Are aftermarket accessories worth the money?

It’s well known that the Australian environment is pretty harsh. All that ultraviolet light can be damaging to a car’s paintwork over time, particularly darker colours and reds that absorb the sun’s glare more than other colours.

Out in the suburbs or rural areas you’ll regularly see older cars in dark blues and greens that are so badly faded that nothing short of a full respray will restore them to a respectable appearance.

Aussie consumers buying a new car are probably more likely than buyers in other countries to accept that their purchase has to be ‘protected’ from the sun’s harmful rays.

And that makes those buyers easy targets for smooth salespeople to upsell them aftermarket accessories such as paint protection.

From there, the excited buyer agrees wholeheartedly that the car also needs fabric protection, window tinting, floor mats, bonnet and headlight protectors, a bike rack, a tow kit... the list goes on and on.

Just how much of this do you actually need?

And can you pick up these dealer-fit accessories elsewhere for significantly less money?

The respective answers are: only as much as you’ll actually use and, in the case of the dollars, almost certainly.

So consider these add-ons…

How long do you plan to own this new car? If you expect to trade out of it within three to five years, ‘paint protection’ is probably not going to be worth the money. It certainly won’t enhance your car’s resale value when it comes time to sell it.

You may need some sort of countermeasure for stone chips, splattered bugs or bird droppings, however, especially if you do a lot of driving in the country.

And for that you can spend $50 or $60 in the local aftermarket accessories store to purchase a self-adhesive transparent film you can apply to the vulnerable parts of your car’s body. It’s a much cheaper option than the product the dealer may try to sell you.

Just say, no… You know what works really well protecting your seats and lasts longer than a fabric treatment? Seat covers.

Seat covers block 100 per cent of sunlight and much of kids’ drink spills and chocolate stains. They also resist a lot of wear and tear as you slide your derriere in and out of the car – and when they’re beginning to look tatty, they’re cheap to replace...

Floor mats are a good idea. They do prevent small pebbles and other abrasive materials grinding their way through the car’s moulded carpets and heel pad, but if the dealer tries to sell you the lovely monogrammed set in cashmere wool with contrast stitching, perhaps pass – or ask if they will throw them into the deal.

No? Well, the cheaper and generic ones from a Burson store or similar outlet will do just as well, for a fraction of the cost.

This is a ‘depends’ item… Some people just love a tint job.

In actuality, your new car’s windows are most likely tinted already, to some degree, and there are laws covering just how much your car’s glazing can be tinted.

An ex-factory option for high-end vehicles is ‘privacy glass’, which is the ultimate solution, if you can afford it. (It’s often standard in higher-spec model grades.)

For everyone else, the dealer will offer self-adhesive window tinting through an aftermarket supplier. It does help keep the car’s cabin temperature lower (although not much lower at the height of summer) and if you can get the tinting done for the right price, there’s an argument in its favour.

The problem being that you won’t necessarily get it for the right price through a dealer. Like everything else, shop around.

If you spend a lot of time cruising on country highways or your regular journeys take you along unsealed roads, there’s certainly a case for mud flaps, bonnet protectors and headlight protectors.

As with window tinting and floor mats, it pays to shop around, although these are the sort of items that the dealer will often throw in for free – because they don’t cost the dealer a lot to buy wholesale.

If your car never leaves the bitumen, however, and very rarely strays outside the suburban built-up area, you probably just don’t need any of this stuff.

When the chances are good that your car is going to have to transport more than just passengers and the weekly groceries, you may want one or more of these items.

Once again, you will likely pay more if you’re buying through the dealer. And of course, just because you’ve bought the car new, you don’t have to buy the accessories new. You can almost certainly pick up these items cheaper at a local aftermarket accessory store or buy them second-hand online.

The offset here, particularly if you are a user-chooser with a novated lease, is you may be able to include the cost of these often expensive items in your repayments. It’s worth asking the question if you’re spending four figures on racks and a roof box, for instance.

And an additional point of caution: If you do plan to tow, and the manufacturer is offering a comprehensive tow pack from the factory, that’s likely to be money well spent.

It doesn’t necessarily pay for itself in resale terms, but you’ll get items like the right wiring harness, a transmission cooler and perhaps different springs and dampers included – and that could make towing much easier and less stressful.

It promises to be cheaper than buying those items separately from aftermarket suppliers and almost certainly will be covered by the manufacturer’s vehicle warranty.

Accessorising on a budget
• Treat the meet-and-greet with the aftermarket specialist as its own transactional process
• Establish in your own mind the extras you want for your new car before you enter the dealership
• Base your decision on actual need as well as driving environment and usage
• Find out what’s available from aftermarket suppliers – and for how much
• Be aware that upselling accessories is easy money for the dealer
• Adopt a default position with the salesperson – say no rather than yes

For further information, CHOICE has recently updated a useful resource that any new car buyer can and should read before entering into negotiations for a new car purchase.