Bengaluru-based start up Koovers is aiming to change the way how multi-brand car garages offer services to its customers in India. This company has tied up with Hella, the German automotive component manufacturer to offer innovative services to different car garages. It aims to cash in on the fact that majority of Indian car owners incur huge prohibitive costs in continuing with the brand service centre (centre operated by their car brand) and they move in on to the multi-brand car garages to get their car serviced.
Image source: Koovers.in
“We will not be owning the multi-brand garages and they will continue with their own owners but we will be offering them innovative technical knowhow that will help them offer much better service to their customers at much lesser prices when compared to the brand owned car garages. With the growing car population in India post warranty service and support are a billion dollar industry and I feel that a significant percentage of entrepreneurs fail trying to capitalise on this massive opportunity due to lack of professional support to this ecosystem,” B.S. Sandeep, the CEO and co-founder of Koovers.
This start up plans to tie up with different multi-brand garages in the country and plans to establish 300-500 such centres over the next 3-4 years and plans to create employment for more than 10,000 plus garage technicians in the country. “The aim is to have skilled garage technicians who are well versed with the latest in automotive technology and have the ability to provide quality service to customers who come in for car service in the country. Besides India we are also aiming to start two centres abroad one in France and the other one in Morocco,” added Sandeep who himself comes in from an automotive background.
The company through its tie up with Hella aims to offer innovative technology in the form of a mobile app, a prognosis tool to keep track of the engine health, cashless repairs (through its tie up with different insurance companies), reasonable service fees etc. The start up Koovers will have a revenue sharing model with the garage owners and will focus only on multi-brand car garages in the country.
Hella, on the other hand, will be able to use this platform to offer its products in the different multi-brand car garages in the country. “We are one of the top 40 automotive manufacturers in the country and through this tie up we will get much better access to the customers who come in for car service in the country. We have seen that majority of car owners in India come to multi-brand car service garages as they find cheaper service and better transparency there,” said Ramashankar Pandey, managing director, Hella India Lighting Limited.
