The Original Equipment Suppliers Aftermarket Association (OESAA) says it has given hundred of workshops a confidence boost with its programme that attracted a record number of garage owners and technicians onto its stand at Automechanika Birmingham.

OESAA’s very own on-stand seminar theatre proved to be a popular hit at the event as industry expert guest speakers Andy Savva and Frank Massey drove home the benefits of buying genuine parts from OE suppliers to a garage’s reputation and profit-margin. Andy and Frank offered valued tips and advice to help educate garage owners and technicians about the confidence-boosting effects of choosing genuine OE suppliers’ parts from their local motor factors, while also warning about the potential pitfalls of cheaper alternatives.

Demonstrating the shocking reality of sub-standard ‘equivalents’, examples of cross-sectioned OE and vastly inferior non-OE components were a big talking point at the exhibition. OESAA’s Eunan MacGuinness said, "We were getting garage owners and technicians to understand why they should be using genuine parts from OE suppliers. We had a non-OE torsional vibration damper that, from the outside, looked like it’s got a rubber seal in but actually it’s just a little groove that’s been cut out. It weighs twice as much as the OE part, there’s no dampening in it at all so it’s actually going to create more vibration somewhere else on the vehicle.”

Other cross-sectioned components appearing on the stand included wheel bearings and gearbox mountings. "The majority of technicians will have only ever seen a complete part before, so the when they look inside these parts and see the difference, it is quite shocking for them,” Eunan added.

For further information on OESAA and all forthcoming exhibitions, visit http://www.oe-suppliers.org/.