Practical how-tos.

Tyre pricing without the spreadsheet

Tyre pricing by hand drifts out of date the moment a supplier list changes. Price by rule instead, and let the rules do the updating.

Vehicle registration lookup

Vehicle registration lookup removes the biggest drop-off in online tyre sales: the moment you ask a customer for a size they do not know.

The EU tyre label on your storefront

The EU tyre label is an obligation and a sales tool. Here is what a shop has to display, where the data comes from, and how to use it to trade up.

Mobile vs workshop fitting

Mobile vs workshop fitting are different products with different costs. Price and schedule them separately or one quietly subsidises the other.

Starting a mobile tyre fitting business

Starting a mobile tyre fitting business is mostly about routing, stock and pricing the travel. The van is the easy part.

Garage scheduling that works

Garage scheduling fails in predictable ways: optimistic durations, no buffer, and jobs that grow. Here is how to build a day that survives contact.

Getting more garage customers

Most workshops chase new garage customers while quietly losing the ones they have. Here is where the work really comes from, cheapest first.

Tyre stock control

Tyre stock control is a trade between cash tied up and jobs lost. Here is how to hold the right lines and stop guessing at the rest.

Garage quotes that convert

Most garage quotes lose on speed and clarity rather than price. Here is what to include, how fast is fast enough, and how to follow up.

Tyre supplier ordering

Tyre supplier ordering eats hours a week in calls and portals. Here is how to cut it down without losing the relationships that get you stock.

Setting a coverage area

A mobile fitting coverage area set by ambition loses money. Set it from routing and job value instead, and say no clearly at the edge.

Numbers worth tracking

Most reporting measures what is easy rather than what decides anything. Here are the workshop numbers that actually change how you run the place.

Setting your labour rate

Most workshops set a labour rate by looking at the garage down the road. Work it out from your own costs and sold hours instead.

Reducing no-shows

No-shows cost a bay hour you can never resell. Most are forgetfulness rather than bad faith, and the fixes are cheaper than a fee.

Hiring and keeping technicians

Hiring technicians is hard everywhere. Most workshops would gain more from keeping the ones they have, and the reasons people leave are predictable.

Switching garage software

Switching garage software is mostly a data and timing problem. Here is what to extract before you commit, and when in the year to move.

Digital vehicle inspections

Digital vehicle inspections turn advisories from a verbal mention into evidence a customer can see, which is why they convert so much better.

Working with fleet customers

Fleet customers bring predictable volume and their own demands: agreed rates, authorisation limits and reporting most workshops are not set up for.

Comebacks and warranty work

Comeback work is the most expensive job in the workshop because nobody pays for it. Most of it traces to a handful of avoidable causes.

Opening a second site

Opening a second workshop exposes everything the first one ran on memory. Here is what breaks, in the order it usually breaks.

Handling complaints

Handling customer complaints badly costs more than the refund. Most escalate over how they were received rather than over what went wrong.

Tyre bay equipment

Tyre bay equipment is where new shops overspend. Here is the order that matters, and where buying cheap costs more than it saves.

Getting ready for EVs

Preparing a garage for electric vehicles is mostly about training and what work disappears, not about buying charging equipment.

Courtesy cars and collection

Courtesy cars and collection win work a price cut cannot. They also cost more than most workshops account for, so price them deliberately.

Taking payments on the job

Taking payments on the job is the difference between finished and outstanding. Here is what works on a driveway and what quietly costs you.

Garage cash flow

Garage cash flow problems are rarely profitability problems. Stock, terms and timing explain most of them, and all three are adjustable.

Reviews and reputation

Garage reviews decide who calls you before anyone speaks to you. Most workshops have far fewer than their work deserves, for one fixable reason.

Charging for diagnostics

Charging for diagnostics feels like a barrier and giving it away is worse. Free diagnosis creates pressure to guess, and guessing produces rework.

Garage insurance

Garage insurance is bought once and rarely reread. Here are the covers that get claimed, and the gaps that surprise workshops at the worst moment.

Setting up the van

A mobile fitting van setup decides how fast every job goes. Weight, layout and power matter more than the equipment list.

Specialist or general?

A specialist garage earns better rates on narrower demand. A general one is safer and competes on price. Here is how to tell which suits your area.

Valuing and selling a garage

Selling a garage is decided years earlier by how well it runs without you. Here is what buyers pay for and what they discount.

Tyre disposal and waste

Tyre disposal is a charge on every job and a legal responsibility that stays with you after collection. Here is what to check and record.

Buying an existing garage

Buying an existing garage buys customers and reputation, and whatever else came with them. Here is what to verify before the price is agreed.

Parts pricing and margin

Parts pricing carries more of a workshop than most owners realise. Here is how to band it, and what to do about customer-supplied parts.

Workshop security

Workshop security fails at predictable points: keys, vans left loaded, and the gap between what the policy requires and what actually happens.

Becoming a mobile mechanic

Becoming a mobile mechanic is mostly about job selection. Some work is better on a driveway than in a bay, and some should never be attempted there.

Workshop layout

Workshop layout decides how much of each job is walking. Most bays are arranged by what fitted rather than by how work moves through them.

Training apprentices

Training apprentices costs before it pays, and most workshops lose them in year one. The reasons are consistent and mostly about supervision.

Customer data and privacy

A workshop holds more customer data than most owners realise. Here is what that means for keeping it, using it for marketing, and deleting it.

Workshop energy costs

Workshop energy costs are dominated by a few things nobody thinks about: compressed air leaks, heating an uninsulated space, and lighting left on.

Warranty and insurance work

Warranty work fills bays and pays late at agreed rates. Here is what to check before taking it on, and how to keep it profitable.

Vans and light commercials

Servicing vans is not car work on a bigger vehicle. The customer values uptime over price, and that changes scheduling, parts and how you quote.

Air conditioning servicing

Air conditioning servicing is seasonal, high margin and easy to sell alongside other work. The barriers are equipment, refrigerant handling and habit.

Adding wheel alignment

Wheel alignment is a big equipment decision. Here is the volume that justifies it, what the machine does not solve, and how to sell it honestly.

Surviving a quiet period

A quiet period tempts every expensive reflex at once. Here is what to do first, and which responses cost more than the quiet fortnight did.

Missed calls

Missed calls cost more than any marketing spend saves, because the caller simply rings the next workshop. Most of them are fixable without hiring.

Using an AI agent

An AI agent is good at repetitive rule-driven work and poor at judgement. Here is what to hand over first, and what should stay with a person.

Opening a tyre shop

Opening a tyre shop fails on site and cash more often than on skill. Here is the order that keeps the first year survivable.

Customer experience

Garage customer experience is decided at four moments, none of which are the repair. Getting them right costs almost nothing.