Dar es Salaam. Vehicle owners in Tanzania are spending up to four times more in maintenance costs due to an untamed influx of counterfeit and substandard automotive parts in the domestic market.

Counterfeit car parts are blamed for frequent breakdowns of vehicles and have increased the costs of maintaining cars.

Difficulty in distinguishing genuine from fake parts, mainly because of a lack of awareness, has caused more frustration among motorists, who are now calling on authorities to urgently intervene.

Victims of the dirty business are also blaming the situation on the laxity and lack of control of imported spare parts from some Asian countries.

“The situation is alarming; this is the third time this year I am being made to replace brake pads and shoes. It’s really frustrating. It is so unfortunate that authorities are not seeing this, virtually there is no regulation of the spare part business, and there is no one to protect us consumers,” says a vehicle owner, Deogratius Kamugisha.

Operators of spare parts shops are said to take advantage of unsuspecting customers to sell them fake parts under the guise of genuine ones.

Motorists and vehicle technicians have all admitted that it is really difficult today to buy a genuine clutch repair kit, spark plugs, bearings, suspension, lubricants, and even tyres in mushrooming parts shops across the country.

The Fair Competition Commission’s (FCC) Director General, Mr William Erio, said they have not received official complaints from the brand owners of the products related to fake spare parts for the agency to act.

Mr Erio, who is also a Chief Inspector for Anti-Counterfeit Goods, said: “The commission considers three things in identifying fake products; the name of the country of origin, the name of the brand, and the address of the manufacturer. If a product does not have these things, it is a clear sign it has been tampered with.”

“If we find that a product lacks these elements during the inspection at ports and borders, we penalise it or we collaborate with the police to file a criminal case against the agent,” he said.

He said people need to understand that fake or substandard products are harmful to individuals and the economy as a whole, saying the illegal business is denying the government revenues and will leave consumers buying products that have no value for money.

“I advise customers to quit using the idea of copycats and only purchase parts from authorised dealers. In reality, cheap products were even more expensive because they had a short life span and could easily damage vehicles,” he said.

He called on manufacturers of spare parts to come forward and report any complaints of fake parts so that authorities could take action.

The managing director of Evolution Motors, which deals with motor vehicle repair and maintenance, Mr Alex Evodius, said the situation was alarming, adding that dubious traders seeking quick money were massively importing substandard parts from an Asian country (name withheld) and selling them to unsuspecting customers.

“This problem is really serious. The local market has been subdued by…(he names an Asian country). After realising that they can’t sell fake parts in Japan or the UK, this country has turned to sub-Saharan Africa as the ground to sell substandard automotive parts,” he says.

According to Mr Evodius, the problem is exacerbated by dubious car parts shops and operators of backyard garages, not manufacturers of the parts as many tend to believe.

“The problem is exacerbated by we Tanzanians ourselves, who prefer to take our cars to backyard garages and unqualified mechanics and avoid professional and well-established garages to service their cars. He says vehicle owners are not getting value for their money when it comes to buying spare parts because the market is flooded with substandard ones,” he says.

“Let’s talk of someone who, for instance, owns a car and pockets Sh5 million in salary. This person will not be able to do an extra investment as their money ends up in frequent servicing and maintenance of their car, which is blamed on substandard spare parts.”

He has proposed that the government form an agency to regulate the spare parts industry, which earns the country billions of shillings in taxes and employment.

“The government should regulate this business. Not every Tom, Dick and Harry can do this business. All who do maintenance on cars and sell parts should be regulated and pay tax,” he says.

He has also proposed that the Tanzania Electrical, Mechanical, and Electronics Services Agency (Temesa) be empowered to become a fully-fledged agency that will also regulate automobile maintenance and spare parts businesses.

A vehicle mechanic in the Mwenge area, Mr Seif Mponda, said that substandard spare parts have dominated vehicle parts shops.

He said that apart from reducing the life span, the use of substandard spare parts has increased the maintenance costs of vehicles and caused frustration among car owners.

Mr Mponda added that sometimes mechanics are those who influence the existence of fake spare parts because they do not want to tell their customers the truth.

“I advise the owners that if you do not trust the technicians, don’t take your car.”

Mr Mponda admitted that mechanics were partly to blame for the thriving substandard spare parts business because they fail to tell their customers the truth. “I advise owners not to take their cars to mechanics they don’t trust.”

What spare part dealers say

An automobile spare parts dealer at Kariakoo, Mr Abdulkarim Mohamed, blamed the free market economic system and lack of control for the influx of substandard spare parts in the domestic market.

“Sometimes the substandard car parts business is driven by the demands of car owners who prefer cheap products, and shop owners do not tell them the truth because they focus on getting money.

“We call on the authorities to protect us and our customers. Sometimes it is not easy to distinguish genuine from counterfeit or substandard goods because they look similar,” he said.

He urges the FCC and the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) to launch a massive campaign to educate consumers about why they should prefer genuine parts and how they can distinguish them from substandard ones.

“Sometimes a customer comes to my store and once I tell him the price, he will complain and mention other shops that sell the same product at a very cheap price without knowing they could be buying substandard or fake parts,” he said.

A car owner, Ms Rehema Mkinga, says the FCC needs to double its efforts in controlling fake spare parts.

“I have never faced such a challenge; I am driving a Nissan brand, and its spares are a bit expensive and not available everywhere like Toyota, but a friend of mine recently purchased fake brake pads that she had to replace within a very short time,” she said.