[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

^^^And ensure you clearly cut out all the "crap work" from the job-card before you handover the car to them for service. Esp. the engine-decarbonising, brakes cleaning, clutch-adjust, balancing/alignment (best done at a dedicated tyre shop) etc etc. I infact have them clearly mention on the job-card "No testdrive to be done" since I dont want their inhouse Schumachers to practice dare-devil driving on my car.

You read my mind SB. This is exactly what I do each time I go in for a service. There is no way I can trust a Maruti service advisor to treat me with utmost honesty. If you see the ownership review of my Swift, I have ensured the following ALWAYS:

- Always enter the service station on a Saturday / Sunday morning early in the morning. Even before the SA's come in.

Reason: You aren't subjected to panic crowds around you and you get first in line for service. The service advisors that are made to come in early are usually juniors and aren't very smart with fleecing customers. Add to that, they are there early because they are lower in the hierarchy and just on to the job.

- Be very technical and straightforward with your requirements. I usually maintain notes on my smartphone with all issues I faced from the last service till date. Do not hesitate to refer to the owners manual to prove the service advisor wrong. Only your well informed approach can subdue his attempts to fleece you.

- Double check the job card. In all my visits to Sai Service Deccan, they have sheepishly added "Engine oil flush", "Brake cleaning" and "Synthetic oil" to my job card. I have always argued and made them cancel these tasks. For my uncle's Zen, they usually add "Intake manifold cleaning", "throttle body cleaning", "oil flush", "oil supplement", "Wheel alignment", "balancing". I make them cancel all these items and ensure that they comply.

- Barring one, I have always spent time in the customer lounge till my car is serviced. It takes 4-5 hours usually but is totally worth my time. I can add a job that I might have forgotten to have rectified.

- Be very honest in filling customer reviews. The SA's usually make a sorry face and ask you to put in a full 10/10 in the review to add to their job incentives. They aren't at fault. Their managers force them to include all the aforementioned items as a standard template in a job card to get perks.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

^^^And ensure you clearly cut out all the "crap work" from the job-card before you handover the car to them for service. Esp. the engine-decarbonising, brakes cleaning, clutch-adjust, balancing/alignment (best done at a dedicated tyre shop) etc etc. I infact have them clearly mention on the job-card "No testdrive to be done" since I dont want their inhouse Schumachers to practice dare-devil driving on my car.

And like with every other such situation, it really helps us from being conned if we do proper homework before landing at the MASS.

1) Take time time to look at the manual where they have all the stuff listed for each scheduled service - this will give you an idea of what needs to be replaced (R), what needs to be only inspected (I), or Adjusted (A) or Tightened (T) or Lubricated (L) or Cleaned (C) or Rotated (O) etc. It's all there in the manual without any ambiguity.

2) Apart from this, the night before I am to give the car for service, I remove everything from the car that is not needed - spare-wheel, jack, tools, ICE-facePlate, cash/coins, documents, sunglass.

3) Also, I time the service just before I am due for fuel-up - so fuel would be in reserve (with price of fuel what it is, no point letting them get some free for their cars/bikes courtesy us).

I agree,to ensure all this is followed,i get the car serviced in front of me.
When it comes to automobiles,i am a sucker for perfection,i ensure each job is done to my satisfaction,i miss my favourite hyundai Aftersales,they used to follow each and everything i asked and used to service my car within 45-90mins.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by audioholic

It is much apt to say that it is the money hungry dealers who are inventing all ways to fleece customers more than maruti itself.

Agree that "possibly" this is a dealer-fleecing, but in the end, if this is not checked by MSIL, it will be MSIL who will be the loser. Today if they have close to half the market share, the key reasons are reliability of their vehicles, extensive service network and cheap maintenance costs compared to the competition. If they dont check the fleecing by their dealers, the last reason will not remain an USP anymore and they will lose customers. I hope they are looking into these bad practices done by their dealers.

[heman_369]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Toyota Yes, Honda a big NO. From my experience Hyundai is costliest, next is Honda and then MUL. Cheapest so far has been Toyota but its a brief period right now, but from what i have seen at Nandi they are darn cheap!!

From my personal experience of owning a Etios (P). My servicing costs have been.
10K 1085
20k 1788. These were services with no labor cost and mineral oil.
Hell, even my Honda Activa service costs 1100 rs at ASS.

