[carboy]

Originally Posted by GTO

The poll currently has 84% in favour of night servicing . They won't laugh after seeing this poll.

Not true.

From a statistical view point, internet polls are meaningless & ignored by anyone who uses polling for making decisions. Actually it's even a misnomer to call it a poll. At best, it can be called a 'straw poll'.

Originally Posted by GTO

After all, you really can't get a better research sample than us on Team-BHP!

There are many reasons why internet polls are notoriously unreliable, but one of the reasons is that the sample selection is really bad statistically.

[Mpower]

Good idea. Common practice in manufacturing industry where fixed costs are really high.

Originally Posted by GTO

- Difficult to find quality technicians. The ones with experience will surely want an 8 hour day shift vis a vis night.

One more point. In some cases you have to pay extra (almost OT rates) for 2nd and 3rd shift. Quality of work can suffer if not properly supervised.

Originally Posted by carboy

From a statistical view point, internet polls are meaningless & ignored by anyone who uses polling for making decisions. Actually it's even a misnomer to call it a poll. At best, it can be called a 'straw poll'.

There are many reasons why internet polls are notoriously unreliable, but one of the reasons is that the sample selection is really bad statistically.

Very generic statement. In this case, the sample size may be small but the target demographic is spot on. Most tbhpians are medium to high income working professionals (ie busy) and most own at least 1 car in the family.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Very generic statement. In this case, the sample size may be small but the target demographic is spot on. Most tbhpians are medium to high income working professionals (ie busy) and most own at least 1 car in the family.

I didn't say that the sample size is small!!!
That's not the problem with internet polls.

And it's not a generic statement - any statistician would tell you that Internet polls are useless.
No professional would ever use it to make any decision.

[aargee]

I've not only been thinking about night service centres but also during day for several years now. During day, the vehicle that is parked at the office parking lot for good 8-10 hours; even if one cuts off 2 hours for transportation, remaining 4-6 hours could remain productive.

Anyway, turning to night service. Here're some of the issues I'd in mind...
1. Most common spares could be stocked up, but for some spares it really becomes impossible to knock the doors of a spare sparts shop that's closed
2. I'm not sure if law permits or if there're special permission (ofcourse with additional costs) that permits to open up the workshop operate entire night
3. If for some reason, if a consent needs to be obtained from the car owner, then the call needs to be made at mid of the night or early in the morning; again, not many people may prefer.
4. Most workshop employ certain jobs such as wheel alignment/balancing, tire replacement etc from independent outlets & it may not be possible to expect them also to work overnight or stretch a little bit for specific days.
5. Taking a test drive once the job is completed at night also becomes a question of safety

[joshguy]

Originally Posted by aargee

I've not only been thinking about night service centres but also during day for several years now. During day, the vehicle that is parked at the office parking lot for good 8-10 hours; even if one cuts off 2 hours for transportation, remaining 4-6 hours could remain productive.

Anyway, turning to night service. Here're some of the issues I'd in mind...
1. Most common spares could be stocked up, but for some spares it really becomes impossible to knock the doors of a spare sparts shop that's closed
2. I'm not sure if law permits or if there're special permission (ofcourse with additional costs) that permits to open up the workshop operate entire night
3. If for some reason, if a consent needs to be obtained from the car owner, then the call needs to be made at mid of the night or early in the morning; again, not many people may prefer.
4. Most workshop employ certain jobs such as wheel alignment/balancing, tire replacement etc from independent outlets & it may not be possible to expect them also to work overnight or stretch a little bit for specific days.
5. Taking a test drive once the job is completed at night also becomes a question of safety

Hi aargee

The CARS India has night service and they stock up all necessary parts for the night services.coming to your next point,night service doesnt mean from mid night,it starts at 7.30 Pm,they get to know by 9.30-10 as to what parts need to be replaced and i guess they can disturb you before 10 pm for your consent

[GTO]

Originally Posted by carboy

From a statistical view point, internet polls are meaningless & ignored by anyone who uses polling for making decisions.

There are many reasons why internet polls are notoriously unreliable, but one of the reasons is that the sample selection is really bad statistically.

Firstly, this isn't just *some* internet poll. It's an extremely focussed group of car owners & enthusiasts. Voting on the poll isn't an option to guests, and its evident that a majority of the responses come from informed car owners...not kids on tricycles or a postman killing time on his phone. I bet you noticed that our approval system is rather strict too. Team-BHP isn't an orkut where just about anyone can log on and vote.

