HYDERABAD: A lot can really happen over your coffee now. Or a lot more can happen while you are working out at gym. How about getting your car serviced while you finish your coffee or while you are at the gym?

Two friends went to Detroit with their Masters Degrees to make a living. They turned out to be successful technocrats, who made it big. Their experience made them think bigger. The passion for automobiles united the friends into partners. They came back to India on a top gear. They wanted to bring about a revolution in Hyderabad. They wanted to make car servicing as easy as buying groceries from the vicinity. They made it.

Vijay Gummadi and Venu Donepudi, the technocrats from Detroit, rolled out Carz, a multi-brand service centre, on February 5 last at Madhapur. Andhrabusiness.com met the automobile engineers and talked about their unique venture.

What is Carz all about?
 
Carz is all about the well-being of multi-branded cars under one roof, a Maruti 800 to premium cars like the Mercedes and BMW. It is a customised service centre designed to meet the challenges of the new generation cars at budget rates.  Car services are offered under segments like Carz Care, Carz Squad and Carz Style.

Carz Care is the servicing department that offers multi-branded servicing under one roof.

Car Squad is our squad of technicians, who are skilled by experience, to cater to all the needs of the clientele.

And Carz Style provides accessories for all cars, which give the car a completely new look

What are the services offered at Carz?

We cater to the needs of all the cars, right from fixing an annoying sound the car makes to  total car servicing. The services include oil and filter change, brake fixing, air-conditioning services, tyre services, lighting and wipers, engine check-up and tune-up, charging batteries, variety of minor mechanical and electrical repairs, besides comprehensive vehicle checks.

In addition to multi-brand car servicing under one-roof, the Carz squad is always on the move to service the cars at the doorstep.

We also provide a used car certification to the consumers that tell the working condition of the car.

Car wash, interior cleaning, paint restoration polish, paint protection treatment, decarbonising services are also provided on customer request.

What is the USP of Carz?

We have three propositions that make us unique in the market.

Firstly, we give better service to consumer than any dealer, which sets us apart from others. We provide original parts to all the vehicles, including the premium brands, direct from the manufacturer, avoiding middlemen.  Therefore, we offer unparalleled prices on all our services. The on-site service that we offer at the doorstep is another unique feature.
 
What exactly is this service at doorstep?

We service the cars of the clients at their houses and offices to avoid the hassles of driving down to the sheds and collecting the vehicles back and so on.

Technicians find out the complete details at the time of the complaint and go prepared to attend to it. We also check for any other problems and ensure that the car is in good  condition.

All that we want is a flat ground and enough space to accommodate the equipment. We promise meticulous service  at the doorstep without any inconvenience to the neighbourhood and the environment.

Besides well-equipped mobile vans, technicians are armed with special tools, up-to-date repair guides, electrical wiring diagrams, service interval schedules and on-board diagnostic (OBD) scanners.

On what basis is the on-site service done?

The clients need to fix prior appointments for service at doorstep. We attend to emergencies immediately, though.

How about partnerships?

We have partnered with Indian Oil for providing Servo Grade oil in all servicings that we undertake.  Wruth of Germany helps us in value-added services that we offer. BASF Germany is well-known for its glasurit paints. And Carz offers these paints at 30-40 per cent lower prices than anybody else in the whole country. In addition to the corporate partners, we have experts on our board who lend us their expertise to help us run on all kinds of roads.

Garry Vonk of Midas, an international automotive service provider, David Cole from the Centre from Automotive research and Mahindra Ramasinghani as Financial Adviser are on the Carz board.

How is the Carz team planning to expand itself?

We have plans to set up seven centres in our state this year. Our target is to open 150 centres across India in the next three years. We are considering the franchisee model of business, besides raising funds through private equity and investors.

The plans for immediate future include opening centres at Miyapur in Hyderabad and Vijayawada. While the operations at Miyapur will begin in another 45 days, the centre at Vijayawada will most probably begin in April.

While we aim at reaching the investment break-even in 24 months, we are confident of reaching the operational break-even in 4-6 months.

Any other plans in the pipeline?

In addition to the discounts that we provide, we want our customers to continue their Carz experience. Hence, we are planning to partner with companies in the travel, retail, medical, entertainment and hotel sectors so that the Carz Club members can avail themselves of discounts from them. The customers might be able to use this service from the first quarter of this year itself.

“We offer our services to anybody who has a car at much lesser rates,”  says Venu Donepudi on a final note. He believes that it's just the beginning and there's a future in it.