At 30k i am planning to switch to Synthetic oil and estimate is around 5k.

[supremeBaleno]

^^^If these were services without labour and mineral-oil used, why the big difference in cost between 10K and 20K services ? I think 10K would be the free service (so no labour) and only oil (and filter?) changed. 20K service I think must be a paid service and hence labour also charged apart from oil&filter.

Could you please post the breakup of both the services ? Because the cost indeed looks economical for an entry sedan.
Maintenance is one of the major costs (apart from fuel) during the lifetime of a car, and if a manufacturer can provide low costs here, they deserve appreciation.
I am amazed that a Fortuner costing 3x more than a Swift, costs almost the same in general scheduled maintenance. Great job, Toyota !!!

[thoma]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

In all my visits to Sai Service Deccan, they have sheepishly added "Engine oil flush", "Brake cleaning" and "Synthetic oil" to my job card. I have always argued and made them cancel these tasks.

I'm a bit confused here. I thought that the brake cleaning is a must-to-do. My FNG who advices against all other flush and de-carbonizing recommends the brake cleaning every time. They take out the wheels and clean out the brake dust is what I was given to understand. And I've felt improvements all the time, though might not be long lasting. Can someone please throw light on this 'brake cleaning' aspect alone. And the intervals too.

[junaid12345678]

Originally Posted by thoma

I'm a bit confused here. I thought that the brake cleaning is a must-to-do. My FNG who advices against all other flush and de-carbonizing recommends the brake cleaning every time. They take out the wheels and clean out the brake dust is what I was given to understand. And I've felt improvements all the time, though might not be long lasting. Can someone please throw light on this 'brake cleaning' aspect alone. And the intervals too.

Brake cleaning don't have any significant effect on the braking because the disc and the break pads accumulate lots of dust within minutes of driving just after the cleaning job.This includes the dust and debris collected from the road as well as the brake dust generated from the pads wearing out. So the slightly improved braking efficiency returns to where it was. Most MASS don't even bother to do the cleaning job in spite of the request from the customer. This has happened with mine every time.

[audioholic]

They do remove the wheel, open up the caliper. Then use sandpaper to scrub the top layer of the pad and put it bacl, along with caliper pin greasing.

How effective it is will be a tough question. In case of drum brakes, the drum can accumulate brake dust and lose its capacity. But in case of a disk brake, it is an open system. Moreover, both the disk and the pad will be scrubbed off any dirt once we do a couple of hard braking rounds. The only problem this brake cleaning may solve is in case the pads are glazed or irregularly worn, they will be restored.

I guess we all have to jointly take up the matter with maruti regarding being charged extra for stuff like the brakes etc. I was charged extra for brake cleaning, brake bleeding, caliper greasing, 'battery check' and such things. To hell with it, mine is a zero maintenance battery. We should pressurise maruti to instruct their dealers not to charge such extras, which jack up the bill. What on earth do they do under paid service then?

[junaid12345678]

MASS have now learned the trick that whatever they charges, the customer pays for the same. They are imitating the activities of the dealers of other companies in the strong belief that Maruti sales won't go down any day. Regardless of whatever they charges people will live in the perception that Maruti means pocket friendly. Gone are those days when a Maruti can be maintained by almost any pocket. The sky rocketing sales have made them literally blind. But a change is for sure one day when Maruti will struggle to prevent losing everything.

[heman_369]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

^^^If these were services without labour and mineral-oil used, why the big difference in cost between 10K and 20K services ? I think 10K would be the free service (so no labour) and only oil (and filter?) changed. 20K service I think must be a paid service and hence labour also charged apart from oil&filter.

Could you please post the breakup of both the services ? Because the cost indeed looks economical for an entry sedan.
Maintenance is one of the major costs (apart from fuel) during the lifetime of a car, and if a manufacturer can provide low costs here, they deserve appreciation.
I am amazed that a Fortuner costing 3x more than a Swift, costs almost the same in general scheduled maintenance. Great job, Toyota !!!

Both 10k and 20k were free labor services
10 K service
Total time spent : 2 Hrs.
Total cost 1050 rs
Work done : 3 Litres mineral oil + windshield wiper fluid + Tyre rotation + wheel alignment and balancing.

20k service
Total time spent : 3 Hrs.
Total cost 1788 rs
Work done : 3 Litres Mineral oil+Oil Filter+Spark Plug + Tyre rotation + wheel alignment and balancing.

