You've probably seen the term OEM hundreds of times if you've ever shopped for car parts, talked to a mechanic, or spent too much time browsing automotive forums. “Get the OEM part.” “That's not OEM.” “OEM is better.” But what does OEM actually mean?
The acronym is used in the automotive world in a few different ways. Sometimes it refers to the automaker. Sometimes it refers to a company that supplied a component for a vehicle. And sometimes it's used to describe a replacement part. That can make the term surprisingly confusing.
