Subie partners with car-share and introduces mobile servicing
Subaru Australia has aligned with peer-to-per car rental platform DriveMyCar as a way to introduce potential owners to the new Levorg wagon, and is now offering mobile vehicle servicing for late-model vehicles in Sydney.
Levorg GT-S (front) and GT
DriveMyCar will make 10 all-wheel drive Subaru wagons available to rent in Sydney (seven) and Brisbane (three) respectively, giving customers a chance to drive cars not typically accessible from rental companies. It allows ‘try before you buy’ opportunities from seven to 365 days rental and Subaru says other vehicles are likely to become available.
“There’s every chance we could expand it to other models,” said Subaru MD Colin Christie, “with the vehicles then returning to our Subaru used vehicle stock after a certain period,
providing an additional pool for our dealer network, where demand for used is huge.”
DriveMyCar has also partnered with UberX to provide operators with new
Levorg GT
quality Subaru vehicles with flexible rental agreements. The company also says its renters can save up to 62 per cent compared to traditional rental companies and has 29,000 registered users contributing to its 61% growth in rental numbers in the 2015-16 financial year
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Subaru Australia’s “do” branding exercise has meant changing the way the OEM does business selling vehicles in Australia and mobile servicing is aimed at taking hassle out of maintenance.
“If you are not innovating in today’s world you’re probably falling behind,” Mr Christie said. “As a brand known for innovation, it’s imperative for us to continue to roll out new ideas.”
The Subaru service van was rolled out in Narellan, NSW earlier this 
year and is now operating with several Sydney retailers, eventually reaching into Canberra, Wagga Wagga and Port Macquarie pending an evaluation. Melbourne will be included next year supporting pop-up stores.
The mobile servicing is particularly popular with care-givers, and would be a valuable option for fleet buyers looking to invest in Subaru Eyesight (right) safety technologies and need mobile servicing to minimise downtime.
Subaru Narellan’s service manager Phil Eyke said, “The response from customers is great once they experience the service. We believe corporate clients will likely be a large part of mobile service clientele moving forward.”
Mr Eyke also sees the benefit of face-to-face communication between customers and the dealership technicians. “It has become a great opportunity to introduce talented team members to customer interaction, and I am confident the future leaders of our business will come through these ranks.”
While the service is not available for 50,000km major services on all models, STI-brand cars and pre-MY2012 vehicles, Subaru fleet customers will be able to take advantage of the mobile maintenance program to minimise downtime and disruption.
“We wanted to reach to as many people as possible,” said Richard Wells, Subaru Australia national fleet and corporate sales manager. “But it had to be a proper van that could go out and do the full job. We can do 95% of servicing as long as we have a flat level surface, and if that’s not available we can find one. Fleet managers will definitely have this service available for their Subaru fleets.”
