The spare parts of automobiles origin are scarce in the rare vehicle dealerships still active in Algeria, which benefits the informal market and counterfeit products.
After the withdrawal of automobile manufacturers from the Algerian market following the freeze on imports and the end of vehicle assembly, the majority of dealers no longer provide after-sales service.
Most of them have closed their doors altogether and changed activities. Since 2020, Algeria does not import vehicles and assembly plants have been closed.
To replace a defective part, they often ask their customers to go buy it on the market, without any guarantee on its originality. It is indeed difficult to verify whether the spare part available is original or counterfeit. This poses a serious road safety problem, in a country where road accidents kill nearly 4,000 people every year.
For Mustapha Zebdi, president of the Algerian Organization for the Protection and Guidance of the Consumer and the Environment (APOCE), “the automotive sector in Algeria is not doing well, and this situation has been going on for several years now”.
But in addition to the economic repercussions, the consequences of this situation, worsened over the past two years by the health crisis linked to covid-19, are serious: unprecedented surge in used vehicle prices, withdrawal of after-sales service and a shortage of spare parts. A situation which today poses a real road safety problem.
On this subject, Mr. Zebdi, who prefers to speak of “lack” rather than shortage of spare parts. “We have known for some time a significant shortage of spare parts, it really poses a problem of road safety. We ask that quick solutions be taken to remedy this situation,” claims the president of Apoce.
According to him, “the current situation is not disastrous, but solutions must be found quickly”.
Coming back to the informal market, and to the phenomenon of counterfeiting of spare parts, the president of Apoce believes that “this situation of lack has opened a breach and allowed people to enter the network. and sell counterfeit products” .
“Parasites have entered the market and have taken advantage of the vacuum this situation offers,” he added. Today, any spare part can be introduced on the market, to the detriment of quality and reliability.
To stem this phenomenon, Zebdi calls for moral responsibility. “Whether it is economic operators, retailers, or any spare parts reseller, they all have a moral responsibility towards customers”.
For him, counterfeiters “play with people’s lives, and must imperatively suffer prosecution and reprisals”.
This situation of shortages or shortages of certain spare parts is likely to last a long time. The government has not approved any dealer for the importation of new vehicles while the revival of the assembly industry is not for tomorrow.
