Digital vehicle servicing

The first time I had my vehicle serviced after lockdown was a whole new experience.

I’m not really a car guy. I’m firmly in the “give me reliable and basic transportation at a decent price” category. My current vehicle is a Volkswagen Passat station wagon, and it meets those requirements well.

I recently changed the dealership that I went to for my regular annual service. The reason for the change was that I got fed up with the way I was treated at the dealership where I bought the car. Long story short, the customer experience was abysmal.

Every vehicle service experience in the last 20 years has gone the same way: I drop the car off at the appointed time and head to work. Later in the day - usually when I’m busy and distracted by something else - I get a call from the service manager asking me to approve items that are outside the standard service. Assuming I can even take the call, I would then have to make a quick decision as to whether these things needed to be done. Most of the time I would err on the side of trusting the mechanic and would approve the “extras” without a good understanding of whether or not I really needed it.

My first service after the long lockdown in 2020 was a whole new experience. This was only the second time I had visited the new service center, and they blew me away with the improved experience.

Instead of a call, I got a text message and an email. Both contained a link that I could tap or click on which took me to an online page where all of the recommended services were listed with links to explanatory information, along with the cost. For each there was a button I could select to either approve or decline the item. As I did so, the total I would have to pay was adjusted at the bottom of the list.

The result was I had time to consider each of the options, and take my time working through the list. If I wasn’t sure what something was (not being a car guy) I could search online for information about it. Even though the system was transparently offering to sell me something I didn’t need - like brand new tyres - overall, it greatly improved the trust relationship with the service centre, as they didn’t try to persuade me and left the choice up to me.

The most interesting part of it was when I picked the car up; the chap behind the desk clearly had no idea about the details of my service. The transaction was totally between me and the mechanics with no middlemen involved trying to explain things. Instead, I was able to have a chat about their new system. Their system had had the features from when they first acquired it, and they had simply decided to start using those features.

A simple change well executed, and with significant benefits for both the customer - in the improved experience - and for the business in terms of increased revenue opportunities, greater efficiency and improved customer satisfaction.

From now on, I will never go anywhere that doesn’t have - and use - such a system. What examples have you had where a new system has improved your experience?

Ray Delany is the Founder of CIO Studio and has been doing this for a while. Why not ask for a no-obligation discussion to help plan your change?

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