Can owning a luxury car be a real pain in the backside? Of course neither can you change the roads overnight nor can you thwart fools from knocking your vehicle’s rear-view mirrors. But what about after-sales service? Well, with the newly introduced My Mercedes-My Service initiative, the German carmaker wants to prove a point — that owning and maintaining a premium automobile can be easy and not necessarily time-consuming respectively. Here’s how:
Comprising three components — Digital Service Drive, Premier Express Service, and Star Ease New Service Package — the after-sales initiative will not just make the ownership hassle-free even further but will also introduce never heard of concepts.
To get the basics right, Mercedes already has 52 service outlets and 84 dealerships operating in 40 major cities, which is said to be the largest among the luxury brands. The company’s official road side assistance (RSA) covers 953 cities. The number of Mercs serviced is expected to be 1,60,000, at about one vehicle being serviced every 54 seconds (not in 54 seconds, mind!), claims the company. Also, one of the many segment first offerings by Merc is the standard 3-year standard warranty.
What is it?
Okay, back to the My Mercedes-My Service’s components:
Digital Service Drive
Digital Service Drive ensures there’s transparency and increased convenience for Merc customers. Under this, service advisors get rid of pen and paper and use iPads instead. Service can be booked online while with the help of video conferencing and the iPad-equipped service advisors the detailed status of the vehicle can be known. Things like feedback emails and intimation by SMS will also be present while the service estimate will also be delivered by email. India will be the only country apart from the US to be offered Digital Service Drive.
Premier Express Service
The quick service plan enables the complete service of your Merc in just over two hours. It’s only for regular services and if there’s a warranty-related work involved then it will take longer than this. Also, AMG vehicles are sadly not covered under it, either.
But the most important component of the new service plan is the
Star Ease New Service Package:
It will effectively put an end to ownership-related apprehension, if any. The company is offering a new Star Ease Compact Plus service plan in a multitude of mileage/age options. You can opt for coverage up to 5 years or 1,00,000 km. Alternatively, if your vehicle runs more than usual, you can even opt for the unlimited mileage service package (valid for up to 5 years). Or best still, the 10 year or 2,00,000 km standalone package will ensure reduced maintenance cost to a very large extent and for a very long time. This package will however be available for new customers only while Flexi Service Packages can be availed by existing customers as well till the 4th year of ownership. The company also maintains that one of the benefits of opting for the extended service plans will be a complimentary Premium Express Service.
