Get on the road to success with an etyres franchise

Husband and wife team Dave and Andi Andrew are driving their etyres franchise forward at an impressive speed.

Within eight months of becoming franchise owners of etyres' Tamworth territory, Andi and Dave Andrew had their second van on the road.

Now after just 18 months with the leading online tyre company, the couple have their ultimate target in their sights, as Dave explains: "Our goal is to have three or four employees, including an administrator. This is still well within our sights and if we continue to grow our sales we will take on another fitter and van by the end of the year."



By operating a free mobile service fitting premium, mid-range and budget tyres to cars, vans and 4x4s, etyres does away with the need for maintaining expensive tyre depots and passes the savings on to customers with prices up to 40 per cent cheaper than the leading high street chains.

This attracts huge interest to its user-friendly website and, in turn, generates sales for franchise owners who operate the delivery and fitting side of the business through the company's highly visible branded vans.

Dave, whose background is in IT, added: "The website was a key factor in our decision to join etyres. Fundamentally we bought into an e-commerce business with the back-up of a national call centre. "etyres encourages us to have our own website landing pages for our areas – we have eight of them – and this really drives business direct to the branch."

etyres is experiencing strong growth across the country with year-on-year sales up by 25 per cent as customers go online to track down the best deals for tyres.

The franchise operates either as a sole trader or a management opportunity and both quickly develop into a multi-van business in an exclusive territory.

All franchise owners undergo a comprehensive training programme, which covers the operation of the business, followed by a week spent on the job with one of the company's most successful branches. etyres operates well as a sole trader franchise, but also has a growing number of husband and wife and father and son partnerships.

Dave said: "We work well as a team. Andi handles all the admin and ordering and I deal with the marketing and help with the fitting.

"We are really enjoying growing the business together."

Initial Investment Requirement

The average requirement for initial investment is £35,000, which includes a deposit on the van and all fitting and balancing equipment, etc., plus training, manuals and various services such as discount group insurance.

How it works

Customers view a price list of tyres or batteries on the etyres website, with prices up to 40 per cent below those of leading tyre depots. Orders and payment can be made online or through etyres' call centre.

The order is then entered into the server at head office, which allocates and transmits the details to the franchise owner.

The franchise owner orders the tyres from the supplier and contacts the customer to arrange the fitting.

The franchise owner delivers and fits the tyres at the customer's choice of location.

The customer receives a receipted invoice by email and a desktop link for easy access to etyres' after sales programme of free puncture repairs and simplified re-ordering.

Reported by Fraser McKay