Now that you are looking to invest in your kid's play and fun activities, it is of no doubt that electric ride-on cars are one of the top options you are looking at. You might have heard about the term "Licensed ride-on cars" but maybe no so much about "Unlicensed ride-on cars". However, before you make that purchase decision, here are some important factors you need to take note of. First, let me start by defining the two terms.

LICENSED RIDE-ON CAR

A licensed ride-on car just as the name implies, means a ride-on car or product that is officially licensed by it's parent company and has the authority to bear it's original brand name, design and also make use of it's various intellectual properties. A typical example is this Licensed Range Rover Vogue.

UNLICENSED RIDE-ON CAR

This is just the exact opposite of everything the Licensed ride-on car stands for. These are ride on cars or products that imitates the brand name, design and intellectual properties of licensed ride on cars in a way that looks similar, but at the same time, entirely different, as the manufacturers are not authorized by the parent company to use their official badges.

The Major Differences between Licensed and Unlicensed Ride-on Cars.

You now have an idea of what a licensed and unlicensed ride on car are, let us now dive deeper into their major differences and hopefully help you make a better informed decision. Here are some of the ways you can tell if a ride-on car is licensed or not.

Packaging

Right from the packing, even before you unbox the ride-on car, you can easily tell if it is licensed or not. An official license ride-on car would normally say so on the package with the license badges all intact. For example, it could be written on the carton, "Licensed Range Rover Vogue" and this is often followed by a picture of the car clearly printed on the package. This is usually the first indicator as to whether the ride on car is licensed or not. While this does not tell the whole story and could be manipulated through imitation, there are also other proven indicators which brings us to our second point, design.

Design

The design of a licensed ride-on car is usually one of it's distinctive feature which separates it from unlicensed ride-on car. Licensed ride-on cars are designed as close as possible to the official auto brand from which it has been licensed. You would notice that only the official badges are used on the licensed ride-on car. Also the use of stickers are very minimal. With unlicensed ride-on cars, it is the exact opposite. The cars are usually designed without the official badges and even when they have a badge, they come in form of too many unnecessary stickers. You would also notice that unlicensed ride on cars usually are packed with a lot of unnecessary features which does not add any aesthetic or entertainment value but rather complicates things and sabotages it's longevity. Be sure to avoid shiny wheels with so many lightnings as this is one of the red flags.

Quality

Of course you would imagine that the quality of a licensed ride-on car will by far supersede that of an unlicensed imitation. Licensed ride-on cars are required to meet a very strict quality benchmark by it's parent company before they are officially released and these includes usability and performance check, safety standards compliance check and environmental safety standard requirement. Unlicensed ride-on cars on the other hand, do not go through this rigorous quality and safety standard test and most times can be dangerous. The sad thing is that quality might not be apparent to the naked eyes and can only be discovered at the long run.

Maintenance and Repair

Similar to adult cars, over time, your baby's ride-on car might require maintenance or repair of one of it's broken part. With Licensed ride-on cars, the repair or maintenance process is a lot easier because all electrical and assembly procedure has been properly engineered, and also, replacement parts are easily accessible. The case is totally different for unlicensed ride-on cars which sometimes, does not come with a comprehensive manual and specifications. Trying to repair unlicensed ride-on cars would most often result to bigger issues and sadly, they do not have accessible replacement parts as most of their parts are not compatible with the the original parts of a licensed ride-on car. You might be forced to do away with it or leave it lying somewhere in the basement once it develops a problem.

Pricing

You would expect that Licensed Ride-on cars would be more expensive than the unlicensed imitations, and rightly so. The prices of unlicensed cars often seems very attractive as they are obviously made using cheap parts which translates to cheap prices. While this is another factor that differentiates licensed cars from unlicensed ones, bear in mind that some unlicensed ride on cars are priced even closely or equally to the licensed ride-on cars to deceive unsuspecting buyers.

In general, do well to ensure that your choice of ride-on car for your baby meets majority of the above stated indicators to avoid wasting money on a product that would not stand the test of time.