::Barloworld ::Car accessories to the rescue in the sea of sameness
The car accessories market is a very lucrative one. The car accessories fitted by the dealer before delivering a new car is a drop in the ocean compared to the bewildering range of after-market accessories available for all makes of car.
Dealer-fitted accessories are a handy way of making an extra few Rand off a sale. A car that is sold at a healthy discount can claw back quite a few greenbacks for it dealer off that healthy accessories margins charged. In fact, some dealers start fitting the most popular accessories as soon as a new car arrives on the showroom floor. Smash & grab window films, safety bands inside the tyres and a radio are typically added and the car is then presented “as is”, and at a premium, because of all the extras fitted.
Double cabs seldom leave the factory with those shiny rollbars, bullbars, sidesteps, bonnet protectors, tonneau covers, towbars and canopies. These add thousands of Rands to the price and are all very popular car accessories that any self-respecting double cab driver surely cannot do without!
Once out of the showroom, the driver with the wherewithal can delve into the aftermarket accessories catalogues to his heart’s content. High-rise suspension, enormous wheels, special tyres, spotlights, GPS, killer sound system. Name it, it is there. The car accessories often represent in equal measures a driver’s lust for eye candy, the establishment of bragging rights and the extension of his or her personality in a way the vanilla showroom model just cannot muster.
The fact that a car can be customised, modified, glorified and accessorised until every paragraph of the warranty booklet has been waived is often far from the mind of the avid customiser. To stand out in the rat race often weighs far more and if it is as easy as heaping money on the anonymity problem, then why not, if the money is there…
One thing is certain: in the world of car accessories, not even the sky is the limit.
