[RavenAvi]

It was time to avail Silver Queen's first Paid Service (4th overall).

Called up my good friend at Sky yesterday, Dhananjay, and requested for a service slot for today, and he told me to come to the dealership at anytime before 10:30 AM and Silver Queen will be allotted a slot easily. Meanwhile, myy school-time buddy who was also the local Sky dealership manager, has been transferred to another Sky dealership near the State capital a couple of months back.

Dad dropped off my little Princess at her school in the morning, drove back home and took out most of his stuff from his beloved "Mercedes-Benz" (what he and the little Princess call "their" Swift these days, instead of "Silver Queen"), and soon both of us were off to the Sky Automobiles dealership on the outskirts of town - me leading the way and Dad following.

Reached the dealership at around 10:30 AM to find that my regular SA, Naushad, was on holiday. The workshop manager, Sagar, was apologetic because most SAs were on leave today and only a handful of SAs were available to take in a LOT of cars. We were requested to sit in the main dealership area until an SA was free, and as soon as Dhananjay saw me and Dad walk into the showroom area, he quickly came over and led us to the couch + sofa in their VIP lounge and almost immediately we were served water, hot tea and biscuits.

This is the thing about Maruti-Suzuki dealerships - forget the quality of their cars, it's the quality of attention that they give to their customers which makes us stick to them, over so many of their more fanciful and inherently "better" rivals.

Around 30 minutes and 3 tea rounds later, a new SA called Nivesh walked in with Sagar, who introduced us all around. Nivesh sat down in front of us with Dhananjay, and noted down all the jobs I had listed for Silver Queen:

#1) Engine Oil replacement (synthetic),
#2) Oil Filter replacement,
#3) Brake Fluid replacement,
#4) Coolant replacement,
5) Front and rear wipers replacement,
#6) Air Filter cleaning,
#7) AC Filter cleaning,
#8) AC condenser cleaning*,
9) Brake drums cleaning,
10) Underbody Suspension check,
11) Underbody Anti-Rust coating check,
12) Wheel rotation (4-wheel) and alignment,
13) IRVM of the RPAS system to be tightened,
14) Exterior polishing/paint touch-ups to hide a few scratches all around.

(# = Part of 4th Paid Service)

For #7 AC condenser cleaning, both Nivesh and Dhananjay advised to skip it if the AC was working normally, since it involved removing the entire dashboard and getting the whole AC unit out to get the condenser cleaned. Not to mention that it would cost around 3,000-4,000 rupees extra, which was not feasible as an extra expense since our car had such low mileage on the ODO. Convinced by them, I agreed to get that skipped.

When I went into the workshop office to hand the keys over to Sagar, he suddenly thought of something and asked me if I had opted for MCP. I had read in a few Nexa threads (link, (Maruti's goodwill gesture! Early S-Cross buyer gets a Rs. 90,000 refund and 2 year extended warranty)link (Maruti S-Cross : Official Review), link (Maruti Baleno : Official Review)) and ownership reports (link, link (Maruti S-Cross DDiS 200 Zeta - The A350 cometh!), link (Maruti S-Cross DDiS 200 Zeta - The A350 cometh!)) and a short note on MyCarHelpline's Baleno Service/Maintenance page about the Maintenance Cost Protect plans recently introduced by Maruti-Suzuki, but I didn't know that MSIL had extended this program to regular MSIL cars too!

Pleasantly surprised, I asked him to tell me more. He sat down and very patiently explained the MCP plans in the best way he could (applicable to my 2-year old Swift ZXI):

- There are 3 types of MCP plans for regular MSIL cars - Economy, Executive and Premium, which can be purchased for 4-year and 5-year durations (from the date of purchase).

- Economy plan is basically relief from all labour charges during paid services, with an additional 2-3 items thrown in, such as Alignment/Balancing, Washings, Pick-up/Drop, etc.

- Executive plan is Economy plan + a few essential parts/consumables such as engine oil/oil filter, coolant, etc.

- Premium plan is top-of-the-line, with the Executive plan + most parts/consumables such as total AC cleaning, RSA, replacements which cost a bomb, etc.

- To give you a rough idea of costs involved:
A 4-year Economy MCP plan costs ~Rs 6,300,
while the 5-year Economy MCP plan came to ~Rs 8,100.
The Executive plan was more than double the costs than the Economy (~Rs 16,000 for the 4-year one),
while the Premium MCP plan cost more than 3.5 times (~Rs 22,000) than the standard Economy MCP plan.

- Valid across all branches of the issuing Maruti-Suzuki dealership, even if it's in other states!


I weighed over all the options carefully, and opted for the 5-year Economy MCP plan. Silver Queen's running was quite low (less than 5,000 kms per year), and the only protection we needed was from the Labour Charges for this (and all henceforth) paid services.

A rough estimate put the Labour Charges at around Rs 2,700 per paid service, and that would mean a total cost of ~Rs 11,000 overall until 2019 (till the MCP would be valid), and since I was paying ~Rs 7,600/- (after discounts), we would be saving about 3,500 rupees, plus getting a few other stuff for free!

