Export vehicles are parked at the car-only terminal. /Courtesy of News1

A study has found that automotive quality-certified parts have little difference in performance compared to original equipment manufacturer (OEM) products and also cost less to repair.

Quality-certified parts refer to those that have been assessed and certified by an organization designated by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. They are about 35-40% cheaper than OEM parts, which can reduce repair costs for drivers.

On the 22nd, the Korea Insurance Development Institute conducted crash tests on vehicles equipped with quality-certified parts and announced the results. The comparison tests between OEM parts and quality-certified parts showed no difference in safety performance during the "high-speed (56 km/h) collision safety test." The risk of injury for the three major body parts (head, chest, upper leg) was also rated as "excellent," the same as OEM parts.

Financial authorities have included quality-certified parts in the range of new parts that can be used by auto insurance subscribers when repairing their vehicles since last month. This is to address the issue of rising claims ratios in auto insurance due to a repair practice focused on expensive original parts.

The Korea Insurance Research Institute analyzed that the average cost of parts per insurance accident in 2023 is approximately 3.8 times higher for foreign cars (2,385,000 won) than for domestic cars (629,000 won).

Starting from July of this year, it will become possible to check the inventory information of quality-certified parts in the AOS (a vehicle repair cost claim and damage assessment system operated by the Korea Insurance Development Institute), which many repair shops are currently using.

Heo Chang-eon, the head of the Korea Insurance Development Institute, said, "I hope that the results of this crash test will alleviate safety concerns about quality-certified parts and provide an opportunity to inform consumers about economical quality-certified parts in this era of high prices."