Mahindra rolls out contactless, digitised service experience

Mahindra & Mahindra has announced its new ‘Contactless Service Experience’ for its vehicle owners, just as some of its dealerships and workshops began opening up across the country in line with government advisories. This comes just few days after the OEM launched end-to-end digital car buying platform, integrates all dealer and touchpoints.

The company says it has started many industry-first service offerings, which has always been at the forefront of digitizing the vehicle purchase and ownership experience in India. Mahindra says it has resumed sales and service operations at select dealerships under a set of strict guidelines, to ensure the highest levels of safety for its customers and dealer staff. It is also working to assure complete safety to its customers whether they get their vehicles serviced from the comfort of their own homes or choose to visit a Mahindra workshop.

Veejay Nakra, CEO – Automotive Division, M&M said, “The launch of our unique ‘Contactless’ service, in addition to our newly launched ‘Own Online’ digital platform, will help us to provide a holistic and contactless sales and service experience to our customers. During these times, ensuring the safety of our customers through a hassle-free experience is of utmost importance to us. Our offering of ‘Contactless’ service experience digitally, supplements the safety precautions and strict guidelines we are implementing across all our touchpoints. We invite our customers to experience this all new way of interacting with Mahindra.”

Mahindra says the Contactless service experience offers the following features:

• Customers can now avoid coming in contact with any paper documents, cash or the payment machine while getting their vehicle serviced.
• All repair information and records will now be made available through the company’s ‘With You Hamesha’ mobile application and through WhatsApp. Owners will be able to view their repair orders including the parts used, job operations carried out and other associated costs including providing necessary approvals and payments online.
• Mahindra says it has launched for the first time in India, a live video streaming of recommended repairs straight from the service bay, called CustomerLIVE. Whenever required, service advisors will go live with customers over the video to explain the repairs identified during vehicle examination in the workshop and service advisors utilising standard 3D images of frequently used parts to explain any wear and tear.

Mahindra says With You Hamesha app customers can book service appointment for a chosen slot, request a pick-up drop-off the vehicle, view service costs, vehicle history, warranty/ RSA renewal details, enables live chat and an industry-first chatbot, called TotBot, for swift query resolution and transactions. The carmaker says it has been actively engaging with customers through multiple media, providing remote support, sharing vehicle maintenance tips and keeping them updated on the status of operations at its workshops.

At present, Mahindra has opened close to 300 customer touchpoints across India, which is approximately 30 percent of the company’s overall network. The initiatives are to ensure safety and transparency through digital convenience, which comes in addition to a host of hygiene measures being implemented throughout its network of dealerships. The guidelines at the company’s showrooms and service centres take cognisance of all aspects of safety and hygiene during any customer interface at the dealerships and workshops – be it at the entry point, reception area or during vehicle demo, test drive, pick-up/ drop off, delivery and selecting payment mode among others.

Some other guidelines include – the screening of customers and staff for high temperature before entering the premises, alternate parking being utilised to ensure social distancing, ensuring all safety precautions such as the use of masks, gloves, frequent hand sanitisation by the customer and staff, every vehicle being sanitised before it is taken for repair work and vehicles being repaired in alternate service bays in the workshop to ensure social distancing.

Also read: M&M's Veejay Nakra: ‘Full-scale digital retail was brewing. Covid-19 has fuelled the fire.'