Bast Tire & Auto Service Ltd. - Tire Review Magazine

Bast Tire & Auto Service Ltd.

Bast Tire and Auto Service LtdMany business owners will tell you one key to success is having an exceptional workforce and Bast Tire & Auto Service Ltd. own­er Wayne Moser agrees.

“As you grow, you have to realize that you can’t be in all places and you have to count on your leadership who will help you accomplish the things you want to accomplish,” says Moser.

In his nearly four decades in business, Moser has carefully selected and trained his nearly 60 employees to be “centers of excellence” among his three tire retail locations in Canada’s Ontario province.

Two of the locations include automotive service as well as a local tire distribution center.

“We hire specialists who can lead the consumer tire division and an expert who can lead in the commercial truck division,” says Moser. “I think that was probably our most effective initiative over that past half a dozen years.”

He adds that they look for individuals with integrity, honesty and willingness to continue learning new tech­- niques in the ever-changing industry.

“We look for values from our employees that support our mission and our vision,” he says.

In a competitive industry, Moser says he’s consistently working to be the No. 1 retail tire and automotive service center in the area.

“If we strive to exceed expectations at every point of contact, then that’s how we believe we challenge our competition,” he says.

The business has changed dramatically since Moser purchased Bast Tire from its original owner in 1977.

“It started in a small town by a man named Ralph Bast and a handful of fellows. They were in the business of tire repair, primarily in a farming area so the work was agricultural tires and maintenance,” Moser explains.

Now, the main retail center borders a busy tri-city urban area and provides a mix of services for passenger cars and light trucks as well as commercial trucks.

“I would say our customer mix is probably 70% urban-centered people and the other 30% are rural and that would suggest that people are willing to travel across multiple cities to come and do business with the people at our location,” Moser says. “We have quite a number of customers who have been coming to us for decades. We’ve had some that have been with us for 36 years.”

Bast Tire and Auto Service Ltd Home
Moser carefully selects and trains his employees to be “centers of excellence” among his three tire locations.

Leveraging Brands

Bast Tire & Auto Service carries a wide range of brands including Michelin, Bridgestone, Firestone, BFGood­rich, Uniroyal, Hankook and Yoko­hama.

On the service side, their multi-bay shops can accommodate work on brakes, transmissions, shocks and struts and regularly scheduled maintenance, as well as all tire work.

While the company has built a strong and loyal customer base, Moser knows the importance of attracting new business and continues to recruit the next generation of customers with radio advertising and the company website. Moser’s son, Jeff, even produces some of the radio commercials.

The company is also part of Tire Source Plus, a network made up of Ontario independent tire dealers.

“We were part of the early group branding, that’s been another strategy and we continue to work in other ways to partner with others in the industry,” he says.

Moser says the business also works with others who share the same business goals and interest that he does.

“We’re willing to partner with others who want quality in the tire industry,” he says. “We can’t be in all places, but if we can support each other, then we can all grow and benefit from it.”

Moser is past president of the Ontario Tire Dealers Association, and is a member of the Canadian Tire Dealers Association.

In the community, Moser is involv­ed in a number of organizations including the Waterloo Region Chamber of Commerce and the Waterloo Region Better Business Association. He also supports Rotary International.

Education is also important to Moser who is affiliated with several different higher education institutions including St. Jerome’s University Alumni and Community, Wilfred Laurie University Alumni, Conestoga College Alumni, and Loyola University New Orleans Alumni.

Moser says he regularly sends employees to training sessions and encourages every employee to participate in at least one professional development program a year.

“We signed up an extensive program with Automotive Training Institute in Baltimore, Md., where we send our management and sales staff to learn how to run and manage a professional automotive service center,” he says.

Even with his exceptional business management practices, Moser says they’ve hit their fair share of business growing pains.

“We’ve been through three recessions and three major computer system replacements which turned our business upside down,” he says. “We had a major fire and there’s times when we’ve lost thousands of dollars. I think it’s part of being in the tire business, I don’t think we’re different from another tire dealer.”

As a Canada-based business, Moser says they’re constantly monitoring the American tire market and frequently have to deal with “gray markets” where tires are sold “under the table” at uncompetitive prices.

“We have seen a lot of tires coming from the U.S. into Canada because the American dealers are buying tires for less than the Canadian dealers when the Canadian dollar approaches parity with the U.S. dollar,” explains Moser. “It has been a big problem over the years, but the manufacturers have worked on it so it’s not quite as bad as it used to be. When the value of the Canadian dollar declines the problem goes away.”

He adds that every bump in the road has helped the business come back stronger.

“We’ve always found that whenever we’re in a bad place, there’s always been a rescue in one way or another,” he says. “When we had the fire, we had people from afar come in and offer us equipment and offers from others for space. It seems that when you’re down, people come out and have your back. I think our strength is having a good relationship with the people we do business with.”

Moser regularly returns favors by reinvesting in the local community and donating to international causes such as hurricane relief in the U.S. and typhoon relief in the Philippines.

“We try to give back to the community at every opportunity we can,” says Moser, who contributes to dozens of youth sports organizations and social service programs both locally and globally.

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