HI-TECH SOLUTIONS IMPROVE RENAULT CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

In pursuit of improved levels of customer satisfaction, through its 110% Public Quality Campaign, Renault South Africa (Renault SA) is rolling out cutting edge technology across its dealership network. 

“The technology is aimed at efficiency in the workshop, repairability and getting the job done right first time,” says Renault SA’s Vice President of After Sales Tim Marriott. “It is currently being tested at four Renault dealerships with a view to countrywide rollout as from July 2010."

Utilising a computerised symptom targeting module for quick and accurate assessment of vehicle faults,  the system aims to improve efficiencies and reduce the time between customer drop-off and collect. The database holds around a thousand symptoms and, with a series of prompts, assists the dealer in obtaining key information from the customer to identify a problem.

“It’s very much like a doctor prompting a patient with  questions which may be quite unrelated to the symptom, in order to get to the root cause of the problem,” says Marriott, by way of illustration.

In the exceptional case that a cotech – the dealership’s most advanced technician - is not able to identify a particular fault, an expert is generally dispatched from Renault’s Bruma-based headquarters to provide assistance. This is often a time-consuming and costly exercise depending on the location of the dealership, especially rural outlets. In order to improve efficiencies when a high level of expertise is required, Renault is upgrading the existing CLIP technology by adding a video camera to link a dealership’s  directly with one of head office’s three Renault Paris-trained experts.

The IT system has a three-pronged advantage. “It is very much an efficiency tool which enables the Renault dealership network to offer a better service to the customer in extreme cases,” says Marriott of the Renault-developed system. “It’s also a cost-saving tool in that the network does not have to spend so much time on diagnosis, a cost which is carried by the dealer. And most importantly, it speaks to our customers’ experience of quality, critical in fostering a positive brand perception.”

 Marriott recognises the challenges in widespread usage – for example, cost, IT savvy and general network acceptance of what is essentially a mindset change. But he believes it is important to build on the customer satisfaction gains already made.

“Improvements of this nature underpin our 110% strategy and demonstrate our commitment to go beyond customers’ expectations,” insists Marriott.

Vehicle quality has improved, he maintains, reflected in the fact that, in the two years since his appointment, Renault’s warranty  has reduced from 27% of total parts turnover to 7% and warranty hours invoiced by the Renault network have decreased by 70% over four years.

So it is not without good reason that the group is able to offer a five-year/150 000 km warranty across its entire vehicle range.

“We are putting our money where our mouth is,” Marriott says confidently. “We wouldn’t be doing it if we weren’t convinced our product was absolute quality.”

Responsible for quality and service at Renault SA, Marriott heads a team of 34 across five departments – parts and logistics; parts marketing; customer call centre; technical call centre; and network methods and strategy. He is currently on secondment from Renault UK.

STORY BY RENAULT