Risks of purchasing car radios online, from poor quality to compatibility issues. Trusting professionals like RadioKing ensures better quality and support.
Best place to buy car radio online
Where to buy car radios online
Why you should not buy car radios from the internet yourself? (even if the price is very attractive).
This post is made to help those seeking a premium Android car radio. And also as a warning to don’t go to such complicated stuff as buying android radios yourself. We are 7 years in business and it took us time and lots of mistakes to finally offer premium radios.
At RadioKing, we prioritize our clients and their time, and we simply cannot afford to sell subpar, slow radios. Doing so would harm both our clients and our business. When you choose us as a supplier and car radio fitter, you’re not just purchasing a premium radio you’re investing in a premium product with a warranty and after-sale support. Otherwise, you are risking money and your nervous system.
We are not just installers we also sell, and for example, if we know that the car the client owns is complicated to install, we don’t sell radio. Only with installation.
To see this, watch a video of a radio (not one of ours) that was purchased by a customer who thought they were getting a great deal. Unfortunately, the reality was far different.
So here are a few more reasons why you should not buy a car radio yourself:
1. Quality and Reliability Concerns
One of the biggest downsides to buying car radios from AliExpress, Amazon, Alibaba, or Chinese sellers is the questionable quality and reliability. While some products may appear to be of decent quality, we’ve had a few customers every week report receiving slow and low-quality radios.
Unfortunately, it’s common practice for Chinese manufacturers to offload low-quality products abroad, as returns are rare due to to law in China that protects their market from old electronics opposite in Africa where all European old electronics are sent. While warranties are always offered, sending a product back to China is nearly impossible. Most factories lack the proper licensing to accept return repairs, making warranties essentially useless. It sounds unbelievable, but it’s the reality.
But how do we do it in RadioKing? The secret to our high-quality offerings lies in our strict quality control and bulk purchasing from the best factories. However, if you’re not buying at least 100 units a month, you won’t even get average quality, and suppliers won’t care what they sell you. When we first started, we received outdated or glitchy stock because of this.
2. Lack of Customer Support or No Sense Answers
Effective customer support is essential when purchasing electronic products like car radios. However, many sellers provide inadequate assistance due to a lack of product knowledge at all ( sellers just sell), language barriers, and time zone differences making issue resolution difficult and time-consuming. Sellers just sell and lots of sellers never even a single radio by them selfs.
At Radio King, we pride ourselves on our dedicated support team, comprised of engineers who have installed thousands of these radios. They offer expert help with nearly any problem. Unlike many sellers who lack product knowledge and provide unhelpful responses, we offer superior after-sales support, including installation assistance, troubleshooting, and repairs.
3. Compatibility Issues
Car radios come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and specifications, so making sure one is compatible with your vehicle is crucial to avoid installation headaches. A major issue is that cars can vary depending on the country they’re from. For instance, in Ireland, we have Irish, UK, and Japanese cars, and even if they’re the same model, each requires different harnesses. You often won’t know exactly what’s needed until you open up the car. This can lead to buying a radio that doesn’t fit or work properly in your vehicle.
4. Warranty and Return Policy Challenges
Returning a broken or low-quality product, even with a warranty, can be challenging. Shipping costs can reach around €59 per kilogram from Ireland, with wait times of up to a month. While Amazon may offer easier returns, you still risk wasting time and being disappointed by the subpar quality of some Chinese Android radios.
Additionally, Amazon products are often more expensive due to high service fees and seller profits. For example, a radio sold for €200 on Amazon might cost only €30 to produce in China, making it unlikely that you’re getting a high-quality, reliable product at that price.
5. Fake Specs of Radios.
Radio specifications often don’t deliver the expected performance. For example, you’d assume a radio with 6GB of RAM would outperform one with 4GB. However, in some cases, particularly with products from certain manufacturers, this isn’t true. The reality is more complex. Watch this comparison video to see how a 6GB RAM radio is actually five times slower than our 4GB model.
We rely on the octane test to accurately measure performance, as specs alone can be misleading. Some factories even falsify specs, labeling 1GB of RAM as 4GB or 8GB to deceive buyers.
6. Complex Installation Process
Installing a car radio is not always straightforward and can be extremely complicated. When purchasing from international sellers, you’re left to manage installation yourself or hire professionals as we are at RadioKing. But when we install not our equipment we charge by hours, and usually the total cost is more expensive than if you buy from our stock with installation. Also once again, no warranty is given by us on your product.
7. Bad quality that can burn your car.
When buying a car radio from an online store, you can never know what kind of the quality of the components used in that radio. For example, in the story from our experience, we installed a client radio for a client’s Opel Insignia. Initially, everything worked fine, indicating that the installation was sound. After a month, the client reported that the radio blew with smoke while he was driving, and the car dashboard started to flash with error and stopped eventually. We warned the client that the radio was slow and likely to be with low-quality parts. This issue 100% comes not from our installation. So buying on the internet can fire your car and good luck with your insurance or attempt to suit sellers from Aliexpress. At RadioKing we have product liability insurance as every good company that sells products should have.
Conclusion
Purchasing a car radio on your own might appear to save money, but it carries significant risks. Every week, we encounter clients with radios plagued by quality problems, poor customer support, compatibility issues, and complicated warranty or return processes. The lack of after-sales service only adds to the frustration.
For a worry-free and dependable experience, it’s wise to buy from professional car equipment installers like RadioKing. We don’t just sell products—we stand behind them with better quality, support, and service. We know our products inside and out, ensuring you get the best possible solution.
Contact us if you want to get radio or other car gadgets installed or sold by us.
