Why tire centers are losing out on customers

For decades, tire centers have fought an uphill battle against dealerships in the automotive service industry. But a shift is underway.

According to a 2024 Cox Automotive survey, consumer preferences are changing in a way the industry hasn't seen before. For the first time, more drivers reported preferring service chains over dealerships. While the decline in dealership preference — from 35% in 2021 to 30% today — may seem modest, it represents a turning point.

This shifting landscape hasn't gone unnoticed by dealerships, which are increasingly focusing on tire sales due to the growing opportunity to meet the needs of Ev tires. "Dealerships are often partially owned by the car OEMs; increasingly, they are developing strategies to make themselves more competitive compared with independent tire retailers," warns Frédéric Baroin, Global Head of Automotive Business at Anyline, in a recent Just Auto interview.

The message is clear: tire centers must adapt or risk losing ground precisely when the market opportunity is expanding. Failure to address this competitive pressure will result in lost revenue, inflated marketing costs, and customer attrition.

In this blog, we'll explore how connected car data offers tire centers a powerful path forward.

The cost of broad marketing campaigns

A study by Forrester Research found that on average, companies waste 37% of their ad spend on imprecise targeting. For tire centers, this means that advertising money intended to convince high-intent customers is instead used on drivers with no urgency to come in for service.

A broad marketing campaign tends to rely on overly broad parameters — like geographic targeting without considering actual vehicle ownership trends, seasonal promotions that ignore individual maintenance cycles, or generic discount offerings that fail to address specific vehicle requirements.

Here’s an example of what a generic ad looks like compared to one that directly addresses driver pain points. Now, imagine you catch a display advertisement or an app notification in the middle of a busy day (Disclaimer: Tire services are the last thing on your mind). What would compel you to take action?

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The impact of broad, impersonal marketing campaigns on tire centers is measurable.

Inflated customer acquisition cost (CAC): When marketing messages lack relevance, conversion rates suffer. Tire centers are forced to increase spending to achieve the same results, creating a costly cycle of diminishing returns.
Lower customer retention and service expansion: Personalized service recommendations signal trust. If customers are getting tailored notifications and outreach from dealerships, their confidence increases. Repeatedly seeing irrelevant service recommendations from your business will leave little impact in comparison, creating an illusion of misalignment and unpreparedness on your end.
Missed service revenue: Generic advertising fails to address individual vehicle requirements, resulting in critical timing misalignments for predictable maintenance — like tire rotations at 5,000-7,500 mile intervals, which would be a reliable revenue opportunity for tire centers.

Dealerships already have a data advantage

Dealerships, often partially owned by OEMs, get access to that automaker’s vehicle telematics to power their service business. Beyond having visibility into vehicle diagnostics and performance, they can also use these key metrics to drive more sophisticated customer marketing and retention strategies.

Let’s take a closer look at the advantages that tire retailers have to compete with:

OEM data integration:With direct access to OEM telematics data, dealerships can easily track maintenance histories, monitor vehicle performance metrics, and anticipate service needs without relying on aftermarket hardware.
Established customer relationships: The initial vehicle purchase helps dealerships create familiarity and repeat visits through regular warranty services. This continuous engagement becomes a convenient source of expertise and dependability for vehicle owners, even as overall trust in dealerships shows signs of decline according to recent surveys.
Warranty and service requirements: Manufacturer warranty terms often influence service decisions. Customers are incentivized to visit dealerships for maintenance to maintain coverage, enabling dealerships to sustain customer engagement throughout the vehicle ownership lifecycle.

However, with the industry shifting toward making connected car data accessible through secure, open standards, tire centers also have an opportunity to utilize telematics. This data, when combined with strong branding and thoughtful service, creates a powerful foundation for winning customers and establishing lasting trust.