The group that is present on Team-BHP has more than a passing interest in cars. We are better read, better informed and have better judgement on cars than the average guy on the street. As an example, do spend some more time going through our car reviews and show me one other Indian website which has this quality of user-generated ownership reviews.

Further, as Mpower rightly stated, this is the target (urban) demograph. Just the segment that an evening / night service center would be looking at. Are we representative of the "aam junta"? No. Are we representative of the informed car buyer? You bet. Just because we stress on something that the aam junta wont, doesn't make the latter necessarily right. Case in point : Our stand on safety & on safety equipment. We want ABS at the minimum in our cars, how many in India even care about seatbelts?

There's enough *informed* car buyers out there, and those who value convenience highly, to fill up the service bays of an evening / night service station.

Now, instead of dissing off the opinion on this thread / poll out of thin air and without logic, why dont you give me a real reason why you think that evening night service centers won't work (if at all)? The results on the poll have been backed up with logical reasons on why we think it will / wont work. An example:

This makes ample sense, especially for those who have a single car for the daily drive to work.

- Minimal downtime for the car (during regular work hours). The service is being performed when she'd be parked down your house anyways

- Modern cars barely require 1 - 3 hours for scheduled maintenance. Easily managed in one evening

- Even if its a complex job (say, a clutch or suspension overhaul), one overnighter is more than sufficient

- A win-win really, if we consider the service station's POV. Business runs when it would have otherwise been inactive and within available resources. No need to expand (machinery, property size etc.), except for additional hours / personnel to work at night. The fixed cost of equipment & rent is evenly spread between the day & night shifts. Similar to how factories work on a double / triple shift, isn't it?

Offer free pickup / drop off and we have a deal. I believe some workshops already run evening services. However, the concept still isn't well marketed or widely adopted. Again, I can only wonder why...

Why?

Of course, as is the case with any business, there is a certain risk element. Is it worth the risk? You betcha. It's like opening an additional branch without the cost of land and machinery. Its doubling your service stations capacity with minimal additional investment.

Here is the list of members who have voted in favour of evening / night service centers:

aby, ACM, adg_andy, adi99, agbenny, ahuja365, ajay2233, akshay4587, amitverma123, anoop.mathew, ask77, AstonMartin, autexy, azeemhafiz, Baron, bharatbits, Binoy, bj96, Brix, c10, carboy, chaostheory, D.V.R, dipen, dkcrpl, dsr_rpm, febyphilabr, Firebird, gautomobile, gou, GTO, hemanth.anand, himanshukalia, holysmoke, Houston, joshguy, JustCause, kanwal, Karim Bhai, karpusv, kd5kvn, kiren, kirsn, m-hawk, Maverick79, McLaren Rulez, mjothi, Monkeyboy4u, mpksuhas, MrinalSinha, Mubeen, naveenvenkatesh, NevGin, Newpunter, nowwhat?, ownerofazkaban, phantom76, pnredkar, Pri2, ragzv, rajblr, revvhed, ridinthru', rjalihal, roms, rpads1, sabret00the, Samurai, sanagg1, shantanumishra, sheetumanu, shk_24, silverblaze, SSB, StarVegabond, SunilM, svsantosh, tabrez02, Takumi-san, tanwaramit, TaureanBull, Trust_In_Thrust, veyron_head, Vinay-JS, vinaydas, _raviShankar_

I do suggest you read through the threads created by some of them, and gauge the quality of their responses, their knowledge of the sector and how their opinions do make immense sense. Honestly, I find your post & opinion on the matter very "meaningless and best ignored" as again, you are writing off the poll without any justifiable reason. Further, I hope that the "so-called professionals" you speak of don't ignore feedback...especially when its coming from qualified, educated, experienced and knowledgeable individuals in the field.

Originally Posted by carboy

And it's not a generic statement - any statistician would tell you that Internet polls are useless.
No professional would ever use it to make any decision.

You should probably tell that to the 11 Indian car manufacturers (including ALL of the top 6) who closely monitor Team-BHP on a daily basis. Actually, some of them do on an hourly basis, while some more even have atleast 1 dedicated person / team to compile feedbacks from Team-BHP (and another major Indian car portal).

Or also to the gentlemen from the top 3 research firms...one of whom has written in saying that "Team-BHP provides me superior quality feedback / inputs for my research exercises, than all of our paid surveys. Put Together!!".

