Mercedes-Benz has a new offering for its commercial vehicle clients. According to Edmin Naidoo, divisional manager for after-sales service, the company, due to the recession and economic downturn, saw that once these vehicles are out of warranty, they were not returning to the company. Most clients were of the opinion that they can do the maintenance themselves and at a much lower rate. The only return was for diagnostics and electronics. Comparatively to the rest of the world, South Africa had the lowest return of vehicles for maintenance with around a 50% loss whereas Germany, for example, retained around 70%.

Mercedes-Benz immediately responded to this and launched the Truck PlusNext Generation (TPNG) programme which applies from the Actros MP1 trucks and onwards. The plan: to bring back clients and increase workshop throughput. Work commenced through dealers to find and track these clients and then, to bring down the cost of parts as well as the labour rate. This has been effectively achieved and is in line with the particular region the dealer finds himself in. Lost clients have been informed and are returning.

A database was created, the Service Pack Pricing System, with the assistance of service experts and the reduction in parts and labour was achieved and is now in line with the company’s major competitors. In addition, the Elite Fleet Programme was launched which is a loyalty programme and allows for further reduction in cost. This is calculated quarterly.

Mercedes-Benz also used what they refer to as a fleet conversion tool where the total labour and cost of clients maintaining their own vehicles was calculated for them and they found that the mean cost was around R600 per hour, more than the cost of maintenance through a dealership. After a six-month monitoring period, in excess of 700 vehicles were brought back to the company. Growth has been recorded at 10%.

New commercial vehicle sales include a maintenance contract, Truck Competitor Enhancement which includes the current benefits. This has seen a 29% market penetration. It includes service packages in line with dealers across the country. Turnaround times have also improved from around five to two days.