Repairs and maintenance are the less fun part of owning a car. Whether it’s an oil change or that little knocking sound that won’t go away, taking time out of a weekend to go to the mechanic is a task very few relish. What makes it even more cumbersome is dealing with mechanics. Unless you’re an auto enthusiast, explanations of what is wrong with your car can often sound like gibberish.
“The fuel pump is leaking and it’s going to cost Rs. 5000. But while we’re doing that, we should also replace the valves and while we were fixing that we found out you need a new engine*.”
*not an actual conversation with a mechanic
Welp.
autoEtimad is a new warranty service by Auto Genie which aims to take out the pain of routine repairs and maintenance. The pitch is very simple: pay either Rs. 7500 (plus Rs. 1200 in taxes) per year or Rs. 4200 (plus Rs. 672 in taxes) semi-annually and get your car repaired at any workshop (except for dealerships) of your choice. It covers all electrical and mechanical repairs and while the parts are going to cost you, the labor is free.
The only caveat is that it doesn’t cover accidental repairs.
Here’s a bit more detailed breakdown:
What’s Covered
What’s Not Covered
The service has already launched in Lahore and depending on the response, it’s going to make its way to other cities across Pakistan.
While talking with ProPakistani, Hamza Abbas Bakhsh, the Business Development Lead for Auto Genie, said, “We are starting from Lahore and will expand to Karachi, Islamabad, Faisalabad mainly. Rest of the major cities will be covered strategically.”
To qualify for autoEtimad, your car must:
- Be less than 15 years old.
- Upto 2400 cc.
- Have a total mileage of less than 250,000 km.
- Local and imported cars both qualify but European and British car models are not eligible.
Whenever an issue comes up, simply call autoEtimaad and discuss the problem and where you’d like to get it repaired. A company agent will come in for an inspection and once approved, you can get the work done from any workshop of your choice. Hamza was quick to mention that the inspection can also be waived off. based on various factors like insurance, whether it’s a small job and so on.
An important part of any such service is a fair usage policy. For every genuine customer, there’ll be someone who is on a “paisay puray karne hain” mission. So are there any limits or caps to how many repairs you can get?
Hamza says, “There is a fair usage policy linked to regularly asked services. For example, Engine Tuning is not opted for every month so if an individual tries to misuse this coverage by going to the workshop every other week, that policy will cover up with a clause that this service will be reimbursed after X amount of KMs at least.”
He added, “However, even if labor charge during your warranty goes double that’s not a problem. Auto Etimad will reimburse the labor charge to the customer (and pays to the business directly in special cases) according to the tariff shared with the customer at the time of signup. This tariff is realistically based on the market.”
“For example, if our sampling study says that Rs. 800 is being charged as labor for brake service at 7 out of 10 workshops we checked at, we’ll reimburse 800 Rs considering it a fair compensation based on market supply. Reimbursements are executed within 2 days. We just need to be informed one working day before getting anything done.”
For more details, check out autoEtimad here.
What a useless service. Why would I add an extra layer of complexity to my car repair process ?
Pay them at the start of the year and whenever the car breaks down wait for their agent to ‘approve’ the repair and Parts are not even covered just the Labor cost which is not even that expensive at regular workshops (they dont allow dealerships).
True, totally bullshit. The things which they are covering usually never happens or very few. Main cost items are “NOT COVERED” :D
such ventures have emerged in past but faded quickly as they offered no real support to the consumers at large.
Come to Faisalabad soon.