Volvo Cars’ concierge service will make your life easier
Volvo Cars is trialling a new service that promises to take away many of the hassles of car ownership.
As part of its Volvo On Call mobile platform, the new concierge services means drivers will never have to stop at a petrol station, go to a car wash or even take their car in for a service ever again.
The service follows extensive customer research into what their customers want to make their lives easier, and will initially roll out with a pilot programme in San Francisco involving 300 owners.
Björn Annwall, senior vice president, Global Consumer Experience at Volvo Car Group, said, ‘Imagine parking your car in the morning at work and when you head home your car has been serviced, cleaned and refuelled. These are the kind of services we want to deliver to our customers. Our research shows that people spend hours every week doing these small errands – we want to give that time back to Volvo drivers, so they can do something more valuable instead.’
Research by Volvo has shown that more than 70% of customers want fuelling services at their fingertips, while 56% want their car picked up for routine maintenance, and 49% would like to be able to have their car moved to another location when desired.
Anders Tylman-Mikiewicz, vice president, Consumer Connectivity Services at Volvo Car Group, said, ‘Our approach is a simple one – we aim to make life easier by employing the latest connected technology in an easy-to-use smartphone app. We are taking an open and agile approach to this, and welcome collaboration with partners with new and innovative service offers. This is just the beginning.’
The service is offered over an app, which allows drivers to order particular services via their smartphone. Requests are then sent to an authorised Volvo service provider, who will refuel the vehicle, perform scheduled maintenance, or whatever additional service the owner has requested.
The app provides a one-time-use digital key, which is location- and time-specific, and sends it out to the authorised service provider. When the services are complete, the car is locked and the digital key expires. The car can also be returned to where the customer left it or delivered to a completely new location at the customer’s request.
Meanwhile, due to the scalable nature of the Volvo On Call platform, new services can be easily added to ultimately offer a whole range of time-saving services around your car.
