been thinking about this some more, and it kinda got me going a little.
Honda really takes us to the cleaners on parts from the dealerships.

We have to remember that we are after OEM Quality, not just OEM.  I work in
the automotive manufacturing industry.  We order parts from the OEM suppliers
such as MGM Brakes, CE Niehoff for alternators, and Nippon Denso for
alternators and starters.  Countless others that are undoubtedly used across
the industry, regardless of whether a vehicle is made by Honda or by Chrysler.

By the way, we operate a 'service parts' division.  By far it is the MOST
profitable division in our company, and we mark the parts up like crazy!  I
doubt Honda is doing anything different than this.

However, what Honda does is do a little more research, and a little more
followup.  Their OEM suppliers must meet their stringent PPM defect standards,
and they do pay more for their parts.  The tradeoff being that the domestics
and other cheapies pay less, for less reliable parts.

I don't see a problem with going to a retailer like Maximumautoparts.com or
Rockauto.com, as they specify the vendor of the parts.  A little research
will render this information quite quickly under the hood of your honda,
check out the brand names and part numbers.  Match them up on the website,
and you should be getting an 'aftermarket' OEM part.  In other words, not
from the dealer...

My 2 cents.

Terry in Winnipeg.