Road Testing Customer Vehicles: Question of Quality
Road testing your customer’s vehicle after completing service and repair work is a good idea, for many reasons. Obviously it’s very important to verify the quality of your work to ensure customer satisfaction. However, validating the safety of the vehicle after work is complete can also help reduce your liability risks. Safety Concerns The safety
The Most Important Environmentally Friendly Products In The World
Every time a tire is retreaded many gallons of oil are saved and one more tire is kept out of scrap tire piles. Hundreds of millions of passenger cars, trucks and all types of commercial vehicles worldwide have safely been using retreaded tires for many years. Even commercial and military airlines worldwide are users of
Training Is An Attitude
During the 1920s, the term “model year” gained currency in an automotive industry that was determined to increase its sales by annually introducing new automobiles to a motoring public hungry for the prestige of owning the latest motor vehicle technology. Because the operative word in “model year” is “change,” an outside observer would assume that
Wrong Pulleys Can Cause Belt Drive System Failure
Tire dealers and other auto repair businesses that install remanufactured alternators should make sure to verify that their units are equipped with overrunning alternator decoupler (OAD) pulleys, experts warn. OADs are becoming very common as a growing number of late-model vehicles now require this technology. Installing a non-decoupler pulley on an OAD application can lead
Commercial Dealers Can Improve Response, Revenue
Before the fleetHQ Solution Center began handling Donald B. Rice Tire Co.’s after-hour calls, the tire dealer’s customers may have had better luck reaching a medical or law office than getting the right tire for their trucks. “Our after-hour calls were being answered by a local answering service that also works for doctors and lawyers,”
R-Compound Tires Bring Dealers Recognition, Loyalty
– R-compound (racing) tires, to be exact – could be the key to attracting new customers, bringing in added sales opportunities and boosting a dealership’s brand recognition. R-compound tires – AKA street-legal, DOT-compliant tires – are used primarily by weekend racers for autocross, racetrack or rally performance. Because they were never intended to be driven
Today’s Service Trucks Offer New, Improved Features
Versatility is the name of the game in many aspects of today’s tire business, including service trucks. Currently, tire service truck suppliers provide many options. Durability is among the most important features built into every truck – this not only helps offset fuel costs, but prevents the need to purchase a new service truck before
Manage Inventory Systems to Your Advantage
As we approach 2010 we can no longer look at inventory management as we once did. Now, we must look at not only the best point-of-sale software at the front service counter, but also back office operations and tire storage racks. Making the most use out of tying all three together will make a shop
Top Shop Honorees Share More Keys to Success
I have written this column for several years now, many times discussing various aspects of performance, whether it is tires, wheels or suspensions. And I’ve tried to focus on tangible items we can touch and measure, one against another, to derive the best product for a given application. As we head to Las Vegas and
Dodging Disaster: Follow These Simple Steps to Avoid Costly Wheel-Offs
cy, broken or stripped wheel studs, warped disc brake rotors or loose wheels. Here’s a warning from a major insurance underwriter: Loose and missing lug nuts have resulted in terrible car wrecks, severe injuries, fatalities, bad publicity and expensive litigation. Although you may think technicians would never forget to reinstall and properly tighten the lug
The Tools and Manuals Needed to Service Today’s TPMS
/>In general, a good TPMS tool should have the following features, according to Bartec: the ability to audit the vehicle before the wheel is broken down; the ability to know all of the different low frequency wakeup patterns to transmit and activate the sensors on each type of make/model/year combination; and the ability to establish
2009 Top Shop Finalist: Jack Williams Tire & Auto Center
Jack Williams Tire Co. is no stranger to disaster. Founded just before the stock market crashed in 1929 and ravaged by a hurricane in the early 1970s, Jack Williams not only survived, it built a successful tire and service business that is integral to eastern Pennsylvania. And that perseverance, coupled with exemplary customer service, innovative
