Mercedes-Benz bolsters after-sales service in Kerala for flood-affected cars

Mercedes-Benz has announced some special customer centric after-sales initiatives for flood-affected cars in Kerala. Here’s how the luxury carmaker intends to come to the rescue of its customers:

1. Mercedes-Benz’s service partner — Allianz Global — will recover or tow the affected vehicles and towing charges will be waived off by Mercedes-Benz dealerships

2. Mercedes-Benz aims to arrange spare parts at the earliest from its dealers of neighbouring states and from Germany & Singapore. The carmaker claims that there will be some special discount on spare parts and customers won’t be charged any shipping fee either

3. Insurance claims will be processed faster and special teams have already been deployed to handle the flood-affected vehicles

Since water-logging can affect the engine of any car adversely, we advise owners to not start their cars and instead get them towed to authorised service stations for a thorough check.

Kindly refer to the press release below for more details.

Press Release

Mercedes-Benz India and its dealers donate INR 30 Lakhs towards CM’s relief fund in Kerala; rolls out focused customer service measures to support its affected patrons

Mercedes-Benz India contributes INR 25 Lakhs| Dealer partners contribute INR 5 Lakhs towards CM’s relief fund

• Mercedes-Benz stands with the authorities at this moment of crisis and wants to contribute to the relief works as a responsible corporate citizen

• Mercedes-Benz India and its dealer partners Rajasree Motors and Bridgeway Motors will voluntarily contribute INR 30 Lakhs collectively to the CM Relief Fund

• A special cross-functional team from Mercedes-Benz is currently assessing the impact and preparing a contingency action plan, short to long term in nature

• Simultaneously Mercedes-Benz’s partner Allianz Global is recovering the affected vehicles and the retail network teams have committed additional manpower to support the customers

Pune: In the wake of the grim situation leading to the loss of lives and properties in Kerala, Mercedes-Benz India today announced its contribution as a responsible corporate citizen, to support the relief activities currently undertaken by the authorities in the state. As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, Mercedes-Benz announced a voluntary contribution of INR 25 Lakhs towards the Chief Minister’s National Relief Fund to support the relief work in the flood affected regions in Kerala. In addition the dealer partners of Mercedes-Benz India came together to contribute another INR 5 Lakhs to the fund.

Mercedes-Benz India being a customer oriented brand, also announced a number of immediate customer service measures in an effort to support the flood affected customers in the state. The brand has already prepared a cross-functional task force comprising customer service teams to support those customers whose vehicles have been damaged in the inundations that has affected Kerala. This cross-functional team from Mercedes-Benz is currently assessing the impact and preparing a contingency action plan, short to long term in nature.

Roland Folger, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India commented, “It is a moment of grief as the unprecedented floods in Kerala has led to sudden loss of lives and property. Mercedes-Benz stands with the authorities at this moment of crisis and wants to contribute to the relief works as a responsible corporate citizen and support the authorities in its own small way. Towards this, Mercedes-Benz India and its dealer partners are voluntarily contributing INR 30 Lakhs collectively to the CM Relief Fund to support the relief activities. We sincerely hope the situation normalizes soon. Also, as a customer oriented brand, we want to support our customers and our dealer partners in Kochi, Thrissur, Trivandrum and Calicut immediately in the areas pertaining to customer service. This support would entail undertaking essential repairs like replacement of parts, service and also insurance claims. It remains our key priority now to get the affected vehicles back on the road, at the earliest and bring some relief to our patrons. Towards this, a cross functional task force has already been formed at Mercedes-Benz India, who are working at a literal war footing towards ensuring that we take care of the customers’ needs towards their vehicles, when they need it the most.”

“Additionally, Mercedes-Benz India has also decided to procure some of the critical parts from Germany and Singapore, at no extra shipping cost to the customers. We intend to support our valued customers in Kerala with all our resources available. It has been Mercedes-Benz’s aim to provide complete peace of mind to the customers round the clock with our benchmark service standards and service network expanse. We stand by that customer commitment and promise.” Mr. Folger added.

Simultaneously Mercedes-Benz’s partner Allianz Global is recovering the affected vehicles and the retail network teams have committed additional manpower to support the customers. In a customer centric approach, both dealers in Kerala have offered to absorb towing charges for cars recovered via Allianz Global.

In addition, to support the customers during their hour of need, Mercedes-Benz India and its dealer partners from neighbouring states have come forward in deploying their trained technical experts to assist the Kerala dealers in servicing the affected vehicles. This decision is expected to reduce the lead time and result in a faster repair of the vehicles providing some much required relief to the customers.

Daimler Financial Services India is also working on faster processing of insurance formalities of its insured cars. Depending upon the levels of damage incurred to the car, extent of engine damage and policy purchased by the customers etc. the insurance amount would vary. The following are some relief measures from a customer service standpoint:

• Earliest recovery of affected vehicles through our Allianz Global

• Dealer partners in Kerala will waive off towing charges, if applicable, for cars recovered via Allianz Global

• Special discounts for spare parts | Mercedes-Benz will procure parts via air from Germany & Singapore and will not pass on the shipment charges to patrons

• Faster processing of MB insurance claims

• Designated teams created at dealerships across Kerala market affected by flood, for a quicker turnaround time

• Neighbouring dealers to support by providing trained manpower, parts etc.

• Mercedes-Benz Technical Experts to supervise the dealers and also offer consulting to customers whenever required

• In solidarity with the people for their loss inflicted by the natural calamity, dealer partners in Kerala will not celebrate Onam

Disclaimer: This article has not been edited by Deccan Chronicle and is taken from a syndicated feed. Photos: CarDekho.