Over its 21-year history, American Car Care Centers has recognized a great deal of success with its business model.  

In fact, its 1,000-plus member dealers are some of the best in the business, according to ACCC president Len Lewin. But ACCC’s growth has been limited because of its policy of protecting dealer and distributor territories.

But every once in a while you find a new window of opportunity, or as Lewin put it, “a business mulligan, where you get a clean sheet of paper to create a parallel program.” Well, ACCC’s “business mulligan” has a name, and it’s called Eco-Express Tire Centers.

ACCC now can enhance its growth opportunities by offering tire dealers that are not a part of the existing ACCC program a way to enter its organization with a line-up of benefits that take an environmental approach.

At a press reception at the Roger Williams Botanical Gardens in Providence, R.I., Jeremy Lewin, ACCC director of marketing, introduced the Eco-Express Tire Center concept.

Lewin said the concept will represent eco-friendly business practices that deliver value to members and fair-priced quality work to consumers. This new business model provides application of ‘green’ practices within a dealer’s business operations, and quality workmanship and piece-of-mind to customers with nationwide coverage.

According to the company, the ‘eco’ in Eco-Express stands for both ‘economical’ and ‘ecological’, a two-pronged approach that will appeal to a broad range of tire and service buyers, ACCC said.

“This new eco approach enables us to capture both sides of the street,” said Len Lewin, who adds that an ACCC-badged dealer cannot utilize both programs.

Eco-Express will provide its customers with nationwide warranties, environmental action initiatives and instant credit. Eco-Assistance is the program’s tire warranty, which includes roadside assistance, flat repair, and a nationwide toll-free, 24-hour warranty hotline. Eco-Assurance is the program’s service warranty covering brakes, steering and suspension, alignment and wheel balance. The program’s Eco-Advantage Credit Card offers 0% if paid in full within six months.

Eco-Anywhere is a guarantee that applies to valid Eco-Assurance and Eco-Assistance warranty claims at more than 30,000 affiliated locations in the U.S. And if an Eco-Express tire dealer is not able to refer its customer/warranty holder to a location that is less than 25 miles away from the disabled vehicle, that customer is awarded a check for $250.

Last but certainly not the least is Eco-Express’ environmentally friendly approach by offering ‘green’ features like:

• CCAR (Coordinating Committee for Automotive Repair) and Environmental Protection Agency environmental certification, GreenLink Shop Plus.

• Eco-Focus consumer education, with ‘eco-tips’ consumers can follow themselves and information about what Eco-Express dealers are doing to help the environment.

• “Tires for Trees,” in which the company guarantees one tree will be planted for every set of tires sold by the Eco-Express dealer. This is a partnered approach with the Plant-a-Billion and American Forests organizations and the Arbor Foundation.

• Eco-recycling programs at the dealership also demonstrate that paper, plastic, glass, oil, tires and more can be recycled.

• The use of solar-powered POS displays that tracks a dealer’s oil and tire recycling quantities.

Summit Tire Dealers Warehouse is the ACCC Member distributor that has launched this new initiative in New England with three tire dealers that have already started the process of converting their dealerships into Eco-Express Tire Centers: Tire Pros of Rhode Island Inc., based in Smithfield; Hogan Tires of  Woburn, Mass.; and Wilson Tire of Lebanon, N.H.