 "Rains, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Flood")
This version incorporates quotes from Nissan and Volkswagen representatives.
Car makers are gearing up to repair and service about 12,000 cars, impacted by the Chennai floods. Companies are mobilising additional service workforce and offering part waivers on charges to the owners of affected vehicles. Insurance claim process is also being simplified with the insurance companies.
Country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki may have to service and repair a total of about 4,000 cars based on initial estimates and the number could increase further to 6,000. Pankaj Narula, executive director (Service) at Maruti Suzuki said it is going to be a ‘humongous’ task to attend to these vehicles when there is no luxury of time. Maruti estimates an expenditure of Rs 10 crore in the exercise that will also include 50 per cent burden sharing of the depreciation charge customers need to pay to claim insurance and 50 per cent waiver on cleaning and polishing charges. “Since we are expecting a huge rush, we will prioritise and categorise the cars depending on the degree of damage. There will be a huge demand for the spare parts depending on the damage. Moreover, some of our workshops in Chennai were submerged during the floods and additional effort will be required to make them up and running,” said Narula.
Maruti has already dispatched two truckloads of spare parts to the city. To attend to the large number of affected vehicles, Maruti has deployed 150 people from other parts of the country to Chennai. Chennai dealers who have dealerships and service stations in other southern states are also deploying additional 150 people. Since workshop capacity is limited, Maruti is trying to identify grounds where the affected vehicles can be parked and then brought for service as per availability.
Companies are working to deliver the vehicle requiring the least repair first. Advisories are being sent to customers not to crank the engine in case it has been submerged in the water. Roadside assistance is being roped in to bring vehicles to workshops. One of the key challenges for most companies is the low staff turnout at workshops.
“Based on our estimates, over 3,300 Hyundai cars have been affected due to the floods. A task force with help of personnel from the Chennai plant of Hyundai has joined to attend vehicles at our 19 workshops and make vehicles roadworthy,” said Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice-president (sales & marketing) at Hyundai.
In order to reduce the financial burden on the customers, Hyundai is offering free 30 point check up at camps, support package on spare parts and labour charges, discounts on roadside assistance and so on.
A Honda Cars spokesperson said a total of 1,200 cars are estimated to have been affected. Of this, 500 cars have already reported to work stations and 200 vehicles have been repaired.
Customers, however, will still have to fork out Rs 8,000 to Rs 20,000 depending on the car model and manufacturer since they will have to pay half of the depreciation charge being imposed by insurance companies both in case of Maruti and Hyundai after discounts. Companies will also organise free check-up camps once the exercise is over to check the roadworthiness of the vehicles.
Nissan has also taken steps to support affected customers. Its warehouse and all 3 workshops have not been damaged and are ully operational. Company is using SMS, social media and newspaper ads to reach out to the customers.
Nissan spokesperson said, "We are trying to increase towing facilities with the help of our partners. We have deputed Nissan teams at all workshops for ensuring smooth operations, providing required support to dealers and constantly report the situation. Additional manpower is outsourced to attend high inflow due to floods. We are working closely with dealers, insurance companies and suppliers to ensure immediate support and restore mobility to Nissan customers in the city."
Volkswagen said it is providing free road-side assistance to all affected customers and support on service repair along with Volkswagen dealers and vendor partners. The company has issued flood-repair guidelines to its dealerships for a standardised repair approach and has geared-up its technical support and parts supply chain in the region.