[carboy]

Originally Posted by GTO

Now, instead of dissing off the opinion on this thread / poll out of thin air and without logic, why dont you give me a real reason why you think that evening night service centers won't work (if at all)?

You are misunderstanding me. I did not diss the opinions on this thread.
Nor did I say the t-bhp threads & opinions are meaningless.

I just said that internet polls by their very nature are not scientific or statiscally significant. I, for one, would love to have a night service where I can drop my car in the evening & pick it up in the morning. But that's not relevant to what I said.

T-BHP provides very valuable input to everyone. No doubt about it.
But that's not the point. I said an internet poll cannot be called a poll because it's statiscally not a poll. Companies can take a lot of input from Team-BHP threads. That makes a lot of sense. All I am saying here is that no person who relies on polls as input for making decisions will consider this a statiscally meaningful or scientific poll.

I am sure there must be some statisticians on T-BHP who can provide an explanation of why internet polls aren't scientific. If no one comes forward, I can take a shot at it later, but I am not a statistician - polling is a very complex & difficult subject, so it's best if a statistician takes a shot at providing this explanation.

[aby]

Looking at the poll results, I assume that overwhelming majority of the folks over here will opt for night service given the right conditions. Many of us have one or more sticky points to be apprehensive about it, none which are actually deal-breakers.

My question: Is there a way by which we can ensure quality manpower be available for night service?

Lets face it in most manufacturing setups with night shift, it is seen as punishment drill. In BPO the day jobs command lot more premium. The only way the service center can ensure that night shifts don't become a den for juniormost or unwanted technicians is by rolling out extra dough for doing night shifts. Now that extra cost will definitely be reflected in the service bills.

Now obviously the next question would be - how much of a premium are you willing to pay for the convenience of night service?

Mods: Is it possible to have a new poll here?

[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by aby

My question: Is there a way by which we can ensure quality manpower be available for night service?

Even for a day shift, there is no way that the customer can ensure that quality manpower is being used. We just have to trust the car company and the agency that they are meeting the required standards.

My personal opinion is that night service should be promoted for routine service, since it does not require the best skilled technicians. Whereas for jobs which involve specialists, day service should be promoted.

The bottom line is that whether the job is done by the best technician or a newbie - the required quality standards should be met for the service. If the customer is not happy with the service, this concept would never take off.

Originally Posted by aby

Now obviously the next question would be - how much of a premium are you willing to pay for the convenience of night service?

Why should they charge a premium for night service? On the other hand, they should give a discount for promoting this new concept. Or at least they can offer freebies like pick-up and drop facility to attract customers.

Charging a premium for night service would be a blunder.

Rohan

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Charging a premium for night service would be a blunder.

The convenience of not losing your car for a day is well worth a premium. I'd be very surprised if they didn't charge one.

[rohan_iitr]

Members from Gurgaon may kindly enlighten us whether they are paying any premium for night service.

Rohan

[Vinay-JS]

Originally Posted by carboy

Companies can take a lot of input from Team-BHP threads. That makes a lot of sense. All I am saying here is that no person who relies on polls as input for making decisions will consider this a statiscally meaningful or scientific poll.

When it makes sense for companies to take inputs from TBHP threads, why not polls? After all poll is just another form of gathering inputs in a convenient manner.

[aby]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

The convenience of not losing your car for a day is well worth a premium. I'd be very surprised if they didn't charge one.

I think this is even more true for taxicab like business for whom a day spent in service center is a day's earning lost.

So it is definitely worth a premium. How much I don't know.

[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by aby

I think this is even more true for taxicab like business for whom a day spent in service center is a day's earning lost.

So it is definitely worth a premium. How much I don't know.

I don't think cabbies get their cars serviced at authorised service centres. They prefer to service it themselves or get it serviced by their friendly neighbourhood mechanics.

Cab drivers are not the target customers for this night service concept. The target customers would be service class people with a 9 to 5 job.

Rohan

[aargee]

Originally Posted by joshguy

The CARS India has night service and they stock up all necessary parts for the night services.coming to your next point,night service doesnt mean from mid night,it starts at 7.30 Pm,they get to know by 9.30-10 as to what parts need to be replaced and i guess they can disturb you before 10 pm for your consent

This is news to me & hence I called up their Ambattur branch. They said they don't do it & probably Adyar branch does it. They also said, the workshop remains opened, say about 11:00 PM or so only & not entire night. As I said before, I suspect there's something that has to be done with the law I guess.