Archive for the ‘car service center’ Category

My first car – small car – Maruti Alto

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

I remember when i bought my first car. It is Maruti Alto. It was obvious i was looking for car which is affordable and easy to maintain. Maruti always comes first when we think about better car servicing because if its large network of maruti authorized service station. Maruti Alto is considered to be rough and tough car which is fit for India roads and mileage is better in the same category. Maruti Alto was improved version of Maruti 800 with more comfort and features like well balanced chasis, better interiors and powerful AC.

Maruti Alto

Today, Maruti got world’s best small car. According to HT report, the Alto sold over 310,000 units in India during the year and was the only small car in the world to have sold that much units. Volkswagen Gol, Fiat Uno are the next ones in the world.

There are launch of new small cars Tata Nano. Bajaj is trying to launch new one in the same category, but Maruti is still house-hold name in small cars. Maruti has a large network of 2992 maruti authorized serive station all across India.

Source:
http://www.hindustantimes.com

Maruti Sale Declines, But Tops in Customer Satisfaction in after-sales-service

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

Today’s news report of Maruti shows first time losses in three years. Labour problems and fuel price hikes re major reasons for these losses. Experts think people have more choices in the market and Maruti could not meet demands because of less production at their plants. There are different assumptions and debate.

Maruti Alto

In Nov 2011, according to JD Power Report, Maruti Suzuki India has topped in customer satisfaction with dealer service for a 12th consecutive year. The reason is a large network of service center and strict guidelines for dealers to follow during audit process. JD Power also said that highly satisfied customers with overall service performance show more loyalty to both dealerships and the brand.

Maruti has made a trusted name at every home with a large network of 2992 car service centers all across India. There are three 3 categories of Maruti authorized service station, A-category, B-category and C-category. Apart from dealer, Maruti has Service Zone, which gets upgrade from MASS and have different guidelines for maintaining quality servicing and repairing.

Source:
http://www.zigwheels.com

http://indiatoday.intoday.in

Car Servicing & Repair Cost

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

What is the price of car servicing? Commonly asked question. Works managers are very conscious to reply the same because people confuse with “parts” and “consumable” items . Repair cost differs from normal car servicing.

Car Repair

Dealer charges 50% more labour than small workshop because of their costly labours. During warranty period, labour cost is free and customers just need to pay for lubricants and small liquid top ups. 45% cars owners even do not know or they do not take chances to get their car servicing at car workshops other than dealer service centre.

In india, cost estimation is still not exact and dealers try to be accurate during car check up. Customers are different and trusting dealer for cost estimation remains doubtful until he gets his car with satisfactory delivery. Small workshops run on referrals. That is the only way they can build trust or car owners consider them cheater.

The new trends are authorized multi brand workshops. To build trust, branding is important and corporate are coming up with good processes to give cost estimation accurate. Bosch has opened more than 500 authorized Bosch Car Service center in India and more corporate are coming up with same business model. Even corporate are trying to give small workshops technical training but making transparent cost of car servicing is still a problem for car owners. Maruti and Hyundai are opening more authorized workshops (non-OEM dealer) .

Why Do Car Mechanics Suggest for Extra Parts. Check out

Sunday, January 15th, 2012

It is very common that you go for car servicing at dealer workshop with minor running repairs but you get a bill with some parts changed without your knowledge. Most of the car owner has similar complaints.

Car Mechanic

Dealer workshops have many targets to meet. Targets of spare parts orders in a month. So, service managers get incentives to meet that target. It is obvious they would try to sell same parts to every car owner even if that is not required. Incentives to service manager leads to mal practices at workshops.
To avoid these problem, here are few things you can keep in mind.

1. Car Check up
Always go for car check up first and get assessment with estimated cost. It is in the report that which parts runs how much time. For example, service manager would say your break pad needs to be changed. There are chances that present condition of break pads may not worse but they recommend it do it now. Ask them few questions. You are the better judge!

2. Estimated Cost
All good car workshops offer estimated cost during car check up. Ask for labour charges, that makes difference as it varies from workshop to workshop. For your knowledge, dealer and independent workshop labour cost has 25 % to 50% labour cost difference.

3. Test Drive
Every good car workshop offer test drive after servicing. You must ask for test drive. If you find any problem during test drive, you can point out.

4. Extra Parts
Always go for genuine spare parts. Maruti offers genuine spare parts are Maruti Authorized Service Station and have strict guidelines to their service station of not using any spurious spares. Other brand Authorized service stations also have genuine spare parts, but ask to car workshop to show you spare parts they are using.

Next time your car mechanic suggests you replacement of new parts, you must have assessment ready if that is required or not. There is no formula to know but when you get assessment from 2 car workshops, then you may have fair idea.

Customer satisfaction is not rocket science at car service center

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

Somebody said customer satisfaction is not rocket science. With globalization and increasing competitive environement, there is more customer awareness about latest technologies and practices at car service station.

As an estimate 10% to 15% revenue can be increased at any car service dealer by just tweaking their processes. Customer satisfaction is major part of the process. Large dealers are spending amount of money paying to consultants to make their process works better. Manufacturer audit their process. CSI is popular terms, which stands for Customer Satisfaction Index.

There is an organization like J.D. Power and Associates which conducts customer satisfaction research based on survey responses from consumers worldwide. Their survey reports are popular and used to improve businesses worldwide.

Hike in petrol prices and inflation, cost of car servicing and repair also become deciding factor to make customer happy. Cost of car servicing is high after warranty gets expired. According to survey, 60% of customer look for other car workshop after warranty. MeriCAR.com is providing platform to customers to search for the right car workshops.

According to JD Power Report, Maruti Suzuki India has topped again in customer satisfaction with dealer service for a 12th consecutive year. The reason is a large network of service center and strict guidelines for dealers to follow during audit process.

Source:

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com

http://indiatoday.intoday.in