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| Roland Folger, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India with the service team at My Mercedes My Service event in Bangalore |
Mercedes-Benz set to transform service experience in the automotive industry; introduces ‘My Mercedes-My Service’ program in India. A new benchmark in After-Sales standards
With a host of ‘India First’ initiatives, promises to make after-sales service, the new differentiator in luxury car segment
‘My Mercedes-My Service’ comprises of 3 pillars: Digital Service Drive, Premier Express Service and innovative service products which offers lowest ownership costs for customers in the luxury segment
India is the only country outside USA to have the Digital Service Drive
First in Indian automotive industry: Service updates through video call, easy Online Service Booking with real time availability of time slots at any dealership across network
First in luxury car segment: Connectivity to the workshop through video call during pick-up and drop
First in luxury segment in India: Motorsports’ pit-stop inspired ‘Premier Express Service’ with fastest service experience of Mercedes-Benz
Segment First: Star Care: Only luxury car manufacturer to provide 3 years warranty as standard
To introduce Star Ease package with coverage up to 10 years or 200,000 kms for new customers
Service packages also available with unlimited mileage coverage; another first in automotive industry in India
First in Indian luxury car segment: ‘Flexi service packages’ - customer can buy at any point till 4th year of ownership and for the available duration and mileage
Largest service network for a luxury car maker: Mercedes-Benz has the largest service network comprising 52 outlets spread across 40 cities
Record service in a year: In 2016 alone, Mercedes-Benz India After-Sales is expected to service an impressive 160,000 cars
Every 54 seconds, 1 Mercedes-Benz Car is serviced across India
Mercedes-Benz India had a total of 1600 training man hours alone in H1 2016, towards training its after-sales teams at dealership across India
Bengaluru: India’s largest luxury car maker, Mercedes-Benz launched one-of-its kind, innovative
service programme, ‘My Mercedes- My Service’. With the launch of this programme,
Mercedes-Benz aims to completely redefine the after-sales experience by digitizing
service process and create an unparalleled benchmark in the luxury car service domain.
‘My Mercedes-My Service’ programme comprises industry first initiatives like ‘Digital
Service Drive’, ‘Premier Express Service’ and innovative ‘Service Products’. These initiatives
aim at enhancing the customer’s ownership experience manifold, thus making after-
sales experience the new differentiator in the luxury car segment. ‘My Mercedes-My
Service’ was rolled-out by Roland Folger, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz
India; Santosh Iyer, Vice-President, After-Sales, Mercedes-Benz India and Sharath
Vijayaraghavan, Executive Director, Sundaram Motors.
Roland Folger, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India commented,
“Though product introductions will remain important, we increasingly believe that service
excellence and hassle free ownership experience will determine the long-term success of
an automotive brand, even in the luxury car segment in India. At Mercedes-Benz, we
strongly believe that a delightful, exclusive and outstanding service experience is pivotal
in winning customers’ loyalty. We are ready to comprehensively transform the after-sales
experience for our customer with the launch of ‘My Mercedes-My Service’ programme. It
boasts of multiple first initiatives and is a definitive step towards meeting the myriad demands
of today’s new age customers which makes them fans of the brand. After-sales is
a key element in our growth strategy in India and we are confident this initiative will only
fortify our formidable customer trust and service reputation created over decades.”
Mr. Folger further elaborated, “As pioneers of luxury motoring in India, and with more
than 84,000 loyal customers, we have the largest pool of luxury car customers for a luxury
brand in India. It has been our relentless endeavour to make ‘customers for life’ through
our various service initiatives and we have a strong lead in after-sales domain. A testimony
to these efforts has been our consecutive No.1 position in the coveted JD Power Customer
Satisfaction Index survey, for a luxury car brand. As more customers increasingly
fall back on the service experience for reinvesting in the brand, innovations like ‘My Mercedes-My Service’ will offer them an unmatched vehicle ownership experience resulting in
trust and loyalty. Innovative service products like Star Ease offers lowest ownership costs
for customers in the luxury segment. We want our patrons to experience the industry
benchmark service programs offered through ‘My Mercedes-My Service’ that promises
complete peace of mind while driving their cherished Three Pointed Star.”