How to use vehicle telematics for personalized service reminders

The consumer price index (CPI) shows that costs for auto repair and maintenance have increased by nearly 25% from early 2022 to mid-2024. Tire prices, in particular, have taken a big hit, with some drivers seeing the cost of a set of tires go up by over 40% in 2024. In the wake of all this change (and the change that is yet to come when new US tariffs go into effect), proactive communication with vehicle owners about repair is growing in importance.

Surprise repairs are usually the most expensive because it happens when something has already gone terribly wrong. A study by AAA found that one in three drivers in the United States cannot pay for an unexpected car bill.

Unlike calendar-based reminders, telematics data can help service centers and retailers track actual vehicle usage patterns to determine optimal service timing. For tire services, where wear is directly correlated with mileage, this precision is particularly valuable.

Smartcar provides tire retailers with direct access to a vehicle’s odometer data, allowing them to trigger communication precisely when services offer maximum value. So, instead of marketing dollars spent on generic targeting, you can implement mileage-based segmentation and triggers to send relevant offers for rotations, alignments, and replacements.

What are the benefits your business will get from personalized service reminders?

Enhanced customer engagement: Industry averages show that segmented communication campaigns have 30% more opens and 50% more click-throughs. When vehicle owners recognize that the recommendations you send them align with their vehicle needs at a specific point in time, they have a greater incentive to engage with your content. After all, you’ll be positioning yourself as an auto expert who can help them avoid the higher costs associated with surpassing recommended mileage intervals.
Improved customer satisfaction: 47% of drivers who wanted data-powered auto service said their biggest pain point was a lack of tailored alerts for future maintenance. Customers appreciate proactive service that prevents problems rather than reacts to them. It doesn’t just imply reliability, but also indicates business maturity and thoughtfulness that build trust.
Increased conversion rates: When drivers know that their vehicle is approaching a specific maintenance milestone, it creates timely awareness and urgency. Unlike generic marketing that's easily dismissed, these precise reminders create an immediate value proposition that leads to service bookings. Conversion becomes more likely because customers see your communication as a helpful service rather than an unwanted sales pitch.

Smartcar gives your business the connected car data advantage

Connected car data is more than just a marketing tool. It’s the foundation for tire businesses looking to build sustainable customer acquisition and retention strategies. Compared to traditional methods for mileage verification, Smartcar gives tire retailers the benefit of:

Easy consent-based data collection: Our standardized consent management protocol helps you collect mileage data with driver permissions across 40+ brands globally. You can collect consent via email, text message, websites, or mobile applications without taking on the IT investment yourself.
Fresh data at regular intervals: Avoid relying on outdated mileage data sources to power your marketing campaigns. Smartcar improves the time and cost efficiency of your data acquisition, enabling you to retrieve mileage data on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Future-proofed business model: Traditional approaches (like time-based campaigns, mass marketing, manual tracking) waste resources and miss service opportunities; Smartcar helps tire retailers effectively use readily available connected car to eliminate guesswork and deliver timely service reminders without having to build and maintain fragmented OEM partnerships.

Reclaim lost business with connected car data

The financial burden of untargeted marketing, combined with dealerships' inherent advantages in data access and established customer relationships, creates big obstacles as retailers navigate he upcoming year. But the declining trust in auto service providers and dealerships opens a critical window of opportunity for businesses to embrace change and look ahead.

Connected car data helps you capitalize on this shift in consumer sentiment. Here’s some quick tips on how to prepare to implement a data-driven marketing approach:

Understand your current data infrastructure: Collaborate with your IT team, business development, and other stakeholders to assess existing data sources, integration opportunities, and compatibility with connected car platforms.
Identifying your priority segments: Determine which services would benefit most immediately from mileage-based targeting.
Developing key questions for platform providers: When evaluating solutions like Smartcar, consider:
- How many vehicles can the platform support today and how will that number grow over time?
- How is customer consent managed and documented?
- What implementation timeline and resource requirements should be anticipated?
- How will data security and privacy compliance be ensured?

Schedule a meeting with our team of experts to run through our platform and what it can look for your business!