Servicing Cars: Driving Customer Satisfaction

The morning would have not been worst for Shashank, a young executive working with a leading telecom company in the city. 6
months ago he purchased a new car Tata Manza, he was extremely happy with his decision to choose the sedan. But it seemed that
the tormenting days were in offering for future. He purchased his car from SKS Motors, sole dealer of Tata motors in the city.
What bothers Shashank: The car comes with 4 free services to be done as per following schedule:
Service
1st
2nd
3rd
4th

Time
One month
6 month
1 year
2 years

Kilometers
1000 Kms
5000 Kms
10,000 Kms
15,000 Kms

Whichever is earlier
Whichever is earlier
Whichever is earlier
Whichever is earlier

His happiness about his much admired possession vanished when he reached the SKS workshop for 1 st free service. Despite being
given a time he faced lot of discomfort during the entire process from giving the vehicle to taking the final delivery. What added to his
discomfort was the fact that 1st service is only about washing and cleaning of the vehicle and no oil/ mobil change is done in the 1 st
service. Any laymen could guess that it will take only 1-2 hours for this service but for this he has to take so much pain. He raised the
issue with the workshop manager and he was promised that next time this would not happen.
But to his dismay his 2nd visit also witnessed similar events and traumatic experiences. He called a day before and was asked to report
at 9:00 am in the morning to avoid any discomfort. He reached the workshop at 8:45 am, only to find 20-25 odd vehicles already in the
queue. By 9:30 am only 2-3 attendants came to the workshop, and they started generating Service Invoice for vehicles in the order in
which the vehicles arrived at the workshop. Now Mr. Shashank felt cheated, he thought that when he was called at 9:00 am and he
reached before time why he is not being paid attention to and why he should wait for no fault of his. He is also aware of the fact that he
has a meeting with an important client at 10:30 am in his office, a mission seemingly impossible for him to accomplish because if things
happen in this manner he would not reach his office till 11:00 a.m. He called the manager and somehow managed to drop the vehicle
and reach his office within time.
Somehow his day passed in meetings and other mundane activities but something was bothering him, he was not happy about what so
ever happened in the morning. He thought that why the workshop is not bothered about their customers, why the processes are
designed to torture the customers instead of satisfying them. Customer is the king Customer centric organisation all seemed to be
theoretical jargons while the reality is so different. He was feeling cheated and embarrassed and for the first time repented his decision
to purchase a Manza. Although he was fully satisfied with the product but it was the much needed after sales service which was grossly
missing.
Some observations of Shashank:
Largely the cars which arrive at service station may be classified into two categories personal cars and commercial cars (used as taxi
or other commercial purposes). While generating the Service invoice a commercial car takes more time as compared to a personal
car, largely because of the distance travelled, the way car is run and managed. So is it justified to put both these categories of cars in
the same queue in morning?
He also observed that some cars were driven to the workshop by owners while some were brought in by drivers. To his dismay both
categories were in the same queue and were accorded similar treatment by the employees which he felt was humiliating.
Why cant the service stations follow a proper time schedule and take vehicles accordingly. Why everyone was called at the same time
which further added to the chaos and the problems of car owners like Shashank.
Car Servicing: Easy to hit or miss:
India in the last few years has become a preferred destination for all major car manufacturers. Still in India the profit margins for car
dealers are not more than 2-3%, way below 8-9% elsewhere in the world. In India still the dealers makes money through spares and
services where the profit margins can be as high as 50- 60%. Despite this majority of the dealers prefer investing more money in their
showroom and little attention is paid towards the customer experience and satisfaction management while he visits the service station.
A research by AT Kearney mentions that over 50% car owners move out of the dealer workshop for service after 2 years when the
service warranty gets over. To save money these people go to small unauthorized garage. Despite this fact the service station put little

efforts to retain the customers after the warranty period is over. Although simple commonsense says that in the first two years the cars
suffer minimum wear and tear and the service bills inflate after that, which means the dealer service stations are missing sweet spots to
increase their revenues. Sector experts say that there is a growing dissatisfaction with the service standards of automobile dealers as
when you go for service the focus is on car and not the customer
Service station dilemma:
Every day the service station receives cars which may be broadly divided into following categories:
Free Service Visitors: New owners of cars, depending on the model the number of free services range from 3-5 and cover maximum 3
years. The cars on an average require 2-3 hours for servicing. On an average SKS receives 10-15 such cars per day. The wear and
tear in the car is minimum. It takes only 5-7 minutes to open a Service Invoice.
Regular Servicing and Minor Jobs: This category takes around 3-5 hours on an average, and in some cases involving denting and
painting the car is delivered next day. Everyday they receive 30-50 such cars. Around 50% cars received in this category are used as
commercial cars and are brought in by drivers. The average time required in opening a Service Invoice may range from 10-20
minutes.
Major and Accidental cases: In this category they receive around 15-20 cars per day. Time taken depends on the job required, where
insurance claim is also required the time taken increase automatically and on an average it takes around 5-7 days to deliver the vehicle
and complete necessary formalities. The average time taken in opening a Service invoice varies depending on the nature and number
of jobs to be performed.
The revenue generated by these three categories of cars is different.
Existing process followed by SKS:
A customer is advised to call a day before bringing in car for servicing. Based on number of calls received and the work load the
customer is given a day to bring in his car. All the cars are taken in the morning between 9:00 am to 11:00 am only. A customer is
allotted a unique number during his first visit and this number is used for future reference.
Every morning results in chaos as many customers want to be attended quickly drop the vehicle and leave for offices.
Despite the everyday chaos, and many disappointed customers like Shashank the SKS workshop has a record of 85-90% satisfied
customer, which is judged on a small questionnaire having some mundane questions related to courtesy of employees, satisfaction with
washing, delivery schedule adherence, bills estimate etc.
Every customer who visits to take the delivery of his vehicle is asked by the service attendant to fill this questionnaire, and all the
responses are analyzed on day to day basis.
Questions for discussion:
1) Devise a process for SKS to ensure smooth functioning of workshop? Do you think different process needs to designed for
personal and commercial cars or the process should be designed keeping in mind three categories to which the car might
belong?Justify.
2) Do you think a well aligned Call Center will be of any help? Wherein the calls should be utilized not only to give a date and
time but some general information regarding vehicle and job requirement summary should also be generated?
3) Do you think that internet may be used as an effective tool to have a better dialogue with customers? Suggest some possible
alternatives or options which may be used by service stations like SKS to drive customer satisfaction.
4) Do you think a proper arrival and delivery schedule will work for SKS service station?
5) Suggest how they can assess service quality and customer satisfaction with the help of SERVQUAL scale in such business?
Also suggest few items/ questions which will help them to judge the satisfaction level of its customers?