their prices reflecting this, but the OEM parts are exactly the same but in a different box and go through non-franchised sales networks at much more reasonable prices.

A respectable non-franchised dealer is able to offer genuine and OEM Mitsubishi spare parts (or for any other brand) to its retail and wholesale customers. They are in a position to give honest advice about the origin of any part, and explain the benefits or disadvantages of each purchase option. It is often the case that buying genuine Mitsubishi spare parts or genuine Fuso truck parts is one’s best option. However, there are as many cases when non-franchised parts are just the same, but come through a different network and are packaged in a different box. The main dealers can not tell the customer this, but the non-franchised suppliers can. Of course, one must be careful. Buying a product at a much cheaper price could mean that it was produced to a lower-quality specification, possibly in an economically-developing country such as China.

Going to your main dealer will give you the peace of mind to always get the best parts, but with restricted information and advice. Visiting an honest and respectable supplier of genuine and OEM Mitsubishi car and truck parts will give you access to the best advice for each part.