At a Suzuki service camp, you get your vehicle check-up in an hour, and because there are 23 well-defined areas in the checklist, you can be confident that your long out-of-town trip this Holy Week will be trouble-free. The best part is that you don’t pay a single cent for the check-up.
No wonder then that whenever and wherever the service camp is set up, the place is packed with vehicles even before opening time.
A Suzuki service camp, just like those recently held at Suzuki Auto Caloocan, Suzuki Auto Pasig and Suzuki Auto Manila Bay, is much like an assembly line where the vehicle passes through three stations or bays, each with a team of qualified technicians, according to Rommel Cabanela, Suzuki Automobile Service Department manager.
When your car goes through the line, the vehicle’s general condition-lights, wiper, aircon, etc.—is first checked. The underchassis inspection follows, and lastly a detailed look under the hood. Owners are then updated on the condition of their vehicle, and when needed, encouraged to avail of discounted parts and services.
A service check-list accompanies the vehicle through the three bays and serves as documentation that the vehicle has gone through the service camp. This is shown to the vehicle owners, who consequently learn more about the vehicles they depend on to get around.
Marivel Balarbar, Suzuki Auto Caloocan branch head, is happy that Suzuki owners are now realizing the effort that Suzuki Philippines Inc. is putting to after-sales servicing. This full check-up service had just been recently been offered; unlike SPI’s motorcycle business, the automobile sector is barely a decade old.
Says Cabanela: “We want to be able to offer better after-sales servicing in all our branches.” Currently, only the big auto dealers who have the space are able to do it.
As Suzuki continues to expand its dealership network across the country, Cabanela says that future auto branches will have strengthened after-sales servicing departments to make sure that customers who are starting to give more value to the Suzuki brand of automobiles.
The company believes that an important part of customer experience is to help with vehicle maintenance especially when the three-year warranty expires. A strong after-sales fosters goodwill between the dealer and the customer, and at the same time provides the opportunity for repeat business.
More importantly, it shows that Suzuki cares deeply about its customers’ well-being and peace of mind.
The 23-point service camps, for example, target “old” customers who have discontinued check-ups for whatever reason. During the service clinics, every customer is warmly welcomed, and is even served snacks and refreshments while waiting.
Vehicle owners are impressed to see skilled technicians checking battery condition using a computerized tester or checking the engine performance with the use of the Suzuki Diagnostic Tool (SDT).
Last but not least, when the vehicles have been cleared for check-out, work on the whole floor stops for a few minutes as every Suzuki personnel involved in the clinic rushes to stand in queue at the exit gate and greet the customer a safe journey.
Cabanela says this practice, unique to Suzuki, is a modified take-off from what Suzuki after-sales service centers do in Japan. The honorific bow of the Japanese may have been changed to Filipinos’ more customary wave, but the feeling of importance is impressed. And the customer, when he leaves, drives out with this lingering warm fuzzy feeling.
Suzuki 23-point check-up:
Station 2.1 (Vehicle Condition Inspection)
1. Horn & All Lights (Headlamps, signal lights, brake lights, reverse lamp, Dome light, instrument cluster, etc.)
2. Wiper Blade & washer
3. A/C and Heater operation
4. Window and Side Mirror Operation
5. Hand/Foot Brake Adjustment
6. Clutch pedal operation
7. Power lock operation
8. Battery Condition
9. Use of diagnostic tool (SDT, etc.) checking of engine performance
Station 2.2 (Underchassis)
10. Tires and thread depth condition
11. Wheel bearing condition
12. Condition of brakes (front/rear)
13. Power steering hoses and fluids
14. Transmission condition (leaks)
15. Condition of struts/shocks
16. Propeller shaft and differential
Station 2.3 (Under the Hood)
17. Condition of belts
18. Inspect engine and engine oil
19. Inspect ATF
20. Inspect brake & clutch fluid
21. Inspect engine coolant and hoses
22. Inspect air filters
23. Inspect ignition timing.