Fixed Ops Journal - February 2022 - F15

Mike Bush, owner of Bush Specialty Vehicles,
which outfi ts vehicles for mobile services,
says orders for tire installation trucks -
which cost about $100,000 fully outfi tted -
skyrocketed about 500 percent from 2019 to
2021.
" In the last fi ve years, we've gone from maybe
a couple orders a month from independent
installers to a backlog of more than 200 orders
from a broad range of customers, " Bush says.
" It's all changing ... COVID is pushing [athome
services] ahead about 10 years. "
Have truck, will service
Ed Roberts, COO at Bozard Ford-Lincoln, a
single-point store in St. Augustine, Fla., is allin
on mobile services. Th e store runs four mobile
service trucks and has ordered six more,
he says.
Bozard's mobile technicians off er a variety
of services. By the end of 2022, they'll also install
tires - a natural extension of existing services,
Roberts says.
" We already install tires three days a week
for fl eets, " he says. " We take wheels and tires
that already are balanced and swap them out,
like at a pit stop during a NASCAR race.
" I think it's extremely important for dealers
to enter this space, " he adds. " It's all about
convenience for customers. As a society, we're
conditioned to have things brought right to
our fi ngertips, so from my standpoint
our customers will want more mobile
services. "
But Roberts doesn't feel threatened
by mobile installers.
" I have zero fears about what they'll
do to our fi xed ops department, " he
says.
" Anytime someone brings a new
service to market, there's skepticism, "
he says. " But when many people provide
that service, opportunities open
up because people become more open to embracing
it. "
Naidoo: Looking
for partners
"
Insuffi cient ROI
On the other end of the spectrum, fi xed ops
veteran Rob Gehring isn't feeling it. Th e owner
of consulting fi rm Fixed Performance Inc.
says profi t margins on mobile tire installations
aren't high enough to justify the signifi -
cant startup costs.
Furthermore, good technicians already are
diffi cult to fi nd. How will dealerships fi nd
even more?
" I don't believe it's a good business model, "
Gehring says. " I may be totally wrong, but I'm
not buying into mobile services. Th e initial cost
of a vehicle is about $70,000, plus you need a
tire changer, a balancing machine, wheel
weights and other residual components. "
In addition, the profi t margins on tire sales
" I think it's extremely
important for dealers
to enter this space. "
Ed Roberts, COO, Bozard Ford-Lincoln
also are slim, hovering around 12 percent, he
notes.
" So you're taking one of the lowest profit-margin
operations, then adding the expense
of a vehicle, staff and equipment and believing
it will be a profi table business model, " he continues.
" I just can't connect all those dots. "
Moreover, mobile technicians can't add on
recommended service items as they could if a
vehicle was in a shop, he adds.
Roberts agrees with Gehring. But over time,
he believes dealerships will be able to charge
more for tires instead of treating them as
loss-leaders, along with batteries and brakes,
to attract customers to service departments.
" Margins on tires will get better because in
order to make those trucks profi t centers,
that's where it'll need to go, " he asserts. " Remember
that before the iPhone, cellphone
service providers gave you a phone to get you
to buy their service.
" Now we pay $1,000 for an iPhone and still
pay for the service, " he adds. " Th at's
what I think will happen in the tire
business. "
Naidoo says margins on tire installations
are better for GoMobile's franchisees
compared with dealerships
because they don't have the high
overhead costs associated with large
brick-and-mortar facilities. GoMobile
charges $175 to balance and mount
tires as well as take away old tires for
recycling. It takes a technician about
45 minutes to install tires, he says.
Established in 2018, GoMobile now has 17
franchises in 14 states and plans to double
that fi gure in 2022. Its annual gross revenue
has increased an average of 18 to 20 percent,
including a pandemic-driven 45 percent jump
in 2020, Naidoo says.
Is Naidoo concerned about competition
from dealerships?
" Not at all, " he says. " If anything, we're looking
to partner with them on installations. We
already do work for some car dealerships. "
In the end, however, Roberts says dealerships
still have an advantage because they offer
a full slate of services that mobile tire installers
can't provide.
" When our mobile customers need additional
work, we can pick up their vehicle, service it
and deliver it back to the customer, " he says.
" We bring them the best of both worlds. " 
FEBRUARY 2022 PAGE 15
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Fixed Ops Journal - February 2022

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