Guides
Tire shop services packages: changeover and fleet rules
Design rules for changeover and fleet tire shop services packages: what always happens together goes in, variable items get their own line.
What to take away
- Seasonal and fleet packages are scheduling tools first. A fleet package is a scheduling agreement more than a discount.
- Sell the changeover and the storage together, because that converts one booking into two guaranteed visits and takes the scheduling risk out of your peak.
- Set the package to a bay time you have measured, and decide before the rush what it does not include.
- A fleet package needs a rotation interval, a named contact, an inspection record and one rule for work outside the plan.
- Anything you advertise has to deliver what a reasonable customer would expect it to include.
- A package price never buys a service the vehicle should not have.
Why scheduled packages need their own rules
Scheduled packages have to hold up on the busiest days. Two kinds matter most: the changeover package that carries the seasonal weeks, and the fleet package that fills the quiet ones. Five design rules apply to both.
In any market where seasonal tires are normal, two or three weeks a year carry a share of volume out of all proportion to the calendar. Packages make those weeks manageable rather than chaotic, because the customer chooses between coherent options instead of guessing at a counter.
- One visit, one bay session.Everything in the package happens while the vehicle is on the lift. A bundle that requires the customer to come back is two sales dressed as one.
- One skill level.If half a package needs your alignment technician and the other half does not, you have created a scheduling dependency that will break on the day that person is out.
- Nothing in the bundle that a customer could not have refused separately.Otherwise the package is a way of selling something unwanted.
- The variable items are named, not buried.Sensors, valve hardware, wheel condition, seized fasteners. Say what happens and what it costs before the work starts.
- The refusal is stated.If the package includes a repair assessment, say plainly that some damage cannot be repaired, and that the tire manufacturer's own instructions and published industry repair guidance decide that, not the price already paid.
A catalogue of package shapes exists for choosing what to offer. The rules above apply to whichever you pick.
The changeover package
Changeover weeks reward a package that is fixed before they start. Set it to a bay time you have measured, hold the schedule to it, and keep what it includes short enough to say in one breath.
Changeover week package rules
- Sell changeover and storage together
- Book slots in advance and confirm
- Set a fixed measured bay time
- Decide exclusions before the rush
- Sell the changeover and the storage together, because that converts one booking into two guaranteed visits and takes the scheduling risk out of your peak.
- Book those slots in advance and confirm them. The same customer calls several shops and takes the first firm time offered.
- Set the package to a fixed bay time you have measured, and hold the schedule to it. In a peak week, one job that runs long puts every job behind it into next week.
- Decide before the rush what the package does not include, because that is the week when nobody has time to negotiate.
The general rule for what goes in: a package holds the things that always happen together and always take about the same time. Anything that varies by vehicle, by condition or by luck belongs on its own line where it can be discussed.
Keep as a separate line
- Mounting, balancing, torque
- Wheel refinishing or repair
- Valve service on a standard fitment
- Sensor replacement
- Disposal of the removed tires
- Storage of a seasonal set
- A visual inspection of what came off
- Alignment
- The road-force or balance check you always do
- Any suspension work
Why
- Mounting, balancing, torque
- One is the job, the other is a different trade
- Valve service on a standard fitment
- Sensors fail unpredictably and cost varies by vehicle
- Disposal of the removed tires
- Storage is recurring and needs its own agreement
- A visual inspection of what came off
- Long bay time and a real machine cost
- The road-force or balance check you always do
- Different skill floor and different liability
Bundle or separate line
In the package
- Mounting and balancing
- Yes
- Wheel refinishing
- No
- Valve service
- Yes
- Sensor replacement
- No
- Tire disposal
- Yes
- Seasonal storage
- No
Separate line
- Mounting and balancing
- No
- Wheel refinishing
- Yes
- Valve service
- No
- Sensor replacement
- Yes
- Tire disposal
- No
- Seasonal storage
- Yes
Storage is the instructive row. It is recurring and needs its own agreement, so it stays its own line. It is still sold beside the changeover, which is how one booking becomes two guaranteed visits.
Writing the package so the counter can say it
Write each package as three short blocks a service advisor can say out loud. In a changeover week nobody has time to improvise, so the wording has to survive being repeated all day.
Write the counter script
- What you get, in customer language
- What might come up, and how handled
- What it does not cover, named briefly
- Have a non-bay reader test it
Then test it. Have someone who does not work in the bay read the package back to you and say what they think they are buying. If their description differs from yours, the customer's will too.
Whatever version of this you put on a sign, a window or a website is advertising, and it has to be supportable. The FTC's advertising FAQ for small businesses says advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive, so a price that implies a finished job has to deliver a finished job.
The fleet package
A fleet package is a different animal: it is a scheduling agreement more than a discount. What the fleet buys is predictability, and what you buy is bays filled on the days retail is quiet.
Fleet package essentials
- Set a rotation interval
- Name a contact
- Keep an inspection record
- Add one rule for out-of-plan work
- Keep paperwork simple
Set a rotation interval, name a contact, keep an inspection record, and add one rule for a vehicle that needs work outside the plan. Keep the paperwork simple enough for a technician to complete correctly on a busy day. An inconsistent fleet record is worthless to both sides.
Job and inspection records are ordinary business records. The IRS says that, except in a few cases, the law does not require any special kind of records, but the type of records you need to keep depends on the business you are in.
The safety line a package must not blur
A package price never buys a service the vehicle should not have. If the sizes a customer wants conflict with what the manufacturer specifies, if a casing should not be repaired, or if a tire is under recall, the package changes nothing.
Current guidance on sizing, load and speed markings, aging, registration and recall handling comes from the vehicle and tire manufacturers and NHTSA's tire safety pages. Point at it rather than deciding at the counter.
Where these packages sit in the shop
How these packages fit the wider menu, and what belongs on it at all, is covered in the services and packages guide. Which of them are worth the bay time comes out of contribution arithmetic: ranking services by what they earn per bay hour.
The equipment each package assumes is listed in the bay setup guide. The consistency it needs from the crew is built through training and hiring.
Common questions
Should packages be discounted against the same services bought separately?
They do not have to be. Many customers buy a package for the certainty rather than the saving. If you do discount, the discount should be justified by real bay time saved from doing the work together, not by hoping for volume.
What if a customer wants a package minus one item?
Let them, and price it as the separate items. A package that cannot be unbundled is a package that will feel like a trap, and the sale you protect by refusing is smaller than the reputation you spend.
How do we handle a sensor that dies during the service?
Stop, show it, quote it, let them decide. That sequence should be written into the package description before it ever happens, so the conversation at the counter is a reminder rather than a surprise.
What if one changeover job runs long in a peak week?
It pushes every job behind it into next week, which is why the package is set to a measured bay time and the exclusions are decided before the rush. Name the extra work, quote it, and let the customer decide.
Do packages help with the customer who found a cheaper price online?
Somewhat, because a package makes the comparison concrete. The online price is a tire. Your package is a tire, fitted, balanced, torqued, disposed of, and backed by someone who will look at it again if it feels wrong. Say that plainly instead of arguing about the number.
