Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Technicians will bring tires to you and install them on the spot

Source

jrmckinley

Brilliant. Goodyear is smart to revamp their retail strategy by focusing on an improved experience. I'd argue this is not just aimed at millennials- this is awesome for every one of us who lead busy lives and don't want to deal with the hassle of getting picked up & dropped off at a tire shop or sitting there for hours. I'd even pay a bit extra for the valet service if I had to. Kudos to them for changing an un-necessarily archaic process.

Toys4RJill

Interesting idea, but I doubt it will work.

jrmckinley

What makes you feel that way? I can't think of a single downside.

Toys4RJill

Because Good Year is in the business of making tires and marketing them. Not changing them for customers. buying direct is usually more costly as there is often reduce competition

Johnhav430

reminds me of the Liberty Mutual commercial where the kids don't know how to change a tire, nor what a wrench is, and the smart mom has overcome this problem by having Liberty Mutual insurance where they don't need to know how to change a tire themselves.

I'm like my colleague, before any kids in my household can drive a car, they need to demonstrate that they can

a) change the oil
b) change a tire
c) drive a manual

And it's not like this is that outdated of a concept, my colleague was born 1989 (man that was a long time ago).

What's next, Goodyear to make a decent tire and then have a star system by which they rate restaurants? (my BMW snows are made by Goodyear in Germany I'm just kidding)

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

make it michelin and I'll be interested

jrmckinley

We may see a shift in their business model. Companies who think "we've always done it this way" are the ones in the headlines filing for bankruptcy and/or closing doors. I'm not sure how this model will scale (especially the valet model which may require GoodYear to have their own access to independent drivers to get your vehicle), but I think the concept of delivering convenience to the customer is the right move. I'm not sure GY needs these tire boutique shops - I would bet on customers just wanting to use an app or the website to pick out their tires and schedule the pickup and return of their vehicle.

JDR76

Maybe they don't have them in Canada, but here we have Goodyear stores, just like Firestone and others. They offer the typical services - new tire installation, tire repair, rotations, alignments, batteries, filter changes, brakes, etc.

Taking it mobile sounds like it could be worthwhile.

Toys4RJill

Those Goodyear stores are franchises. They are available in Canada as well.

I believe these mobile types of services have been around for a long time. So maybe it might work.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

can see it being useful if you got a stranded car in the driveway

geko29

You do know that Goodyear owns and operates over 1,000 Tire and Service center locations today, correct? At these locations they certainly do change tires for customers. This is literally just a mobile extension of this existing business that they've been in for decades.

According to their 2017 10-k, Goodyear holds the leases on all of these stores, and sublets some of them to independent dealers. details below:

Toys4RJill

So? Lots of corps own the land their franchises are on. I don't see what the issue is.

Is this program owned and operated by Goodyear or by their franchises?

scooky

Buying tires from the local place every few years is not a major inconvenience for me. My kids have all done it at least once each now as well. I don't really need this fixed, but I'm not against something like this being available either. Will likely benefit some.

What I'd be excited to see is help with the whole Summer/Winter tire change. In my area (pacific northwest USA) this is a pretty uncommon thing to do. Almost nobody makes this easy. I think this would be a more valuable service. Could build brand loyalty, keep customer engaged 2x/year etc.
Plus maybe tire rotation which is sort of free if you are running summer/winter.
Maybe this could lead to that over time?
I agree with someone else, I'd prefer Michelin...

A local high end detailing company is just now ramping up a business where they will store your summer/winter tires for you. Drive out to your car to swap them, and store the off season tires. They can do tire swaps, install new tires, or tires on wheels. This is super convenient. Not cheap, but given the limited options around here, I think they will do well.

mmarshall

IMO, this also begs the question if mounting equipment of sufficient size and effectiveness can be set up, under portable conditions like that, to do a precise mount and balance, where there will be no runout (out-of-round) or balance problems and their resulting vibrations/shimmies, or that will not damage alloy wheels during the process. Alloy wheels are precise-cast, and are less likely to be out-of-round and require special mounting processes (like were to put the weights or shifting the tire position on the wheel compensate for the runout), but are more likely to be damaged or marred by careless technicians or poor equipment. Stamped-steel wheels, on the other hand, are more durable and forgiving of mistakes, but often are not well-made to precise standards, out of round, and are more difficult to get a perfect mount/balance on. It is one thing to deal with those potential problems in a well-equipped tire shop.....quite another away from the shop, in one's driveway.

One thing that at least helps with Michelins, Continentals, and some of the other well-respected brands is that their tires are less likely to be out of round and encounter those problems in the first place.