<span class="htext1">Innovating brands:</span> Maruti True Value

It brought some certainty in a disreputable business

As far as pioneering goes, Maruti True Value's - the venture from Maruti Suzuki India - was one. It has the largest certified used car dealer network in the organised pre-owned car sales with over 318 outlets in 186 towns in the country. Last year, it sold 1.2 lakh used cars. Though this is dwarfed by the one million used cars that change hands each year and the 1.2 million new vehicles that are bought, the used car business is catching on quickly.

True Value is often touted as one of the first attempts by an automobile company in India to provide an extension of services to its existing customers. It aims to reassure its existing customers about resale of their cars thus enhancing customer satisfaction by a continuous association during the vehicle ownership life cycle.

To do that, the vehicles bought under True Value are inspected and certified by Maruti's engineers and all the cars sold by the brand carry a one-year warranty and three free services in addition to finance options. True Value gives the sellers an option to be paid in cash or get a True Value car or a brand new Maruti Suzuki car in exchange.

The used car market in India is largely unorganised, with the organised players contributing less than 20 per cent of the used-car market. The share of the unorganised market and personal dealings (cars bought and sold among friends, relatives and family connections, not through a shop) constitute the rest of the 80 per cent share.

Many other players have now entered the used cars business. Millennium Toyota also sells cars by other automakers. Fortune Cars (a Tata Motors dealer) and Mahindra First Choice Wheels are some of the other brands that have forayed into this category.