Sagar ran around and got the MCP issued before Silver Queen was taken into the hangar, so that we could avail the MCP plan services from this particular servicing onwards. I gave them a cheque, and was promptly handed the receipt and the printed MCP certificate in a neat "MCP" printed folder, which contained an MCP sticker as well (to be stuck on the car's windshield from the inside).

Sagar offered to get the sticker fixed, as me and Dad left Sky's Service hangar to head back (it was after 12 noon already by this time!), after enquiring about how much time all jobs would take, to which Sagar asked for a minimum of 6 hours and assured me that he would call once all the work is completed.

Paid a very short, surprise visit to them in the afternoon at around 2:25 PM. It was lunch time and the service hangar was almost empty, and I noticed Silver Queen was up on the ramp, possibly for the underbody check. I noticed a few fresh sprays of anti-rust near the rear wheel wells, and was satisfied that they were punctual. I called up a worker who was just about to leave for lunch and enquired about our Swifty and the jobs completed/pending, and although he was attending to another car, explained that the replacements had already been done (Sagar had 4 technicians working on our Swifty at once, after I had left!), and after the underbody work was over, Silver Queen was scheduled to be taken for it's wheel rotation/alignment work. Satisfied, I headed back home for lunch.

Called Sagar up at 5:30 PM, and he said all jobs were done and Silver Queen was in the washing bay, ready to go under the shower caps. He asked for about 45 minutes more for the washing/cleaning process, by which he would get the bills ready.

Me and Dad headed to the Sky service center and reached there by 6:15 PM, and I was surprised to see Silver Queen still on the washing bay, while a brand-new Ertiga was being hurriedly washed by the boys right behind it!

Curious, I asked a passing SA about this, and he said that the Ertiga was scheduled for a quick delivery during the evening and was hence being prepped in super-speedy time. Shaking my head, I took a pic of the MCP sticker on the windshield and patiently waited for Silver Queen's wash to be over.

The washing, cleaning and polishing process took almost an hour, and it was around 7:15 PM that I was handed the service bill. Dad was sitting patiently all this while, discussing stuff with Dhananjay and catching a super-small power nap!

When Silver Queen was driven over to us, I checked her out from all sides and the inside as thoroughly as I could under the dealership spotlights, and once I was satisfied that she was quite fine and was shining to a T with fresh, new and soft wiper blades all around, asked Sagar to accompany me on a test run.

The engine sound had now become very quiet and was almost imperceptible inside the cabin, no doubt due to the fresh synthetic oil inside the K12 powerplant. The brakes now bit quite early and brought the car to a standstill from 70-80 kmph-ish speeds quickly. The alignment work was superbly done, and there was absolutely no drifting to either side with no hands on the wheel. I had opted out of wheel balancing, since Dad had reported of no shaking/wobbling at all, at any moderate/high speeds.

Fully satisfied, I turned back to the dealership to pay the bill and report back to Dad. The bill had a few stuff marked under "MCP", notably Labour Charges, Wheel Alignment, etc, and a big "ZERO" beside them.

Upon retrospection, I am glad I opted for the MCP plan.

After some more chit-chat with Sagar and Dhananjay, me and Dad headed home with him leading the way in his fresh and rejuvenated Silver Queen, and me following him in my Lazarus. A small shower on the roads welcomed us on our way back.

ODO now stands at 9,469 kms. Ciao for now!

(Thanks go out to BHPians sandygordon, Sree73, Dr.Naren, pannags and a few others on the Nexa-specific Baleno/S-Cross review/ownership threads for information on Maruti-Suzuki's MCP packages)

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

I weighed over all the options carefully, and opted for the 5-year Economy MCP plan.

Thanks to you I remembered that even I have availed the same MCP for my Alto K10 AMT. Just updated my K10 thread.

I chose the 2 years or 20,000 kms - Executive plan.





I haven't stuck the sticker as yet on the windshield like you have.

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing, RavenAvi! Copied your MCP post to a new thread so that other Maruti owners don't miss it.

[BoneCollector]

I was aware of this when I had gone for first service of my Brezza in mid June but this has not yet been rolled out in my city. I'll be checking again tomorrow and see if it's available for our 4 and half year old WagonR. If you're using the Maruti care app, the MCP shows there also.

[avi550m]

Am hearing about this for the first time. Just a few questions:

1. Can I apply for this package for my 4 year old A-Star?
2. Where can I apply for this. I cannot find any details of these packages online or on Maruti's website.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by avi550m

Am hearing about this for the first time. Just a few questions:

1. Can I apply for this package for my 4 year old A-Star?
2. Where can I apply for this. I cannot find any details of these packages online or on Maruti's website.

1. I don't think there is any use blow add the car is already 4 years old as this is calculated from date of purchase. Only 1 package is there I guess 5 years or 1,00,000kms which your car may be eligible. Not sure though.

