Retail Watchers

The Big O Tires in my area of the San Francisco Bay Area have recently reduced hours. They used to close around 8:30. Now many close at 5:30, 6, or 7 at the latest.

America's Tire seems to close at 6 now. It used to be 8 PM. Are people just spending less on car repairs or is it the auto repair shops trying to cut back on labor?

I tried to drop off my car at 3 PM, but the employees said many of the repair technicians were leaving at 4 PM.

They were so busy that they were turning customers away. Then the repair guy said he had order the tire for my car for tomorrow. They don't keep enough tires in stock. I assume that they don't want extra business anymore.

Many people work 9 to 6 or 8 to 5 jobs. How are we supposed to get to the auto repair shops in time pick up our cars if they all close at 6? Then some of them have the nerve to say they will charge us extra for not picking up our car in time.

Alpha8472 wrote: ↑April 3rd, 2024, 9:44 pm The Big O Tires in my area of the San Francisco Bay Area have recently reduced hours. They used to close around 8:30. Now many close at 5:30, 6, or 7 at the latest.

America's Tire seems to close at 6 now. It used to be 8 PM. Are people just spending less on car repairs or is it the auto repair shops trying to cut back on labor?

I tried to drop off my car at 3 PM, but the employees said many of the repair technicians were leaving at 4 PM.

They were so busy that they were turning customers away. Then the repair guy said he had order the tire for my car for tomorrow. They don't keep enough tires in stock. I assume that they don't want extra business anymore.

Many people work 9 to 6 or 8 to 5 jobs. How are we supposed to get to the auto repair shops in time pick up our cars if they all close at 6? Then some of them have the nerve to say they will charge us extra for not picking up our car in time.

There are two opposing forces at play here.

First, people are keeping their cars longer than ever before.

Second, and more difficult, is modern cars are exceptionally difficult to repair by anyone besides the dealer.

So what you're seeing happen is the dealerships are more busy than ever, while the independent repair shops are now struggling after a couple of decades of good business. The manufacturers have to make parts and instructions available but the cost of specialized tools and software is more than the independent shops can afford.

The tire business has been very much a parts on demand business and nobody keeps inventory on hand except for the absolute most common sizes. Costco, America's Tire and others all have to order in from a distributor. The margins are declining as everyone can easily price compare today.

Americas Tire/Discount Tire bought Tire Rack so they are now self distributing of sorts, and has an installation price where you order on Tire Rack, get delivered to AT/DT and installation is $100 and AT/DT gives you the free rotation/balancing for life of the tire as if you had bought the tire directly from AT/DT. Or Tire Rack will deliver directly to AT/DT (or various other shops). They say they will assist with warranty claims/pro rates too. Based on my observation of one transaction they seemed to be very good with that and I was impressed by what I observed.

Tire Rack has a warehouse between Reno and Fernley and you can go pick tires up there; they give you $40 off per 4 tires if you do that and you get sales tax based on the warehouse's location (7.6%) instead of Reno if they deliver them (8.265%) and you can pick up some gas out there on the way (currently 4.19 out there, vs. about 4.75 at most of the Maverik/Chevron/Shell stations around Reno) to make it more worth your while.

I think the shorter hours are for a number of reasons. For instance I see a couple small shops that are now only open a half day on Friday. This strikes me as extremely inconvenient but supposedly it is helping with employee retention. There are also more cars sitting there over the weekend than ever.