I learned the hard way to not ask for OEM parts unless you know their cost and know they are the true OEM parts.
Why is this...?
It seems the fellow who took over a shop when a friend retired and moved screwed me royally.
I requested OEM parts. He knew damn well what I wanted. He took it upon himself to order and install parts that are branded OEM. That's right.... OEM brand. I never knew such a thing even existed. OEM brand lets the shop buy them dirt cheap and put whatever price they want on them. In my case as an example, part of the front end work included tie rod ends that could be bought for $10 each that he charged me $170 each for. He charged us $900 for what amounted to front brake pads and tie rod ends and this was near 20 years ago. He refused to adjust the bill. I bought an identical tie rod end from ebay for $10 including postage, took it down there, tossed it on his desk with the ebay receipt and let him know I would be sure to spread the word on what a thief he was. He did not seem to care so spread the word I did. I told only the truth.
Lesson learned.... If I ask for OEM parts, I qualify it with words like Mopar only in the case of a Durango.
That said I have found that Wagner has brake pads that are very close to OEM specs and their trade name for them is OEX. They are a very fair deal and are of excellent quality and provide great performance.
Gil
Ha Ha, this is quite common in the appliance parts business as well. A brand of generic parts from O.E.M.. I quit selling parts over the counter years ago because people did not know the difference between a factory part and a generic part. All they saw was what ebay was selling the parts for and it made me look like a thief to people too ignorant to understand the difference.
crazydoug