Maruti Care app makes car care a breeze

What if an app reminds you when the next car service is due? Alerts you on the live traffic conditions between your destinations, and also helps you locate the nearest dealer? Given the growing number of car users in India, such an app should be very popular. Also, car companies now want to connect with customers and answer their queries faster and efficiently.

Within two months of its launch, ‘Maruti Care’, a unique service application from Maruti Suzuki, has seen more than 50,000 registered users. “Everybody is becoming mobile-savvy. We want customers to reach us faster, and we should also reach them fast enough. The main idea for such an app is to provide customers with a lot of convenience,” says Maruti Suzuki India’s Executive Director (After Sales Service) Pankaj Narula.

In June 2015, Maruti Suzuki sold 1,14,756 cars. Any customer who owns a Maruti car can download this app. One can get all details of the car in one go. “Customers have to download the Maruti Care App on their smartphone and click the new user option,” says Pankaj. One has to enter the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) or the registration number, and enter the registered mobile number. A one-time-password will be provided. The Maruti Care app is available for Android, iOS, and Windows Phones.

“One can see the history of vehicle service, the cost of maintenance, and can also track the same. There are options like GPRS trip meter, service feedback, due reminders and so on,” he says. Backed by a strong IT team, the app allows customers to save their personal as well as car-related documents like PAN card, driving licence, RC Book, etc. Also they can set these documents’ date of expiry with reminders so that they can be renewed on time,” he said.

A few years ago, car service was a herculean task as one had to travel long distances to leave the car for service and collect it the next day. “Now cities are expanding and in this traffic logjam one can’t travel long for service. This app helps to locate the nearest workshop. We also provide pick and drop facility for customer vehicles,” informs Pankaj.

Nearly 3.5 lakh customers make use of the pick and drop facility. “It helps us in reaching out to distant customers, and also to effectively utilise the workshop infrastructure,” he says. Talking about servicing cars, Pankaj said Maruti has launched Maruti Mobile Service (MMS) and there are 1,268 MMS vans in operation.