Tyre stock control without a wall of unused tyres.

Know what truly sells, not what you recall

Ask most garages for their best-selling sizes, and you'll get a list from the past few weeks, not the year.

The key view is a ranked list of fitments by volume over twelve months, showing seasonal trends. It typically reveals a few sizes doing most of the work, with a long tail selling infrequently.

This shape underpins tyre stock control. Keep the head, order the tail, and treat them as separate decisions.

Hold the head, order the tail

A few common fitments will cover a surprising share of your bookings, and these are worth keeping in stock as they turn over quickly, generating cash instead of clutter.

The tail should be ordered for confirmed jobs. Customers will accept a short wait if it's communicated honestly at booking, not discovered later.

What disrupts this is buying tail stock speculatively due to a tempting supplier deal. A discounted tyre sitting for eighteen months isn't a saving; it's a loan to your supplier at your cost.

Seasonality is predictable, so prepare for it

Tyre demand fluctuates. Weather affects what sells, when, and by how much, with swings significant enough to plan for.

• Cold snaps create a demand spike that arrives quicker than most suppliers can restock.
• Wet autumn weather prompts replacements that might have been delayed.
• Holidays increase demand from long-distance drivers checking before a journey.
• Inspection seasons create predictable peaks in advisory work.
• Winter extends the tail, as winter and all-season tyres increase the sizes required.

None of this is surprising in hindsight. A shop that builds a seasonal buffer sells at full price while others wait for stock.

Count it, and do so frequently enough to trust it.

Untrusted stock records are worse than none, as staff work around them and the gap widens.

Rolling counts of fast-moving items outperform annual counts: they are manageable and frequent enough to maintain credibility.

More important than the method is closing the loop. When a count reveals a discrepancy, ask how it occurred, not just correct the number, as the same cause will recur next month.

Link stock to the booking, not just the invoice.

The costliest stock failure isn't a miscount, but a booking for a tyre you lack and can't source in time.

This occurs when the booking system and stock records are separate, requiring manual reconciliation. The job is accepted, the customer arrives, and the issue is discovered in the bay.

When availability shows at booking, enquiries turn into genuine date discussions. Less convenient, but far better than a wasted slot and an apology.

Address stagnant stock

Every garage gathers unsold lines, and the urge is to keep them, as writing them off feels like admitting a blunder.

Old stock quietly drains funds: it takes up space, deteriorates, and ties up cash that could go to selling lines. Tyres have a manufacture date, so slow-moving stock becomes harder to shift the longer it lingers.

Examine items that haven’t moved in a set time, and clear them intentionally instead of hoping. The cost is sunk; the choice is whether to recover some or keep paying to store it.