Rui Gentil, Assistant General Manager of Tur Assist; “As Tur Assist, we have been operating in Turkey for 21 years. This means that, 21 years ago we started to establish this service provider network. What is important here is that also the service providers have grown together with us.”
How do you evaluate the position of the assistance sector in Turkey? In your opinion, what are the most important characteristics and differences of the assistance sector in Turkey when compared with the global markets?
The most fundamental difference experienced in the assistance sector in Turkey is that the expectation of the people is very high. The performance expected from the assistance sector is not so high in other parts of the world. Due to the high market share of Tur Assist in Turkey the expectation of the customers from us is naturally very high. The market share and the customer expectation oblige us to deliver a quality service at all times.
Turkey is at the same time one of the best marketplaces across the world in terms of innovation. Turkey is a perfect country as regards to the realization of innovative practices. We, as Tur Assist, feel ourselves lucky in this regard. We are exactly at the beginning of the innovation curve. We have nearly 8 thousand service providers and we have been getting stronger and stronger through these service providers for 21 years. Together with our competent and successful suppliers, we are in a position to meet the requirements of the market rapidly.
Can you tell us about the development and the differences of Tur Assist in the sector?
I would like to mention especially 2 projects, one of which was introduced last year and the other this year, as examples to the development of Tur Assist in Turkish market. Through the rent-a-car brand project, called Rigorent, we are in a position to deliver service in almost all parts of Turkey. Especially airports, mostly visited touristic regions and mostly travelled routes are our focus points in this regard. Our Rigorent brand receives great interest and demand particularly in big cities.
As Tur Assist, we have another project which we have created by taking into account the requirements of our customers and the agents in the insurance industry: Joker & Joker Mini. Through Joker Mini, we actually introduce the assistance service to many people who do not have motor insurance. With this service, we offer such services as mini repair, car glass, repair in-situe, etc. to consumers. Joker Mini is a strategic product for us. I believe that it is a very distinct product, for it does not squeeze the customer into a box. Thanks to it, our consumers can benefit from the assistance services at a much lower cost.
With Joker & Joker Mini, we are able to reach and deliver service to everybody in the insurance industry. Providing benefit to the customers, these products increase the operational efficiency and income of the insurance companies as well as increase the commission income of the insurance agents. In this sense, we are in a position to embrace all the players in the insurance industry actually. At present, we are contemplating and working on various projects that will provide benefit to the sector and our customers.
Can you mention briefly about the other services offered by Tur Assist?
As Tur Assist, we are offering such services as towing, repair in-situe, car glass, home assistance, replacement car, etc. to Turkish insurance industry. Our replacement car and towing services are intensively used. Apart from these, through our 8 thousand service providers, we are able to reach every industry expecting support from us.
Are there any new products or practices on which you are currently working or which you have introduced recently?
We have introduced our Joker Mini product owing to some legislative changes involving the sector. Rigorent is a very important project for us. The users can have access to Rigorent product via our website. Our website has been designed in a manner to enable the users to make reservations in the easiest and fastest manner. By selecting a location only, the user views the available cars, and can make the payment via the website to complete the transaction. So, our website is not limited with the reservations only as in the case with the other websites. We have established within our call center a unit dedicated to Rigorent. We are carrying out Rigorent operations through that unit. The customers can make reservations on the phone as well. They can execute all transactions, such as selection of the car, on the phone. We recommend this method for the customers who don’t want to use or cannot use the website. We receive payment on the phone through IVR as well. The users can make payment via our systems in a trustworthy manner.
Our customers can reach us via Rigorent.com and our call center at phone number 0850 202 47 31. In order to make our service more accessible, we have made various agreements with airlines companies, banks and brokers like Skyscanner, etc. We have an objective like providing discount to our customers who rent a car through them, like being on different websites, etc. We aim that our service and brand are reachable.
Our target is to deliver the most quality service through Rigorent in the easiest manner. The most important point in this project that makes us different is that we are able to make delivery to and delivery from any point designated by the customer.
We have received 15 thousand reservations in Rigorent since October 2016. Of the reservations, 34% came from İstanbul, 12.3% from Izmir and 9.5% from Ankara. We target to increase this figure by the end of the year.
Tur Assist has been carrying out its training activities through “Tur Assist Academy”. How do you evaluate the development of and the numbers reached by this implementation?
First of all, I must admit that Tur Assist Academy is the first and only implementation like this in the world. Indeed, there is not such an example of academy in the assistance sector across the world. Tur Assist Academy started out in 2012. When launching it, we set out with the goal of delivering the highest quality service. Through the trainings delivered at the academy, we take our service quality and standards under control.
At Tur Assist Academy, training is delivered through a very intensive program of 3 days. We provide training on the sharing of the corporate identity to the customer relations, to the advanced driving techniques, to the vehicle towing. We have trained over 3 thousand service technicians at the academy so far. In order to attain the highest customer satisfaction, it was very important for us that the training was the one approved by the Ministry of Education. All service providers of us who received the training are actually rendering a service that has been approved by the Ministry of Education. Also our drivers of tow trucks, drivers of replacement cars, electricians, and plumbers are receiving training at Tur Assist Academy. Thanks to our training, we ensure that these technicians are well equipped technically as well as behave professionally.
Another project of us going hand in hand with Tur Assist Academy is our process of institutionalizing our service providers. In this project, where we progress in conjunction with a consultation firm, all processes of our service providers are examined in detail. All business processes, such as whether the service providers have an institutional structure, whether they give their employees what is due to them. are checked so as to ensure institutionalization of our service providers. If an authorized person whom we have trained at the academy is not working in an institutionalized firm, we may lose him. By carrying out the institutionalization process in parallel with the trainings, we are safe on both sides. In this way, we do not lose the person whom we have trained on one hand and maintain our service quality on the other. We at the same time track the project. We not only provide the training and implement the project, but also make continuous follow-up and audit. We survey if the service providers fulfill the duties that fall into their responsibility.
We know that Tur Assist has a broad network. In your opinion, what are the main elements that make Tur Assist successful?
As Tur Assist, we have been operating in Turkey for 21 years. This means that, 21 years ago we started to establish this service provider network. What is important here is that also the service providers have grown together with us. As we were growing, we invested in them with a great majority of our service providers being exclusive to Tur Assist. We have provided the best possible conditions to our service providers and we have become a business partner with them. More important than this is that while becoming the market leader, we have become a big family with them at the same time. We try to make them feel that they are important for us. Tur Assist gives great importance to loyalty.
We want them to feel themselves as members of our family, and at the same time we are very rigid about our standards. We have standards on service quality. We make audits very regularly in order to follow up this and through regular calls, we are following and analyzing the service delivered to the customer on the customer side. If a customer complaint occurs in the service, we always take the necessary action, aiming to ensure 100 percent customer satisfaction.
On the top of the factors that make us successful comes technology. In addition, our customer centricity is on the forefront. Our communication with the customer both in the call center area and at every point where we come into contact through the service providers is very important. Training, too, is one of these factors. At the same time, being open minded and being open to innovation carry us to success. We always do our best to be more successful. Of course, the fact that we feel the power of an international group behind allows us to strive for success. The customers’ trust that they will receive a quality service from us.
In Tur Assist office are working with nearly 500 young, dynamic call center employees who are experts in their fields. Our ability to adapt to the developing technologies, and the fact that we are ready for potential changes in the sector bring us close to the success. Apart from these, and finally, our service provider structure that can deliver service on 24/7 basis is one of the most important factors that carry us to success.
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