Today I visited 6 different shops

[Jay Huh]

Today I visited 6 different automotive shops. NTB, Firestone, Meineke, Discount Tire, Jiffy Lube, and Mr Tire- they were all within 2 miles of my new shop.

 

It's amazing what they are willing to share with you. Meineke was a private owner since its a franchise. Everything else was corporate.

 

There's a difference when the owner is running the shop and hired help is.

 

Doesn't matter how much you pay, owner is friendlier.

 

Discount Tire will be here for a while. Excellent people and policies. Did you guys know that they patch tires for free??? Even if you didn't buy tires from them! Same thing with rotations! I asked them why????? and HOW??? they just laughed.

 

 

[Wheelingauto]

Read the book 6 tires, no plan.

[CAZM]

 

Discount Tire will be here for a while. Excellent people and policies. Did you guys know that they patch tires for free??? Even if you didn't buy tires from them! Same thing with rotations! I asked them why????? and HOW??? they just laughed.

 

I have a competitor here in town that does free flat repairs even on tires they did not sell. There is several reasons they do this in my mind. 1.They get another car to inspect and try to find things wrong. 2. 40 to 50 percent of the time they end up selling them a new tire due to the fact the old one is not repairable. 3. To me this is actually a cheap way to advertise . How many people is that person going to tell that they fixed they're tire for free, and where will that person end up going back to when its time for tires.

 

I have thought about doing this myself, however I sell a tire guard plan and I feel doing free flat repairs for everybody would disvalue the plan.

[mspecperformance]

Today I visited 6 different automotive shops. NTB, Firestone, Meineke, Discount Tire, Jiffy Lube, and Mr Tire- they were all within 2 miles of my new shop.

 

It's amazing what they are willing to share with you. Meineke was a private owner since its a franchise. Everything else was corporate.

 

There's a difference when the owner is running the shop and hired help is.

 

Doesn't matter how much you pay, owner is friendlier.

 

Discount Tire will be here for a while. Excellent people and policies. Did you guys know that they patch tires for free??? Even if you didn't buy tires from them! Same thing with rotations! I asked them why????? and HOW??? they just laughed.

 

 

 

 

Makes sense if you are 1) Planning on doing Volume and the associated systems for it (aka making low margins on tire sales OR having huge national accts with tire manufacturers) and 2) paying your techs near minimum wage.

 

I know #2 is a particular problem for the tire industry as a legislation pushes towards higher min wage.

[Jay Huh]

On 2/21/2017 at 8:12 AM, mspecperformance said:

 

 

Makes sense if you are 1) Planning on doing Volume and the associated systems for it (aka making low margins on tire sales OR having huge national accts with tire manufacturers) and 2) paying your techs near minimum wage.

 

I know #2 is a particular problem for the tire industry as a legislation pushes towards higher min wage.

Yes I am curious how the rising min wage will play out not only in our industry but everything else

[alfredauto]

Discount tire is all about volume. I don't try to compete on price with them it's not possible. It's the Walmart of the tire world. I'm not saying it's a bad business model or not wildly successful but I'm not putting $35 tires on my car why would I put them on my customers car? 

[Wheelingauto]

11 hours ago, alfredauto said:

Discount tire is all about volume. I don't try to compete on price with them it's not possible. It's the Walmart of the tire world. I'm not saying it's a bad business model or not wildly successful but I'm not putting $35 tires on my car why would I put them on my customers car? 

Discount tire sells a lot more than cheap tires. Read the book 6 tires no plan, it's about the founder of Discount tire. Good read.

[xrac]

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[PAPShop]

Discount works on keeping their overhead low.  They do not do their own alignments - no lifts - lower worker's comp etc.    In - great customer service - out - send the customer somewhere that does alignments.  We do alignments for our local Discount Tire.  It was a great business decision.  We have gained several good customers because of their referral.  We maintain a great relationship with the managers and most of the tire techs also.  They are all willing to refer their customers to us.

[3PuttFever]

There are a few of them here in central Iowa. They are terrific at customer service. Their prices are generally lower but we also have Wal-Mart/Sam's, Fleet Farm, Big O, and Costco all undercutting each other for tire business. I've found my overall margins eroded when I sell much over 13% of my product mix in tires. Occasionally, I will get price shoppers on tires looking for the cheapest deal possible. I don't fight for that customer and stick to my program - we supply excellent customer service, outstanding post-sale service with our tire protection plans, and charge a fair price for the quality tires we install. We're full service - can't compete with the big box or Discount Tire 'only' service providers. We fill a niche as do they. 

[xrac]

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[xrac]

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[Wheelingauto]

3 hours ago, xrac said:

They do but they also sell alot of cheap chinese stuff as well. Just looked at a popular size and saw Sentry, Arizonian, GT Radial, Kuhmol, Falken, etc.  All low end stuff. They aslo have some name brands but some of those are like the Walmart name brands. Manufactured for them to who knows what standard.  I find often when pricing against them that they are selling their second line heads up against the mine as a brand for brand pricing when it is not the same stuff.  

They sell A LOT OF TIRES. it is a different business model that the repair model that sells tires. I am sure the kick backs they get are much deeper then ours. In addition  to that they have such a narrow niche, they can have advantages we dont such as house brands made by the same manufacturers we represent. 

As far as "off shore" tires they have to cater to the whole market, you got to have a bottom to help bottom feeders