Making my own job... tire business

[Foxstang]

I'm gearing up to build a mobile tire business. I just finished the business plan, now working on the branding (going to be easytires.ca), website content and I'm working on the logistics platform (prob scratch build SAAS app that I may offer to other small mobile businesses - later on).

Anyway, I will have an online store, buy your tires (and hopefully wheels) and I just go to your house to mount and balance. I'm looking into a high-end tire mounting machine so I can handle low profiles without the risk of scratching a wheel.

My goal is to get the site up and running to build a mailing list of at least 500 that will allow me to move to phase 2 of the investments.

Biggest issue is insurance... my god they rip people off... think auto insurance is bad, commercial insurance is insane!

Wish me luck... I'm also doing trim work on the side (cash) for people. I'm a wainscotting and trim installer with OCD... lol

EDIT: Why tires? Truth is I find the experience to always be crap when buying and getting tires installed. I hate the waits, I don't like having some kid drive my rig (even if it's to put into a garage bay), I don't like waiting in line especially when I have an appointment booked... I never had a great experience. Time to change this.

And it's an excuse to build a shop truck lol

[Minaccia]

Good luck and I hope the local consumer supports your business.

[92redragtop]

Something like this? How large of a market base would you need to achieve 500 customers + recurring calls (assuming mailing list = customers)? Looking to franchise for scaling?

https://www.mobiletire.ca/

[Laffs]

Something like this? How large of a market base would you need to achieve 500 customers + recurring calls (assuming mailing list = customers)? Looking to franchise for scaling?

https://www.mobiletire.ca/

Looked at this many times myself, something I've wanted to get in to but not sure theres enough market in my region.

[92redragtop]

Looked at this many times myself, something I've wanted to get in to but not sure theres enough market in my region.

It is a "premium" service as well so customer demographics would play into market sizing (to a degree because the growth of app based services have shown that "average" consumers have a willingness to pay much higher amounts for convenience; eg. Skip The Dishes, UberEats, etc., not sure how well that translates to larger ticket purchases, >$250 to $2,000+).....and you want the truck to be fully utilized "on the road" as much as possible given the capital investment.

I hope the project goes well.

[Minaccia]

Not always or at least not with car parts, I've quoted customers $5 more for a part compared to a walk in store and they still bought from the local guy because of the lower price. Mean while the customer burned $20 worth of gas to pick up that part.


It is a "premium" service as well so customer demographics would play into market sizing (to a degree because the growth of app based services have shown that "average" consumers have a willingness to pay much higher amounts for convenience; eg. Skip The Dishes, UberEats, etc., not sure how well that translates to larger ticket purchases, >$250 to $2,000+).....and you want the truck to be fully utilized "on the road" as much as possible given the capital investment.

I hope the project goes well.

[92redragtop]

Not always or at least not with car parts, I've quoted customers $5 more for a part compared to a walk in store and they still bought from the local guy because of the lower price. Mean while the customer burned $20 worth of gas to pick up that part.

And then that customer went home, used a service like Skip The Dishes or Uber Eats and end up paying +$20 for a $10 burger.

[Gabe]

I agree with 92redragtop on this, it is the service/ convenience they are paying a premium for, not just the tire swap. Minaccia’s example is comparing apples to apples for parts and somebody making a decision based on their needs, in your example of the $5 premium, I bet they needed the part ASAP and would rather drive and pick it up rather wait for the convenience of it arriving at their house in a couple days.
This is not that, majority of these are going to be prebooked appointments, perhaps the occasional flat tire.

There is a similar service in the bicycle world, fully loaded mechanic vehicle comes to your house, does the tune-up/ repair etc to your bicycle and drives off to the next appointment. Customer doesn’t have to drive to the bike shop, drop off bike for a couple days, drive back to pick it up.
www.velofix.com

[92redragtop]

^^Think they were on Dragon's Den a while back.

[Gabe]

^^Think they were on Dragon's Den a while back.

Yes they were, there are quite a few franchised vehicles around

[R3troGT]

Good Luck

[Foxstang]

Good feedback!

Yes it is technically a premium service but the price difference isn't all that bad, comparable to a brick-n-mortar. The hiccup I'm trying to get over is the "come back in 100km to tighten your nuts", which I understand is based on liability. But for me it means each transaction will require two house-calls which sucks. Profitability or best utilization of the "truck" is going to depend on the logistics. I have to minimize travel between customers as much as possible and my system needs to group them in batches to make it more profitable. I can't spend 2 hours of total travel time and 30 bucks of fuel just to get to the person for a $50 bolt-on tire change lol...

Now I'm drooling over a Corghi Artiglio Master J Touchless Tire Changer... lol

[5.4MarkVIII]

Remember truck is much cheaper than a building

It’s all in the logistics.

At first your margins aren’t not going to be as good since you will need to be doing the return to tighten. IMO this is a must for you to offer. If they have to go elsewhere or come to you it completely negates the bonus of the service.

One lawsuit for tires falling off will end your business.

Eventually as your customer list grows this won’t be as much of an issue as long as your on top of what areas your covering in a day. Because a retorque can be done when you are back in the area for another job.

Driving back and forth across a city or from one area to another will kill you on time alone.

You should figure out exactly what it is you want to offer. Is this a rim and tire service for after market (snow install and storage could also be a lucrative market)

Or is this an I’m on the 401 and my tire is flat come help me out. Will you be offering repairs and spare swaps.

There is potential and I would be looking to companies that do the same thing for agriculture , commercial and heavy truck to get an idea for costs and logistics.

[hammerhead]

Hey good luck - I'm in a similar business and use to do tires as well (trucking only) - I wont get into the details but yes insurance is extremely high for Tire company's strictly doing tires. Contrary to some beliefs a lot of tires come off vehicles of all types and kill many people on a regular basis (check out you tube) - people also kill themselves working with tires it can be very dangerous - How I got around the high insurance rates - my company is registered as a mechanic company - I was going to separate my tire end from my mechanic end but was advised not to because the insurance rates on tires alone would go thru the roof ( I crapped my pants when I received the quote). I think you will be very busy. One thing - it is very competitive and many suppliers and service people to choose from so a premiums will be controlled this way - Best of luck I think it can work really well for you...!

I just saw the retorque quotations - this is merely a technicality on a bill to protect the company from liability and it us usually up to the owner of the vehicle to have due diligence in getting the retorque done - there is a charge for this and a person can go to any location to have this done - it does not have to be you - scenario - what if you installed a tire on a car and immediately after that person left for Florida - it is up to the purchaser to get the retourque done. Studies have proven an incorrectly installed wheel will come off within the first 100km but this is not always the case.

[Foxstang]

With my OCD, I will probably torque it down twice to be 110% sure. Last thing I want is to be responsible for a wheel coming off. As for personal injury, my guess it would be when you're seating the bead with a blast of air, I thought these machines had a reducer to prevent 100+ PSI to be blasted in or just rely on the operator's foot control? I guess some wheel/tire combos are a pain and need more than 40psi to seat... I wonder if they can make a machine where the foot pedals can be detached or if I could just weld in a sliding cage so worse case I bang up my ear drums and that's about it if a failure happens? I wonder if you can just use a ratchet strap along the middle of the tire help it seat the bead, I've done this with some small tires in the past, but never seen anyone do this at a shop otherwise.

[hammerhead]

With my OCD, I will probably torque it down twice to be 110% sure. Last thing I want is to be responsible for a wheel coming off. As for personal injury, my guess it would be when you're seating the bead with a blast of air, I thought these machines had a reducer to prevent 100+ PSI to be blasted in or just rely on the operator's foot control? I guess some wheel/tire combos are a pain and need more than 40psi to seat... I wonder if they can make a machine where the foot pedals can be detached or if I could just weld in a sliding cage so worse case I bang up my ear drums and that's about it if a failure happens? I wonder if you can just use a ratchet strap along the middle of the tire help it seat the bead, I've done this with some small tires in the past, but never seen anyone do this at a shop otherwise.

your on the right track - rachet straps have been used by many - there's many ways people get hurt and there are many different wheel make-ups - some tire suppliers offer courses for proper training - car tire and wheels are basic and very simplified - things to know are the difference between hub pilot and stud pilot - I had a stud pilot vehicle the regularly the wheels came lose - tires are like little bombs - truck tires have 95 - 110 or more psi - it is very dangerous to repair and reinstall a tire that may have been run on low air pressure - something a person may not be able to recognize without proper training...there are training course available. The bead blaster is pretty harmless and very useful. Most people who get hurt are using incorrect procedures - like using ether instead of a bead blaster - really there's too many things to list it all comes from training and experience....