[supremeBaleno]

@heman_369, thanks for the breakup. And that is indeed low service costs. I hope Toyota continues to maintain these economic service costs and does not go the Hyundai/Honda/MSIL way in fleecing customers in the name of service costs.

Coming back to MASS, some other tips to have a good service experience :
- Unless you are driving a Kizashi or Grand Vitara which could need special attention/parts, avoid the big/famous service centres, to which everyone flocks to, resulting in big crowds, huge waiting times and possibly sloppy service due to the volume of work. Identify a small, non-busy MASS for routine service, where they are glad to have your business and have the time to attend to customers better. More so, because there is no rocket-science in routine services and even a small MASS can do this going by the check-list. At my small town in Kerala, I use the services of a new/small Hercules Automobiles MASS and avoid the more established ones.

- Make generous and correct use of the MSIL feedback system. If not given to you, ask for the MSIL feedback form (not the dealer's own feedback form, which is useless) and rate them correctly as per your experience. If you have had bad experience, tick the relevant boxes and rate poorly so that the dealer has to correct the issues (with MSIL pressure). And more importantly, if you have had a good experience, rate them at the top - this ensures MASS and SA loyalty the next time you are there. After having done all the 3 free services of our A-Star_AT at Hercules, the SA is very familiar. From the first service, he has been prompt in attending to the car, delivering on time as promised. More importantly, since AT cars are rare there & so their test-drivers might not be aware on usage dos & donts, I had requested him not to have anyone drive it. He ensured this by having the car parked at the inner most end of the service-bays, after service was done, with other cars blocking its access out. Obviously the ratings were top-notch for him and the MASS, which means the experience next time was even better since SA is happy.

Regarding Honda service costs increasing, I believe this is mainly due to them shortening the service interval from 6months to 3months (or 5K kms). Strange approach when other manufacturers have increased it from 6months to a year. Frankly, who has the time to get the car in for service every 3months ? I talked to a friend who bought a Jazz recently - free services were either zero-cost or nominal charge for oil/filter.

Yesterday the car returned after the 1st paid service (3-month since last service) and the cost was 3000, of which 700-odd Rs was for some a/c duct cleaning / freshening crap (like the brake-dust cleaning trick at MASS). Even assuming this is not done at subsequent services, we are looking at ~2200 per 3-month service, which means ~9K a year. This could have been halved if their service interval was 6-months. And if it was annual like for MSIL cars, you are looking at just 2-3K in service costs. Honda really needs to look at the service interval.

[drsingh]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

.


Yesterday the car returned after the 1st paid service (3-month since last service) and the cost was 3000, of which 700-odd Rs was for some a/c duct cleaning / freshening crap (like the brake-dust cleaning trick at MASS). Even assuming this is not done at subsequent services, we are looking at ~2200 per 3-month service, which means ~9K a year. This could have been halved if their service interval was 6-months. And if it was annual like for MSIL cars, you are looking at just 2-3K in service costs. Honda really needs to look at the service interval.

I have a feeling this is to appease the dealers who have not been as enthusiastic in selling lower margin products like the cut price jazz and lower segment brio.

[drsingh]

Service is maruti's new growth strategy.

http://m.timesofindia.com/business/i...w/19572336.cms

[supremeBaleno]

Strategy is all fine, but I just hope they don't bank on service so much that they kill the golden goose. Instead of fleecing customers by adding useless stuff like decarb/brake-clean etc to the job-card resulting in a fat bill that will make customers stay away from MASS after warranty/free-service, they need to focus on providing smart service which will help get to them clientele that would otherwise go to the unauthorised garages.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Regarding Honda service costs increasing, I believe this is mainly due to them shortening the service interval from 6months to 3months (or 5K kms). Strange approach when other manufacturers have increased it from 6months to a year. Frankly, who has the time to get the car in for service every 3months ? I talked to a friend who bought a Jazz recently - free services were either zero-cost or nominal charge for oil/filter.

I think it is a myth being perpetrated by the dealers. Honda are on 6 months/10,000km and 12 months with a synth. I have done this with my Civic from day 1 and never an issue. Sure I get phone calls but I refuse the three month stuff. The Brio specifiess only 1, 6 months and then every six months. The Amaze is 1, 3, 6 and then every six months.