I had an email from someone recently asking about the troublesome problem of storing tyres. They had a point - I mean, tyres are difficult to store and how do you possibly stock all the ones you could need during the day? Good news - you don’t have to!
With your tyre changing equipment you will be given a list of a number of suppliers of tyres and additional equipment that you can tap into. The great news is, many of them will deliver the same day if ordered before a certain time. Very often, if you are dealing with a customer in the morning and you discover they need new tyres, you simply get your order in and by the time you’ve finished your normal repairs - the tyre is ready for you.
But what if you need one before then? Simply - just use others to store them for you. Your local area will be absolutely swamped with national chain tyre fitting centres who have a massive stock of tyres and they will be willing to sell them to you.
Keep a list of local tyre fitters and when you need one, just call them up. But what about drop by trade? Well, if you do have some storage, you can simply stock some of the more popular types of tyre for the most popular cars.
This can be even easier if you have built a reputation for dealing with particular types of vehicle. If, for example, you are a VW Beetle specialist, you can very easily stock a tight range of tyres that will probably fit most of your customers. If you don’t have a particular range you can always just go for the most popular cars such as Ford Mondeo, Focus or Fiesta. A lot of this will depend on the type of area your garage is in.
Also, when it comes to tyres, try to go for a cheaper range. Seeing as tyres are a particularly important safety aspect of any car, it’s amazing how little people want to spend on them. Very often they will want to go for the very cheapest. However, you can actually use this fact in your favour.
A neat trick is to stock a mid-range tyre but offer a cheaper and a much more expensive type. You can always get the cheap ones in but have the mid-range available. When talking to the customer, simply offer a proposition: “Is price or safety the most important aspect?” There aren’t many customers that would say it’s all about cheapness.