System and method for identifying retail tire sales opportunities

• US 8,719,072 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2004
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dealer Tire, LLC (Dealer Tire Holdings LLC)
• Original Assignee: Dealer Tire, LLC (Dealer Tire Holdings LLC)
• Inventors: Mueller, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Fisher, Paul R
• Application Number:
  US10/790,469
• Publication Number:
  US 20050192858A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,718 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/7.31, 705/7.29
• US Class Current: 705/7.31
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities

Abstract

The present invention describes a system and method for evaluating an automotive service center'"'"'s opportunities for retail tire sales and service, including projecting potential sales and generating other business information for creating a tire service center at an existing repair service center. The present invention may be utilized for service centers which are independent or part of a dealership. The dealership may include both new car sales, used car sales, and a service center.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of evaluating potential sales and business opportunities relating to establishing tire sales at an automotive service center that does not currently sell tires by calculating metrics that include a projected tire sales for the automotive center, comprising:

collecting operational data from the service center and storing the operational data in a computer-readable memory, wherein the operational data comprises an average number of service or repair order requests per time period, a number of days the service center is open per time period, identification of one or more carlines serviced, and a tread depth of one or more tires on vehicles serviced by the automotive center during the order requests;

calculating a maximum expected number of tires to be sold for each carline per time period using one or more data processors and storing the maximum expected number in a computer-readable memory, wherein the maximum expected number is equal to the average number of repair order requests per day multiplied by the number of days the service center is open per time period multiplied by four multiplied by a tire tread index, wherein the tire tread index varies according to carline and represents a percentage of cars serviced by the service center which have a tire tread depth less than a tread depth threshold;

determining a tire sales goal for each carline, the tire sales goal being a fraction of the maximum expected number using the one or more data processors and storing the tire sales goal in a computer-readable memory; and

calculating the projected tire sales for the automotive service center using the one or more data processors by adding an average retail tire price for a tire associated with a carline to a charge for services involved in mounting and balancing a tire to generate a sum, multiplying the sum by the tire sales goal for the carline, and scaling to the time period to generate a tire sales for a carline, and summing the tires sales for each carline to determine a total projected tire sales for the automotive service center and storing the projected tire sales for the automotive service center in a computer-readable memory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the time period is one year.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the operational data further includes an employee pay rate per hour;

wherein the method further includes calculating a net profit based on the projected tire sales for the automotive service center and the employee pay rate per hour.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the tire tread index is no greater than 30%.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the tire tread index is 10% to 15%.

6. The method of claim 1, further including calculating total savings, net profit, warranty costs, capital investment, return on investment, and total equipment costs using the projected tire sales for the automotive service center.

7. The method of claim 1, where the existing service center is affiliated with a car dealership that sells new, used, and certified pre-owned cars.

8. The method of claim 1, further including calculating a capital investment cost, wherein the capital investment cost is determined by adding a cost of purchasing tire installation equipment and an inventory investment cost, wherein the inventory investment cost is calculated by dividing the projected tire sales by an inventory turn goal and multiplying by an average wholesale tire price associated with a carline.

9. The method of claim 1, further including calculating an inventory space requirement.

10. The method of claim 1, further including calculating a cost of satisfying warranty claims wherein the cost is determined by multiplying a number of new annual car sales for a dealership by a warranty factor.

11. The method of claim 1, further including calculating a loyalty factor, wherein the loyalty factor is determined by dividing an annual tires sold by a loyalty variable.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the tire tread index for a carline is calculated by measuring a tread depth for a plurality of cars in the carline, determining a number of the plurality of cars having a tire tread depth less than a tread depth threshold, and determining the tire tread index based on the number of cars having a tire tread depth less than the tread depth and the number of cars in the plurality of cars in the carline.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining whether to establish tire sales at the automotive center.

