The Tire Review Crew recently visited the annual K&M dealer conference, this year in Kansas City, and while we were there it was our goal to get a pulse on the industry by tracking down tire dealers and asking them our most burning questions.
This week, that question is: What do you anticipate the biggest trends to be for 2022?
Tire dealers don’t want to be left out in the ever-evolving world of this industry. Here’s more on what trends tire dealers anticipate for this year.
As part of our ongoing “What’s the Deal?” series, Tire Review will be asking tire dealers their thoughts on a variety of topics. Do you have a topic you’d like addressed? Let us know! Contact us by emailing [email protected].
Here’s a transcript of the episode:
Triple “L” Tire
David Sickels: Luis, thanks a lot. for talking to me. Where are you from?
Luis Guzman: Mexia, Texas.
David Sickels: And now, what’s your shop name?
Luis Guzman: Triple “L” Tire.
David Sickels: So we’re talking trends in 2022. What do you see as the biggest trend, and what are you doing about it?
Luis Guzman: The biggest trend? The worst one I see is shortages. Shortages are going to hurt the industry. And if you’re not ready and you don’t have inventory, you’re going to end up paying the wrong price. You’ll end up paying the wrong… Not even have tires.
David Sickels: Geez. What do you think is the short-term solution for a shop like yours?
Luis Guzman: You better stock up. If you don’t, the next shop’s just going to get the business. Or a customer might not find the tires at all. That’s how bad it’s going to be.
David Sickels: You’re were telling me a story. It’s been difficult to get just one single tire?
Luis Guzman: Yeah, it’s going to take until Wednesday just to get one tire.
David Sickels: My gosh, that’s crazy.
OK Tire
Kevin Meschke: 2022, I would like to say it’d be better. I don’t foresee that happening at this point in time. I thought for sure after the pandemic took place, people working from home and the fact they were getting government assistance would change things. That has not. The foreseeable future, things are going to be tight in regards to the employees. You get good employees. You got the guys down the road that want to try to come by for an extra buck an hour and take them out of your hands after you’ve trained them and you’ve worked with them for so long. Things like that, I’d like to see change, but at this point in time, we’re at the mercy of the employees.
Bob’s Tire & Auto
Nate Bohm: I see things probably either staying the same or going down in a way because in Michigan, when they got off of the unemployment benefits, things ramped up. But then people realized, “Hey, this job is hard. I’m going to break my finger. I’m going to cut my hand for X amount of dollars an hour.” Where now, I might have to pay a tire installer, which usually was our entry-level position, as much as a mechanic.
