Skoda announces cash, service benefits for Rapid

Skoda has announced a slew of benefits on its Rapid sedan. This offer includes an extended warranty of five years for the Rapid sedan if the car is bought through Skoda Finance. If any other means of financing is used to buy the Rapid, then an extended warranty of up to four years can be availed. The car currently comes with a standard warranty of two years.

The Rapid sedan now also gets free service for five years if it is bought via Skoda Finance. Insurance for the first year is now available for just one rupee, regardless of the financing option; a year’s insurance could normally set you back by Rs 30,000-35,000. There’s an exchange bonus of Rs 15,000 also available for your old car, and customers working in corporate companies are also eligible for a discount of Rs 5,000-10,000.

The move comes at a time when Skoda India is planning to revolve its India strategy around its Rapid sedan. The company had previously admitted that service was an issue, however Skoda India MD Sudhir Rao later told Autocar India: “Yes, we were pretty bad on the service front, but now we’ve spent a lot of time, effort and money on training and on our internal processes.”

He added that previously they had people managing service from within the office, but now they are out in the field, interacting with customers.

RUCHIKA SHAH