As of May 2019, Toyota claims to have 359 dealer facilities across the country. The centres in rural areas are comparatively smaller making it financially viable. The Express Service is available in residential areas of major cities:
An interesting story on the founder of Toyota Motor Corporation, Kiichiro Toyoda. Toyota's first mass-produced vehicle was the G1 truck, and when one of those trucks broke down, Kiichiro himself went to repair the truck along with some engineers:
Customers are given many choices during the purchase of a car and services like Express Maintenance (EM) helps the customer in saving time:
Toyota claims that there are more than 500 variants when you consider various trim levels, powertrain options and even colours over 10 products (prior to the Glanza launch). Financial services, extended warranty and insurance are also offered:
Customers of 80% of the cars sold in the past 8 years visited a Toyota dealer at least once in 2018 for service. Most cars under warranty come back to the dealer for services but this figure includes out of warranty cars as well, which tend to go to local garages. It is claimed that this increases the resale value of the car:
Toyota offers the EDGE service to customers. Under this service, customers buying a new car can choose various options like finance, insurance, warranty, etc. based on their requirements and vehicle usage. The company claims that this gives more flexibility to the customer:
All these services are put on boards on showroom walls:
All features of the vehicle are shown on these display boards:
Every showroom has a customer kiosk. Here, the customer can go through all the features and specifications of the vehicle and also compare it with that of the competition:
Customers can choose 'Home Installation' to learn about some features and for some adjustments. This is done at their convenience:
The overall cost of maintenance of the vehicles has been listed. The costs are in Rs/km and include cost of parts, labour and lubricants for upto 1 lakh km. The company claims that these are the lowest maintenance costs of vehicles in their respective segments:
The cost of maintenance is claimed to be determined by these intangible benefits. The graph below "High Quality Parts" highlights the mileage at which these parts have to be replaced. The company claims that the number of replacements in a cycle is lower than that of its competitors:
They claim that the SMILES package, which is a pre-paid maintenance package, helps reduce the overall cost of maintenance. The cost shown here is for the Yaris:
It is said that the customers tend to go to local garages for injector failures / faulty injectors. To answer this, Toyota introduced 'Injector Repair Return'. They say that most of the faulty injectors can be fixed by cleaning, which costs 5% the price of a brand new part:
The number of brands available for customers to choose from has been increasing for the past few years:
The 'Service Express' trucks are used for services in remote areas:
Periodic maintenance including Express Maintenance can be carried out with these trucks in remote areas. The maintenance services can be major or minor:
This is almost like a regular service station. Vehicle diagnosis can be conducted and parts can be ordered online. The service even offers car wash:
Some repair jobs including wheel alignment and balancing can be carried out:
Inside the 'Service Express' truck. This service is being conducted on a trial basis in 4 states - Karnataka, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh:
To maintain the quality of the vehicle, Toyota has maintenance reminders to remind the customers to give the car for service. They also have 'T Shield', to inform customers about the dos and don’ts. For example, this video talks about driving on water-clogged roads:
Spare parts are stored in this warehouse and are shipped to dealers all over the country. All the lighter and brittle parts are stored on top whereas all the heavier parts are stored below:
Parts that are needed regularly, like body parts, are stored nearer to the delivery trucks. Trucks are sent to dealers in major towns and cities every day:
All trucks are inspected to ensure that they meet the required quality standards before parts / cars are loaded:
Trucks are tracked and they are driven only during the day adhering to the speed limits:
Toyota claims that the number of major accidents involving their trucks has reduced and that they have met their target for on-time deliveries:
Everyone who handles the parts and the cars are trained beforehand:
