1. Make tire purchases easy and give discounts. Tire stores, de Martigny says, are set up to provide fast, convenient service. Dealerships should be, too.
“A car dealer’s service drive is [often] a pain in the ass — getting an appointment, getting in and getting someone to talk to you that you feel comfortable with. The Tire Kingdoms and Goodyears of the world are more convenient than the car dealer. They know when the customer comes in for an oil change, if they give them coupons, they are never going to lose that customer.”
So, de Martigny says, dealers should offer a price match guarantee and coupons for discounts on services.
2. Offer free tire and suspension checks. Dealers, he says, should try to get customers to think of their vehicle’s tires as their No. 1 safety issue. Let customers know they can come to the store and have the air pressure, tread and alignment checked for free any time. And, he says, it’s a good move to tie that messaging to summer road trips.
“If you can set up a program for your customers to come in and get their tires checked, you have the opportunity to walk around the vehicle and look for other issues: worn-out wipers, cracked windshields, fogged-up headlamps. If you can rotate the tires, that gives you the chance to check the brakes and the ball joints, etc.”
