Fake Parts

I’ve fitted new wiper blades to our Toyota today. The old ones were getting to be beyond the realm of useless with them smearing across the screen and making visibility barely better than the rain they were meant to be removing. The replacement ones I’ve gone for are the new style Bosch Aero wipers which are fitted to the Golf. They are now produced with a retro fitting for older windscreen wipers and so far they are working perfectly – a clean swipe across the screen leaving it crystal clear.

The odd thing was that I had fitted standard style Bosch wipers to the car previously. I have preferred these wipers for years – Bosch aren’t the cheapest parts manufacturer in the world but they I think they are worth the extra for the way they perform. I’m not a great one for designer labels but these genuinely appear to be better than cheaper rivals and for a safety item like wiper blades that is a premium worth paying. So why were the Bosch wipers I’d had fitted for the previous year performing so badly?

I bought the previous wipers online from a seemingly reputable retailer. The wipers arrived in what appeared to be genuine Bosch packaging and the blades themselves had the Bosch logo etched on them. However, I am beginning to wonder whether they were fakes. I bought the new wipers from Halfords and they are significantly more expensive than online rivals. This is understandable to a point as they have a large chain of shops to maintain compared to an online only retailer with their cheap central warehouse. However, I am wondering if part of the cost saving of some online retailers is that they aren’t selling Bosch products at all.

One thing I noticed with the wipers from Halfords is that they were very well packed. As well as the cardboard they were also enclosed in rather an excessive amount of plastic. The online ones came floating about in the cardboard package without the extra protection. The problem I have is that I have no way of telling what is fake or not. And this isn’t like the £10 Rolex watch from the bloke down the pub where both customer and bootlegger are in on the joke. I am paying good money to buy genuine products because I want the guaranteed performance of the item.

I had a look around online and there does seem to be a website for reporting fake products but this is of little use to me. I have no way of knowing whether products are real or fake and websites like this don’t offer any real clues on how to spot fake products – other than to use the old adage of "if it seem too good to be true, it probably is." Ultimately, it shouldn’t be down to the likes of me to report fake products. The manufacturers know who they are selling to and it would be easy enough for them to keep an accredited list of genuine retailers. As it is they have a few listed but these all tend to be specialist garages or motor factors. I have no desire to buy pirated goods but I think the manufactures should be meeting us half way.