14. A computer-implemented method of evaluating potential sales and business opportunities relating to establishing tire sales at an automotive service center affiliated with a car dealership that does not currently sell tires, wherein the dealership sells new, used, and certified pre-owed cars by calculating metrics that include a business opportunity metric, comprising:

collecting operational data from the service center and storing the operational data in a computer-readable memory, wherein the operational data comprises an average number of service or repair order requests per time period, a number of days the service center is open per time period, identification of one or more carlines serviced, and a tread depth of one or more tires on vehicles serviced by the automotive center during the order requests;

calculating a maximum expected number of tires to be sold for each carline per time period using one or more data processors and storing the maximum expected number in a computer-readable memory, wherein the maximum expected number is equal to the average number of repair order requests per day multiplied by the number of days the service center is open per time period multiplied by four multiplied by a tire tread index, wherein the tire tread index varies according to carline and represents a percentage of cars serviced by the service center which have a tire tread depth less than a tread depth threshold;

determining a tire sales goal for each carline, the tire sales goal being a fraction of the maximum expected number using the one or more data processors and storing the tire sales goal in a computer-readable memory; and

calculating a projected tire sales using the one or more data processors and storing the projected tire sales in a computer-readable memory by adding an average retail tire price for a tire associated with a carline to a charge for services involved in mounting and balancing a tire to generate a sum, multiplying the sum by the tire sales goal for the carline, and scaling to the time period to generate a tire sales for a carline, and summing the tires sales for each carline to determine a total projected tire sales;

calculating a certified pre-owned savings associated with tire sales using the one or more data processors and storing the projected tire sales in a computer-readable memory, wherein the certified pre-owned savings is calculated by comparing a cost associated with outsourcing replacement of certified pre-owned car tires with a cost associated with internally supplying new tires to the certified pre-owned cars; and

calculating the business opportunity metric using the one or more data processors and storing the business opportunity metric in a computer-readable memory by adding together the total projected tire sales and the certified pre-owned savings.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the operational data further includes an employee pay rate per hour;

wherein the method includes calculating a net profit based on the projected tire sales for the automotive service center and the employee pay rate per hour.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the tire tread index is 10% to 15%.

17. The method of claim 14, further including calculating total savings, net profit, warranty costs, capital investment, return on investment, and total equipment costs using the projected tire sales.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the cost associated with internally supplying new tires is calculated by multiplying a number of annual certified pre-owned cars sold by a pre-owned car service goal and adding labor costs for replacing tires, and

wherein the cost associated with outsourcing the replacement is calculated using an average retail tire price.

19. The method of claim 14, further including calculating a capital investment cost, wherein the capital investment cost is determined by adding a cost of purchasing tire installation equipment and an inventory investment cost, wherein the inventory investment cost is calculated by dividing the projected tire sales by an inventory turn goal and multiplying by an average wholesale tire price associated with a carline.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of determining whether to establish tire sales at the automotive center.

21. A computer-implemented method of evaluating potential sales and business opportunities relating to whether to establish, continue, or expand selling tires at an automotive service center by calculating metrics that include a projected tire sales for the automotive center, comprising:

collecting operational data from the service center and storing the operational data in a computer-readable memory, wherein the operational data comprises an average number of service or repair order requests per time period, a number of days the service center is open per time period, identification of one or more carlines serviced, and a tread depth of one or more tires on vehicles serviced by the automotive center during the order requests, said operational data not specific to prior tire sales;

calculating a maximum expected number of tires to be sold for each carline per time period using one or more data processors and storing the maximum expected number in a computer-readable memory, wherein the maximum expected number is equal to the average number of repair order requests per day multiplied by the number of days the service center is open per time period multiplied by four multiplied by a tire tread index, wherein the tire tread index varies according to carline and represents a percentage of cars serviced by the service center which have a tire tread depth less than a tread depth threshold;

determining a tire sales goal for each carline, the tire sales goal being a fraction of the maximum expected number using the one or more data processors and storing the tire sales goal in a computer-readable memory; and

calculating the projected tire sales for the automotive service center using the one or more data processors by adding an average retail tire price for a tire associated with a carline to a charge for services involved in mounting and balancing a tire to generate a sum, multiplying the sum by the tire sales goal for the carline, and scaling to the time period to generate a tire sales for a carline, and summing the tires sales for each carline to determine a total projected tire sales for the automotive service center and storing the projected tire sales for the automotive service center in a computer-readable memory.