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Home » Auto And Trucks Articles » How To Avoid Counterfeit Auto Accessories

How to Avoid Counterfeit Auto Accessories

If you are unfamiliar with what makes aftermarket accessories the genuine article or a shady deal, then you may not be able to recognize a counterfeit performance car accessory when you see it. Counterfeits exist in every conceivable market, and discount car accessories are no exception.

This problem is nothing new. Over the last 20 years, criminals have sold phony high-performance car accessories for reduced prices. Loss of revenue for the automotive industry is not the on negative result. The less expensive price can save you some money while driving a car from accelerating gas prices. But consider this: most discount car accessories and parts sacrifice quality and safety with inexpensive and weaker materials.

Counterfeiters are clever people. They can create aftermarket auto accessories realistic enough to fool you long enough for it to be too late to do anything about. Several years ago, CBS Evening News ran a report on very crucial aftermarket automotive accessories: counterfeit brake pads. These pads were made of compressed grass clippings and wood chips, useless as brake pads. When you need to stop fast in an emergency situation, grass isn't going to cut it. When it comes to purchasing performance automotive accessories, stick with a brand name you know you can trust.

Is there a way for the average person to be protected against after market automotive accessory fraud?

Here is something to remember: A price that seem too good to be true, generally is! Seeing a popular brand of auto body kit that you've been eying available for half price may be a scam. Many counterfeiters have started to counter this approach by lowering their price just enough to avoid suspicion. Don't forget to do your research. Don't stop as soon as you find one instance of what you're looking for. Comparing prices to determine the average price for the accessory will allow you to make an intelligent decision on what you have observed.

Look closely at the package. At first a package may look creditable, but then some signs appear that it could be selling a scam.

Go to shops that you have had experience with or those that have received high reviews. Visit places you know about, or have been recommended to you by someone you trust. Sometimes the shops are being fooled just as much as you are, and every small shop is not deliberately being crooked by selling you discount car accessories. Distributors will usually purchase from those which have provided good service and good products. Consider purchasing from distributor that you've had previous good experiences with.

Be directly in touch with the manufacturer. The maker of the car can usually tell you if the item is real if you are unsure. Most major companies have protocols for proving the authenticity of accessories. Finding this information may be as simple as the code that is engraved on the part.

Your vehicle, your money, and your life are important. It would be foolish to settle on purchasing discount car accessories just to save a few bucks. Most manufacturers have phone lines or websites devoted to reporting fraudulent aftermarket automotive accessories and parts. Protect yourself, and report these crimes if you feel you've been a victim.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Your Website - Your Virtual Business Card

To make one thing clear way ahead, without a website you will not survive on this market. And while you are at it, make sure the website is user-friendly because you will need to make changes once in a while and if only to promote some new services. A website should list all the services you are about to offer as well as all your contact details. In the US pictures of yourself and your colleagues are seen as a sign of trustworthiness and reliability, in Europe this notion is not so widely spread, mainly because we are a little shy when it comes to posting pictures of ourselves on the net.

One important detail should never be omitted: your VAT number and the company's General Standard Terms and Conditions. Even though it is a global world and all, make sure to indicate that if anybody likes to take you to court, it will have to be a relevant court in your country.

It is also quite useful, or so I have been told, to have a quotation form on your site so that the client can get a price quotation for the potential job real fast. I have posted one on my site but honestly I don't really see any advantage in this. The clients have always contacted me via email or phone without using this form so the day is near when I will take this damned thing offline again.

Links and tools which can be useful for any translator or interpreter are always welcome. I see my site as a way to promote things I like seeing on the net, useful websites I have come across, useful shareware, interesting glossaries, dictionaries, events coming up, sites of friends and colleagues, practically anything that makes my daily routine easier and more fun. Again, it is up to you what to link to but it is advisable to check the links once in a while to see if they are still working - the internet is a fast-changing medium!

So now you have it all, a website with a clear message and some useful tools and links and on top of it a good provider to host it. Here I made the rather costly experience that it pays off to have a provider in your hemisphere, your country. My first provider was an enterprise in Arizona, US and one day got merged with the competition. I ended up paying more fees for less service and when I wanted to change providers they blocked my domain name and made things real complicated for a while.

Again, now you have it all, so how to promote this thing? You want people to find you not the other way around it, right? Well, if you have not forgotten to include some keywords so that search robots are going to find your site, go ahead and submit your site to the various search engines, i.e. Google, Alta Vista and all. There are services on the net which will post your website on any search engine available for free. Don't fall for any of those companies claiming they will submit your website on various search engines in exchange for a hefty fee. You can save that money! Just google "submit url free search engines" and the results will point you to various providers you can use for this. Also make yourself known on the various translators portals, write up an article about your profession once in a while for the various associations, post messages on the mailing lists (make sure your website is mentioned in the footer of the message), post a newsletter on your site etc. T!

he list is endless for promoting your services but keep in mind with fame comes notoriety. Keep in mind, the website is just meant to be your virtual business card, it is not meant for opening doors to your computer for anybody out there. If you're on the Internet you need to have good anti-virus software and a firewall, period. And you need to keep them updated. If you use Windows you need to use the Windows Update feature at least monthly to make sure that any discovered holes are patched. This goes triple if you use Internet software that integrates closely with Windows, like MS Outlook or Internet Explorer. This will cover you for the vast majority of security problems out there. I also review CNET news and Yahoo's most popular news items to see if there are any other security issues or rampant viruses I should be aware of.

This brings us to all the unsolicited mail you tend to get, once you are online with your website and email, the so-called SPAM. Some e-mail programs have built-in spam filters, while sometimes your ISP will offer a spam-filtering program. If you don't have either of these options you may wish to consider a spam-filtering program to keep your e-mail more about job offers and less about any number of a dozen scams. Do a search for "spam filtering" or "anti-spam software".

One word of advice: The Internet has over four billion pages. Everyone is going to approach it with different needs and interests. Not everybody will have your well-being in mind so please use your common sense and the resources available on the net to reduce any chances of getting burned.