Why not HASS & TASS

[sgiitk 0]

Maruti  has had MASSes for years. Why not have authorized service stations for at least the popular brands (say Hyundai & Tata).

The dealer makes his dough selling cars, and may not worry too much about after sales service. On the other hand a service station has to perform in order to survive.

A few years ago many MASSes shut down. I was talking to some of the dealers concerned, and two main reasons emerged.

1. there was pressure from the oil companies (all were also pump owners) but this they could manage by setting up a nominally separate operation.

2. The crunch was that Maruti dealerships who were supposed to reimburse the cost of warranty service (apparently the service cost is paid to the dealership up front) to the MASS often did not. Also, it was stated that Maruti was very tardy in addressing complaints in this regard. As one former MASS put it, if I have to send two reminders by Courier all my profits are gone. So they surrendered the service stations.

If more xASSes came up may be the dealer service will also improve. The argument about monitoring etc. does not cut much ice since the same companies are quite happy to arrange with independent garages for servicing their vehicles in unrepresented areas.

I feel that at least Hyundai & Tata have the base for these, and if there are any HASS or TASS establishments then  they must be extremely rare.

[carispassion 0]

yes.. i agree with you sgiitk...

the MASSs have helped maruti to grow in a large respect.

many are going for a maruti because of the belief they are having , in maruti service.

they are almost everywhere...

[mndvishnu 0]

i too agree with sgiitk and i am hoping there will soon be one from Hyundai!,

 

Cheers

[rssh 59]

Yes maruti has services all around.

[carispassion 0]

maruthi genuine spare parts are available almost everywhere (even at the places where, the MASS is not present.). so the un- authorised maruthi worshops also help a lot..(even though, i wont recommend, going for those)

almost 30% of maruthi cars are serviced at un- authorised workshops. !!!!!!! this is because, the labour charge is very less there. the 10k intervel service will cost only Rs. 160(excluding water service and consumables)..!!!!!. some of them do the job just fine. but the problem is, we wont be sure, wheather he knows the job or not...

[sgiitk 0]

We are not talking of non authorized garages at all. There has been a big discussion earlier about the non-availability of spares and service documentation for many brands (not Maruti).

This thread is purely about company approved service stations who are not car dealerships.

[carispassion 0]

ok.. i agree. i was just pointing out the fact..hope we can return to the topic now... sorry for the inturruption...

[Gurkha 1]

Maruti was a government undertaking in the beginning, it had enormous resources as well as being the most popular car during its launch. That way, it had the chance to spread its dealer network over time. Their requirements were less stringent, they had good networking and being a popular car of choice, all wanted to be in its network. It would be impossible for Hyundai to achieve that in the current state. Not only is real estate expensive, there is just not enough demand in lieu of other brands being in the market as well.

[sgiitk 0]

Most MASSes were garages, which already existed. Why I suggested only Hyundai & Tata was that they are probably the only one with the volumes to justify these service stations. I know that many brands (Honda, GM, FIAT for sure) had arrangements for routine service and minor repairs with Kanpur garages until they set up their own agencies here.

[mndvishnu 0]

i think in Karnataka the Tata has already started thier Authoirsed service Stations and with the increasing number of those CAbbs and taxis and also increase number of faults of tata , they had no way but to start authorised service staations here and there

 

Cheers

[sudeepd 0]

Hi guys,

           I want to make one thing clear. Only setting up Authorized Service Station does not make sense. Maintaining it properly is real game. One of TASS in my city (Solapur) does not possess spare parts in stock.i.e., if a part of our vehicle failed (may be due to manufacturing defect or due to wear and tear) and I went to them and ask for that part, I get following reply very often "The part is not readily available even at the company (here Tata ). We will contact you as soon as it is available."

             Even the Water pump, rubber mats, radiator, condenser,etc. (the list is too big to fit here) are not readily available at the TASS. One more thing I forgot to mention, the TASS does not have facility (Sorry the machine) to get the ALLOY Wheels Balanced and Aligned. Only steel rims can be aligned there (TASS). So I wonder why is it called ASS (Authorized Service Station) if they don't have the required tools to service the vehicle.

More about it next time.

Sudeep

[pryas 0]

 Yes i agree with Mndvishnu and Sudeep,

 

Regards,

Priya

[sgiitk 0]

Hi guys' date='

            One of TASS in my city (Solapur) does not possess spare parts in :

:

 So I wonder why is it called ASS (Authorized Service Station) if they don't have the required tools to service the vehicle.

[/quote']

Was the pun intended (Bold in your post mine!)! Routine items like Timing Belts, Glow Plugs, etc. must be stocked by the xASS and they should have a fast route of getting other spares. This was the case with MASSes who could get spares in at most two days. Around 1987 even MS dealerships gave customers the run round - please contact MUL for this or that. Now things have changed.

It is good news that TASSes are coming up. Let us hope for HASSes as well. I am sure the companies will respond if they wish to survive in this competitive environment.

[Gurkha 1]

When I bought my first Esteem, it had SGP air filter priced at a heady Rs.1500 during 95. I like to change my filters after 10,000 km, the biggest Maruti dealer in Delhi that time namely Competent Motors kept giving me the run around. Eventually I got tired and bought it from Khan Market at lower cost. Tata was worse, my Safari's diff gave up at 12000km, they kept the vehicle for a week and half and then told me its on back order. When they faced my wraith and my call to Tata GM, it yielded a diff crown in matter of few days.

[sgiitk 0]

When I bought my first Esteem' date=' it had SGP air filter priced at a heady Rs.1500 during 95.

:

:

When they faced my wraith and my call to Tata GM, it yielded a diff crown in matter of few days.[/quote']

So you also feel that dealerships are sometimes be as bad as xASSes.

MUL must be buying its the filters from Purolator/Elofic or one or two others. I recall around 1999 while the MUL price for the air filter for an Esteem was (if I remember correctly) over Rs.1200, the list price of the same thing from Purolator was under Rs.500!  A 20-30% premium for. branding is fine but 100%+ ...

sgiitk2007-11-16 10:19:20

[Gurkha 1]

Everyone is into overpricing, thats where the money is made, spare parts, I don't mind paying for Made in Japan SGP, but refuse to pay exorbitant rates for ordinary Purolator or Elofic.

[pryas 0]

i think in Karnataka the Tata has already started thier Authoirsed service Stations and with the increasing number of those CAbbs and taxis and also increase number of faults of tata ' date=' they had no way but to start authorised service staations here and there

 

Cheers

[/quote']

 

He he he i completely agree with , yes we can see a lot of tata cars breap up in the middle of highways and has Problems , good one MND

 

Regards,

Priya