How Two Dealers Plan to Grow Their Mobile Businesses

Two tire dealers on opposite sides of the country – Jim Baxter, the owner of Atlanta, Ga.-based Neighborhood Tire Pros & Service and Tom Eisenberg, owner of West Coast Tire and Service in Los Angeles, Calif. - are excited about their recent entry into mobile tire installation.

The two talked with MTD about their plans and goals for this new component of their business during the recent Tire Pros conference in San Diego, Calif. (Both Baxter and Eisenberg are members of American Tire Distributors Inc.’s Tire Pros program.)

Getting to mobile

When the world shut down because of COVID-19, Baxter said it was hard to keep spirits up at his four stores.

“We were branded essential, so we kept our doors open and I kept all of my employees, but there were no customers and nobody was coming in,” he recalled.

“I’m trying to keep everyone upbeat, but I just kept thinking, ‘What are we going to do?’”

The idea of mobile tire installation was brought up to Eisenberg and Baxter at a Tire Pros meeting.

A United Kingdom-based company, Halfords, and its Avalyer software, which ATD brought to the North American market about two years ago, were introduced to dealers and both Eisenberg and Baxter were sold on the idea.

Eisenberg said that offering mobile tire service is a chance to “change the culture around automotive shops. Automotive shops still have that ‘garage’ feel to them.

“I want people to come into my shop and think it’s really cool and a decked-out van that will come to you is pretty cool, too.”

Eisenberg said he wants customers to think of using his mobile service like they would think of ordering food from their phones.

Baxter has one mobile tire service truck at his dealership, with two more on the way.

Eisenberg said he is getting ready to launch his mobile van soon.

A fully decked-out, wrapped van with equipment inside costs around $160,000, each dealer said.

Why mobile?

“I’ve been in the tire business since 1994 and a lot hasn’t changed,” said Baxter.

Mobile tire installation “is something that is new and exciting and something I think the market is really ready for.”

Baxter said his mobile service will help his dealership take care of more customers.

“We can’t get to every single car that comes into our shop because of lack of labor, so when a customer wants something done right now and I know I can’t provide that, I will say, ‘We can’t get your tires on today, but how about we come out to you tomorrow and put them on?’” explained Baxter.

“It changes the whole conversation.”

Eisenberg said that offering mobile tire installation is like “adding another bay to your dealership.

“I want to expand and buy more stores, but there are guys out there trying to sell their stores for an absurd amount of money and it’s now economically sound to buy them.”

The mobile option is a lot cheaper than buying a brick-and-mortar location, according to Eisenberg.

Eisenberg says his van will allow him to reach customers he would normally not be able to reach because of Los Angeles’ spread-out population.

Goals for mobile

Baxter and Eisenberg have different business plans when it comes to how they are going to run their mobile tire services.

Baxter said he is focusing on a more traditional mobile tire service plan. He is targeting all of the greater Atlanta area and already works on Amazon Delivery Service Partner vans in the region.

He also has the ability to scale down if that’s ever needed.

But right now, Baxter wants more growth. By the end of the year, he plans to have six to 10 trucks and wants them to run six installs a day.

Eisenberg is taking a more premium route with mobile tire installation.

“I want my van to be more expensive to come out to you and to focus more on quality over quantity,” says Eisenberg.

“I want the guy who wants to spend lots of money on tires.”

Eisenberg wants his mobile tire technician to have a strong social media presence and post photos of the vehicles that they work on.

He believes that when there is a higher mark-up and a higher installation cost, mobile tire service becomes more profitable. But he also said that as demand increases, his strategy might change.

Eisenberg is shooting to have five to 10 vans in the next five years, with each van doing six to 10 installs per day.

Baxter says that he believes small, independent tire dealerships are better-equipped to offer mobile tire service than big chains because some of those shops “don’t have the loyalty of customers” that many independents enjoy.