Possible reasons for Proton's bad image

A couple of years ago, I intimated to Proton’s Head of Security about the possible hanky panky involving servicing of their vehicles because some mechanics were being offered motor oils, spare parts and so on, at a discount. I highlighted the importance of maintaining control as any service not properly done, for example, no change of oil or use of inferior oil, use of inferior parts and so on, will affect the image of the manufacturer through no fault of its own or its products’ quality.

For example, instead of the usual 5,000km service using a certain grade of oil, it was substituted with poor quality oil, and/or using imitation oil filter, or even oil not changed for the first 1,000km service. The impact would not be shown immediately but the engine or gearbox will fail prematurely. Just imagine the damage to Proton’s image if this happened very often.

There are so many parts which are not visible to the car owner and it is a case of trust or good faith in believing that what are claimed to have been done are truly done. Some workshop operators are dishonest themselves while others have dishonest staff.

Cases of good parts being replaced while being serviced have been known and the owner will blame it on the manufacturer! For example, the original part in 80% condition is being replaced by one in 30%.

The latest from Sunday Star (excerpts):

Proton suspends Terengganu dealer (updated)
Proton Holdings Bhd managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed told reporters at a press conference on Sunday that the company would also be cooperating with the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) while conducting its own investigations into the matter.

He said apart from the dealer being suspended, Proton also found that only 35 of the 67 Proton Perdanas bought by the state government were being sent to authorised workshops. It was found that 93% of the RM1,071,669 (cost that was reported in the media) was spent outside of the Proton service system.

"If a car is taken to an unauthorised workshop and non-genuine parts are used, there are bound to be problems. Putting in non-genuine parts only compounds the problem."
"Furthermore, if repairs to a car are done outside the Proton warranty system, there is no way the company would be able to know what is going on."
Syed Zainal Abidin said preliminary investigations into the matter found that there was overcharging and second hand-parts being sold as genuine parts.
"In some instances there was also 'over-servicing' of the car," he said, adding that the average maintenance cost of a Proton Perdana was RM2,373 per year."

In the case of dodgy workshops, I have even heard of a possibility that service costs of other private vehicles of the person could have been charged to his official car! Perhaps, this is not too far-fetched and should have been looked into.