2. You'll have to visit your dealership for enrollment for the package in case it is applicable to your 4 year old car.

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by avi550m

1. Can I apply for this package for my 4 year old A-Star?

The maximum period you can avail an MCP plan for, is for 5 years from the date of purchase. Since your A-Star is already 4 years old, it wouldn't make sense to opt for MCP, like a4anurag rightly pointed out above.

It's best to opt for MCP when your car is within the first 2 years of it's lifetime.

Originally Posted by avi550m

2. Where can I apply for this. I cannot find any details of these packages online or on Maruti's website.

No information is given on MSIL's website, unfortunately. I already checked before posting it in my Swift's thread.

Only place to get information is your nearest Maruti-Suzuki dealership's service center.

Give them the registration number of your A-Star, and they will punch it into the MCP software and then tell you which MCP plan is available for your car, and if/if not it is suitable for your needs.

You can also request them for a printed quotation of the same, if you want to go through it in detail. The quotation looks exactly like the MCP invoice we both posted above.

On a side note, my Maruti Care app has been updated with my MCP plan details:

[Astonite]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

It was time to avail Silver Queen's first Paid Service (4th overall).

Called up my good friend at Sky yesterday............

That's a nice initiative and seems to be VFM (I was told the servicing cost of Maruti vehicles are no longer cheap)

: In the bill that you've posted, it is mentioned as next service is 2L Kms. ROFL

[ramki067]

Seeing your Job card bill amount, are they charging 14.5% VAT on Castrol Synthetic oil? If yes, VAT shouldn't be collected on MRP right?
Please enlighten.

Ramki

[sam_sant2005]

If it is allowed for old vehicles i will surely take this. As per my personal experience I have spent 60k in over 3 yrs on service running just 42000kms on my Ertiga diesel. So such a plan would really help control the terror from dealer.

[ramki067]

Originally Posted by sam_sant2005

If it is allowed for old vehicles i will surely take this. As per my personal experience I have spent 60k in over 3 yrs on service running just 42000kms on my Ertiga diesel. So such a plan would really help control the terror from dealer.

Even i thought the same and I enquired about this with Pratham Motors, Bellandur. But they said this offer is applicable only with vehicles not older than than 5 years.

[GSMINC]

I own a 3 month old Maruti Vitara Brezza
Bought from Bimal Maruti Bangalore
My cousin works in service there & he'd offered me this MCP.
BUT
What he told me clearly was that even though MCP is a concept from Maruti, it's the dealers who pocket the whole sum & provide the promised services
And most importantly MCP cannot be availed across other maruti dealers
That is: if you buy MCP from XYZ dealer, you'll have to stick to him for the service, you can't go elsewhere.


PS: now after reading this thread, just spoke to him & he confirmed the same, MCP can't be availed across multiple dealerships

RavenAvi, can you please check your MCP document & confirm whether multiple dealership option is printed anywhere

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by ramki067

Seeing your Job card bill amount, are they charging 14.5% VAT on Castrol Synthetic oil? If yes, VAT shouldn't be collected on MRP right?

I cross-checked with the Service Center - according to them, the price printed on the bill is not MRP but DP (dealer's price).

Originally Posted by Astonite

In the bill that you've posted, it is mentioned as next service is 2L Kms. ROFL

That should have been 20,000 kms. Seems like they added an extra "0" while printing.

Originally Posted by ramki067

But they said this offer is applicable only with vehicles not older than than 5 years.

True. This cannot be taken for Maruti cars which have entered their 6th year of existence.

Originally Posted by GSMINC

What he told me clearly was that even though MCP is a concept from Maruti, it's the dealers who pocket the whole sum & provide the promised services

I think it's an initiative started by MSIL to reward their dealers for their committed and wholehearted co-operation in making MSIL After Sales Services as the best in the country today.

Originally Posted by GSMINC

And most importantly MCP cannot be availed across other maruti dealers
That is: if you buy MCP from XYZ dealer, you'll have to stick to him for the service, you can't go elsewhere.
PS: now after reading this thread, just spoke to him & he confirmed the same, MCP can't be availed across multiple dealerships

Confirmed from the MSIL Regional Head - the MCP taken from a particular dealership holds good for that dealership (and it's branches) only. If the dealership branches are spread across different cities, it will be valid across all of them. The issuing dealership is needed to enter this crucial information when the MCP's registration form is being filled.

Originally Posted by GSMINC

RavenAvi, can you please check your MCP document & confirm whether multiple dealership option is printed anywhere

Nope, nothing of the sort is given anywhere in the certificate or in the booklet. But the MCP Registration Form has this information.

Will get back tomorrow with full details on this.

[wishnipon]

I opted MCP Executive plan (4 years) for my Alto K10 in November last year. There is a item called MOS in my plan, which I also see in the screenshots shared by OP. Can someone throw light on this?

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by wishnipon

There is a item called MOS in my plan, which I also see in the screenshots shared by OP. Can someone throw light on this?

MOS is nothing but Maruti On-Road Support.

I think it is charged for any such requirement if called for at night time.