“We’re rolling!” Those words summed up Independent Tire Dealers Group LLC (ITDG) President and CEO Jason Rook’s feelings after the group’s recent meeting.
Roughly 122 ITDG members and 45 vendors attended the multi-day event, which took place at the Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park, Ariz.
During the meeting, Rook told members that a key initiative for ITDG is to expand beyond the U.S. “We will start with our neighbors in Canada and Mexico and then we’re going to move into Latin America.”
The reason for the move, said Rook, is that ITDG “is trying to be respectful of our members’ footprints and the way they go to market.”
He told MTD that ITDG’s members have stayed with the group for a long period of time and “they have to have space and time to really flourish and grow.”
Rook said ITDG will be “getting to the end of our (U.S.) borders in the next three to five years and in order to let those folks continue to grow, we have to spill over those borders.”
Knowing that uncertainty with the economy and tariffs were on the minds of ITDG members entering the conference, Rook addressed these issues at the beginning of the event.
“We're here to celebrate and reaffirm the commitment we have to independent tire dealers,” he told attendees. “It's a tough market out there. We have a lot of things to get through this year and we're going to do it.
“The fact is - and I don't want to sound like a doomsayer - I know we have tariffs and we have taxes and we have all these things, but we're independent. Tire dealers get up in the morning and we sell tires. And if there's a new tariff, we're going to get up in the morning and we're going to sell tires. And if there's a recession coming, we're going to get up in the morning and we're going to sell tires.”
Rook said ITDG is focused on the future, with a new MemberLink portal that’s been several years in the making, along with a continued emphasis on its NextGen program, which is developing up-and-coming leaders among the group’s members.
“The portal is going to really revolutionize the way that our members are able to get data from ITDG. It’s going to give them faster, more accurate and easier-to-parse data that they can download.”
Rook told MTD during a sit-down interview that the portal is being implemented in three stages. The first stage already completed, with the second stage rolling out in July of this year and the last stage at a later date.
A demonstration of the portal during the meeting showed how ITDG members can connect with each other, view their performance against others while still keeping their information confidential and quickly compare the various programs that vendors are offering the group.
ITDG is also focusing on supporting its NextGen program. Mike Burns, sales director for ITDG, told attendees there are now 42 people from 30 ITDG members across 20 states who are part of NextGen. (Burns oversees the NextGen program.)
The group, according to Burns, is designed to “promote and foster the basic criteria needed to become a future ITDG board of director member.”
Peak performance
Rook shared an overview of ITDG’s past five years’ performance during the meeting. Total number of shareholders within the group has increased from 120 to 139, with number of locations growing by 57% since 2019, from 758 locations to 1,192 outlets.
Total members of ITDG now stand at 189, up from 158. The group lost 11 members - accounting for 28 locations, as well as six shareholders - during 2024. However, ITDG gained 26 members with 68 locations and added 12 new shareholders.
At the same time, ITDG reduced its number of vendors from 81 to 67, which Rook said was an intentional move. The group wants to grow with fewer vendors. This will, in turn, allow each vendor to grow.
Since 2019, Rook said eligible purchases from ITDG vendors grew from $266 million to $405 million, a 52% increase. He applauded ITDG shareholders since they have increased their average, eligible purchases from vendors from around $2.2 million to $2.9 million per shareholder between 2019 and 2024. Tire purchases made up 73% of that total volume.
Total payout for shareholders has increased since 2019 from $10.9 million to $15.8 million, a 45% gain. The average payout for each ITDG shareholder grew from $83,000 to $102,000.
Rook also mentioned that ITDG is looking to help its members with succession planning by building an infrastructure to help them, while at the same time keeping complete confidentiality for them. Rook hopes to have the new program running later this year.
When asked by MTD how he will measure success for ITDG in 2025, Rook said, “When we meet next year, if we’re another 12.5% to 13% ahead in revenue, then we’ll say we’re on pace.
"Growing revenue is one thing, but the fact is we want most of that revenue growth to come from inside the group. We’re not trying to go outside and sign up a million new members. We’re trying to make sure the companies already in the group are fully able to blossom. We also want to have international members at next year’s meeting."
Always a highlight of the group's annual meeting is the presentation of the ITDG Dealer of the Year Award. This year’s winner was John Daniels of Daniels Tire Service Inc., a 15-location dealership that's based in Santa Fe Springs, Calif.
ITDG’s annual meeting will be held next year in Orlando, Fla., at the Hilton Buena Vista Resort.
