In today’s economic environment, each month brings significant challenges to independent tire dealers. However, the holiday and post-holiday seasons remain two of the toughest periods of the year in terms of retail tire sales and automotive service revenue. Maybe now is the time to promote preventive maintenance.
Tags: Retail tire market, Winter blahs
This special section sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission provides an up-close look at several companies that are at the vanguard of tire, retread and garage equipment technology.
Tags: Autopromotec, Italian Trade Commission
Nearly all of the tire manufacturers outside of China were non-committal while the consumer tire import controversy played itself out. Many released statements, but they said little and refused to take sides, even after the final decision was announced.
Tags: Chinese tire imports, Cooper, International Trade Commission, Tarrifs, Toyo
One dealer called it “bad for the United States.” Another dealer called it “anti-consumer.” Yet another said it was “politically motivated.”
Tags: Chinese tire imports, Tarrifs
Did you check the spare tire?” I asked the tire dealer. My wife’s 2007 Saturn Vue had undergone a “used vehicle inspection” in preparation for my trip from Akron, Ohio, to Sarasota, Fla., and back, and I was getting ready to pay the bill.
Tags: Bob Ulrich, Price clubs, Road trip!, Tire Sales
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Tires play a vital role in vehicle operational safety. However, they have not always been viewed as products ripe for safety enhancements.
Tags: Jacques Bajer, Technology, tire/vehicle system
With apologies to Mark Twain, it appears that the rumors of the death of the large pickup truck/SUV market have been greatly exaggerated.
Tags: LT Tires, SUV tires
What do Pepsi, women’s clothes and lumber have in common with Wayne Croswell? All three products were produced or marketed by companies looking for a business software provider in the late 1970s, and Croswell wrote the software for them.
Tags: TIA, Wayne Croswell
Make it fast, make it accurate, make it work in my shop layout and help me make customers happy. Alignment equipment suppliers have heard your requests and have answered them with new features to fulfill your needs.
Tags: Alignment, Auto Service
Consumer shopping behavior is changing, as I am sure you have noticed. Consumers have found the Web a better, easier and faster way of shopping for your products.
Tags: Mike Bruce, Online tire sales
Would you sit back and twiddle your thumbs while a competitor poached your customers and employees? Would you blow off network security until a vicious virus crashed your computer system?
Tags: Tom Gegax, Wellness
For more than 50 years, tire retailers have relied on mass media such as newspapers, Yellow Pages, radio and television to reach customers. And it has worked — so well, in fact, that it managed to change media-user expectations.
State by state, lead wheel weights are being targeted for elimination. Vermont, Maine and Washington already have enacted bills prohibiting their use. California and Iowa have pending legislation.
Tags: Going green, Lead-free wheel weights, Steel wheel weights, zinc wheel weights
n 2000, Congress passed a China-specific addendum to the Trade Act of 1974. The statute, Section 421, gives domestic manufacturers a safeguard against an increase in Chinese imports that leads to a “market disruption.”
Timing is everything when dealing with insurance policies. First, you need to have insurance in place before you need it.
Tags: Insurance
Sure enough, your mission statement is a thing to behold, with the potential to light up the world. But it isn’t the Mona Lisa. You can print it out in fancy fonts, frame it, and hang it. It’s still not a work of art unless it inspires you to embrace the art of working and living ethically.
Tags: Business insight, Tom Gegax
In the not too distant future, the online shopper will become the dominant force in the retail world. I could make a strong case that day is already here.
Tags: Internet, Mike Bruce, Online tire sales
One of the tire industry’s most prolific idea men, Bob Mirman, is putting a new spin on the traditional program group concept.
Tags: Bob Mirman, Program groups, United Tire Dealer's Association, UTDA
In the December 2008 issue of Modern Tire Dealer, independent tire dealers offered 25 tips to help you survive the recession and position your dealership for greater success when the economy rebounds.
In five months, 2009 will be history. Can we expect better results in the second half of the year than we experienced in the first half?
Tags: Bridgestone, CMA, Continental Tire, Cooper, Goodyear, Hankook, Michelin, Mid-year report, Saul Ludwig
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