Hi Skerians,

Just wanted to have your experience and view of using either genuine or non-genuine spare parts.And is there a case where you use genuine parts for certain replacements and non- genuine for others.

Horton is right, however this is a very tough industry, let me give my take:
1. The are two types of genuine vehicle parts, grey market and authorized resellers. For example Toyota EA may sell genuine toyota parts so expensively that sourcing the same for yourself from an authorised dealer in say dubai and reselling them here makes sense. There are a few shops that sell such, but you have to be careful and know your way around.
2. Then there are those manufacturers who supply vehicle parts to vehicle manufactures, for example denso, aisin, daikin, supply parts to toyota and mitsubishi with a vehicle logo and sell the same without logo and packaging in the market, this are just as good as genuine parts and cost less. But you have to be careful there are many fakes.
3. There are then high grade substitutes, these are parts that are manufactured in areas with strict testing of standards such as japan, this is what you will commonly hear being referred to as "original japan" in spares shops. 555 manufactures very good suspension parts (ball joints) etc, but most of the 555 you will see in shops are fakes from Taiwan etc, so you have to know how to determine the fakes from the originals.
4. High performance parts, this are usually even better than the genuine parts and are made by specialized manufacturers and often cost more than the genuine part, a good example is robbs shocks.
5. There are then low quality fakes of all types and packaging which only the expert(after years of experience) can determine.
6. Then there are parts where you have no choice, such as leaf springs locally made.

Depending on your particular problem maybe i can direct you on how to get the best for your situation.

For Toyota, Toyota EA Nyayo stadium roundabout to import upto 3months but they claim 30days, then KAPU(K)Ltd (the both of them on Dare-salaam Rd with different owners) are stockist for Toyota EA to import 20days or so but claim 14days though they give very good import prices, Auto Import Kiriinyaga Rd stock grey market geniune parts, Alfa motors on enterprise road stock kidogo genuine parts to import claim 10 days but i have not tried them. I have given the import time as with Toyota you will more often than not find no stock for a genuine part. So take down the Engine No. Chasis No. Trans Axle No.
For subaru i can see you have found subaru kenya, the other i knew was legacy auto who used to double in hyundai parts i think, they are in the alley that links Kirinyaga road and a bar that hosts Matumbo Darts Club (Kirinyaga crescent i think), have not had to deal with subarus but used to Hyundai, i guess they also import and the process will be similar to Toyota. If you put the right numbers, you will always get the right part even without sample.