Quality services at the core of BMW brand loyalty

BMW is seeing a greater degree of customer satisfaction in China as a result of its customer-oriented after-sales services, said a senior company executive.

"In all markets, the first priority is that you have to focus on the customers, on their demands and requirements," said Claus Eberhart, vice-president of after-sales at BMW Brilliance Automotive, in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

He made the remarks on the sidelines of the final round of the 2014 BMW National After-sales Competition of Excellence held on Sept 24 in Beijing.

Claus Eberhart, vice-president of after-sales at BMW Brilliance Automotive.

He said one of the carmaker's customer-oriented innovations is one-hour oil changes at its 4S stores.

Evening service is also available so customers can bring their cars later in the afternoon and pick them up at night.

BMW is also starting a downtown service check-in pilot project. "That means our customers do not have to worry about a lot of traffic jams. They can go before work and pick up after work," said Eberhart.

He said they also introduced an e-workshop several years ago because Chinese customers want to know what is going on with their car while it is in the workshop.

"Now the customer can go on every screen in the dealership and get a live picture of their car in the workshop, what the technician is doing at the moment and they can even track it on the Internet.

"And we installed glass walls at workshops. We show the customers what we are really doing with their car to provide transparency ."

Though already in a good position in customer satisfaction, Eberhart said BMW will never rest on its laurels.

"We always have to monitor very closely how customer demands are changing, and then react to that. That is the key - be ahead of the competition and ahead of the customers by preparing these kinds of services."

He cited the example of an end-of-warranty check BMW introduced four months ago, "unique here in the automotive industry".

"If the car comes to the end of the warranty period, we give them a call and invite them to a dealership to make a free check of the car, and if we identify any defect within the quality assurance scope, we still do it free of charge."

He said that shows BMW's care for owners and its interest in really a good relationship with its customers.