Originally Posted By: BrotherAli
Curious what your guys thoughts are? Capa bumper is 160 and non-capa bumper is 80....This is for a 2014 mazda 3. Guy working at keystone/LKQ said he'd go with the cheaper part if it were him; my paint guy said sometimes they dont fit good and fitment would be on me.
A lot of times the CAPA certified parts are literally the same as non-CAPA if there's no real incentive for cutting major corners, but you never really know unless you can look at the two side by side, which usually isn't feasible.
In the collision industry there are a lot of time constraints. Poor quality parts eat up a lot of time, and rental cars aren't free, so the CAPA certification basically means you have better chances of getting a usable aftermarket part the first time. Without some kind of certification, there is no telling what the aftermarket would crank out.
It probably ends up being good for everybody, since I doubt it's cost effective to have a cheap production line and a CAPA production line in most cases. There's more likely to be one production line, though maybe the CAPA parts get some extra quality control at the end.
I have bought a lot of non-CAPA aftermarket parts with no major issues, but nearly all non-CAPA parts I have bought have been for 1990s-2000s light trucks. Hard to screw that up. With a later model car where fitment needs to be more precise, and the part is probably more complex, CAPA may be worth it, especially if you want it fixed quickly with minimal headaches. The certification is mostly there for the insurance/collision industry, but it's there for a reason.