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Originally Posted by Rtech Great. we now have a general idea. What is the break up of the costs though? Could you include that as well? Like I said, Rs.2000 for a complete service is terrific, but lets have the break up. |
You have made my secretary work hard enough already, what with calling Honda dealers for servicing costs, during work hours man!! You want the breakup….You call Arya Honda
Like I said, it’s the *TOTAL* cost of service that matters to the customer. I am writing a Cheque for the entire amount when my car goes for a service. And when a 16 lakh car can be service for 700 – 2000 bucks, I don’t consider it reasonable for a 10 lakh car like the Octavia to cost 7000 – 9000 for each service. Show me any other car in the 10 – 15 lakh price range that costs almost 1% of the acquisition cost to service.
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So I am really struggling to see how Honda, at their authorised service centre, can carry out a change of 4.5 liters of oil, oil filter, air filter, (fuel filter doesn't apply to the petrol cars usually) and labour charges all for Rs.2,000. We are talking out of warranty period here ofcourse. Its truly a marvel of cost management.
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Standard Mr. Sam Walton (Walmart) philosophy. Better cost management = Lower costs = More value to the customers!! Now you know why Honda is the no.1 in almost all of the segments that it sells in.
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And yes GTO, I know what is in my manual. As mentioned in my earlier post, they only recommend it for top ups if nothing else is available.
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Can you give me the exact requirements that are stated in your manual? A Skoda specialist told me about the CG-4 and hence, I don’t have the link.
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If I get you correctly, you mean to say that VW should tie up with, say Shall Helix, stick on a VW/Skoda label on the can and price it at Rs.500? I guess they could.
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Absolutely spot-on. Buy in bulk and you can get Mobil 1 for even Rs. 400 - 450 bucks a liter. So if I were a manufacturer that required only synthetic oil, I would buy the oil in bulk, rebrand it as Skoda oil, and sell it for a far lower price than a Rs. 1,000 MRP. That would be safe-guarding the interests of my customers. But then, I wouldn’t be keeping my dealerships happy by taking away their 400 buck / liter profit would I?
My point is…..if you are the only one in your segment to make an expensive item a compulsion during service, make it cheaper. If you must insist on a consumable that is 5 – 7 times more expensive than that of your competitors, DO SOMETHING. I have clearly illustrated above how Skoda can accomplish the same. No other car of its price band costs as much to service as the Octavia does. Synthetic oil notwithstanding.
They don’t need to do this anywhere else in the world simply because Mobil 1 doesn’t cost $22 a liter in most other countries. But like I said, it’s about localization strategy and your commitment to the customer in each individual market that you serve.
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C'mon man. Which car company in India is a saint. Was the OHC that sold for 9 lakhs in India value to the customer?
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I agree and I am the first to lambast Honda for what they do. I love my Honda and my C220, but you have seen from my many posts that this hasn’t stopped me from firing them where they are wrong. That’s why I comment on Skoda when they are indulging in business practices that, to me, are not customer-centric at all.
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If it’s the dealer service you speak of, then that is an epidemic in India unfortunately as we do not have clear cut laws and regulations to them. It is surely not something unique to any one manufacturer.
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Correct. But somehow, there are far more Skoda horror stories than any other. Last I checked, I don’t remember a special
owners Dharna for any other manufacturer in the history of Indian motoring. My Jiju is terribly dissatisfied with the service he has received for his Laura. Ditto with Monkey and his RS. Ditto with you also. Do you remember the time we went looking for a Skoda shop in the ‘burbs since you didn’t trust the closer ones enough? Of all the Skoda customers that I have interacted with, only about 10 - 15% (tops) are happy with the service quality they receive. The same for other manufacturers is far higher.
Skoda cares two hoots about its customers and that’s a fact. Remind me again why Skoda was the only car maker from its segment not to offer extended warranty for like...almost forever?
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I'm not good at maths, but let me try:
Accord/Civic: 0-15000km
Octavia TDi: 0-15000km
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Arre Mr. Einstein!!! Of course a diesel car will cost lesser when you factor in FE + service costs….you didn’t have to sit and calculate that. I didn’t mean to compare the running cost of a 16 lakh Accord with a 10 lakh Skoda. They are from different segments. The sole point of me mentioning the Accord was that, when a 16 lakh Accord (from a higher segment mind you) is serviced at Rs. 700 – Rs. 2000 for most services, why should an Octavia cost 9 grand? Heck, you can service the Accord 5 – 10 times over in what would the Skoda service would cost just once!!
Why don’t we compare apples to apples? Skoda Octavia competition =
The Optra Magnum Diesel
Total of all Optra Magnum services upto 50,000 kms : Rs. 27,000 (confirmed with National Garage). Slam Dunk by Chevy because the Octavia numbers would go well over Rs. 50,000 easily. Or is it 70,000+?
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Now we can argue that the petrol skoda will not give these savings. Sure.
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Absolutely and you agree with the limitation of your analysis yourself. If you have to compare, let’s do an ownership cost analysis of the Corolla / Optra 1.6 versus the petrol Octavia. Or even the Civic. I can assure you that the competition will work out FAR cheaper than a Skoda to own.
Bottom-line : Let’s have a look at the fundamentals:
Service costs : Does the Skoda cost more to service than its competition? You bet.
Spare parts : Are they more expensive? You bet.
Source
Therefore, it is absolutely safe to comment that the upkeep cost of a Skoda is significantly more than that of its competition.