Mr. Folger also stated, “Mercedes-Benz service experience is highly customer oriented
and aims to be efficient, transparent, nominally priced and most importantly fast, to retain
the loyalty of our new age patrons. ‘My Mercedes-My Service’ promises to transform the
after-sales experience with never-seen-before initiatives, not only in the luxury car segment,
but also across the entire automotive sector in India. Be it digitizing our entire service
process through the Digital Service Drive or launching the Premier Express Service
programme, these novel initiatives are aimed at providing a whole new experience to our
discerning patrons. Additionally, comprehensive service packages like the Star Care, Star
Care+ and Star Ease under this programme will provide an absolute hassle free experience
of owning a Mercedes-Benz vehicle.”
1. Digital Service Drive: A key pillar of ‘My Mercedes-My Service’ umbrella, the ‘Digital
Service Drive’ is a unique initiative offering higher transparency, enhanced convenience
and time saving measures to the esteemed customers of the brand. The key objective of
launching the unique ‘Digital Service Drive’ is to enhance the ownership experience of the
customer resulting in brand loyalty. This initiative also aims to strengthen overall operational
efficiency and reduce turnaround time for the customer. Automating the communication
channel to ensure end-to-end visibility is also achieved through ‘Digital Service
Drive’.
The key elements of Digital Service Drive comprise:
Key elements: Paperless, convenient and time saving customer interaction processes
through usage of iPads by Service Advisors | Transparent communication through vehicle
status information through automated Pre-Service, In-Service, Post Service SMS | Feedback
and estimate on e-mail | In-person communication with the use of video calls to aid
higher transparency | Service at doorstep concept which is transparent like an actual visit
to the workshop through the use of iPads by drivers with expert advice through video calls | Convenient online booking with real time slot availability for nationwide service appointment
booking
Consumer benefits: Faster turnaround time for servicing | Convenience from the comfort
of home | Transparent communication enabling trust | Complete peace of mind and hassle
free experience
Mercedes-Benz India has already got an overwhelming response from the customers
across the markets where ‘Digital Service Drive’ is piloted since the last three months.
2. Premier Express Service: Premier Express Service is a novel initiative from Mercedes-
Benz which enables complete servicing of a Mercedes-Benz in a little over two
hours. This innovative concept is brought to life with dedicated infrastructure within the
service center comprising dedicated bays, two post lift, dedicated tools & equipment and
dedicated special tools like brake pad and disk test gauge, brake caliper tool, oil filter cap
etc. There is also a dedicated team for ‘Premier Express Service’ comprising one Team
Leader and two Certified Maintenance technicians. The total time estimated for Premier
Express Service is for over two hours from welcoming the consumer to issuing of Gate
Pass after performing the maintenance job. This service is available across all metro cities.
Premier Express Service, however, excludes major service and repairs, warranty repairs
or service on specialty AMG vehicles.
Customer benefits: Premier Express Service aims at reducing the average service time
for maintenance of vehicles drastically, thus reducing the turnaround time. Further there is
reduced effort for the customer as she/he has to travel to the service center only once for
the service of the vehicle.
3. Star Ease New Service Package: ‘My Mercedes-My Service’ initiative is also highly
value-driven as it introduces a new service package for the Star Ease programme which
reduces the cost of maintenance relieving the customers of any expense related worries.
The exclusive features of the Star Ease package are multifold.
Star Ease Compact Plus: It now has more options to choose from. It will now be offered
for 3 years or 30,000 kms, 3 years or 60,000 kms, 4 years or 40,000 kms, 4 years with
80,000 kms and also 5 years or 100,000 kms. Star Ease Compact will be offered with
2/3/4 and even 5 year with Unlimited Mileage. Mercedes-Benz India will also introduce a
stand-alone package for 10 years or 200,000 kms for new car customer only.
Added benefits of new Service Package: New ‘Compact’ package comes without mileage
restriction. There will be a package coverage up to 5 years for existing customers
and up to 10 years or 200,000 kms for new customers. There will also be a complimentary
Premier Express Service offered to the customer.
Mercedes-Benz commands the distinction of having the densest network among luxury
car manufacturers in India. Mercedes-Benz is present across 40 Indian cities with 84 outlets.
Mercedes-Benz Road Side Assistance is also provided to customers spread across
an incredible 953 cities. The most stringent standard is adhered to in each of these service
facilities as per the guidelines from Mercedes-Benz, Germany. Mercedes-Benz also
delivers the power of knowledge to people whom it matters; there is an impressive 1600
hours of training provided for the dealer’s staffs, in H1 2016.
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