For dealers who are looking for an add-on service that’s easy to tack onto any consumer tire sale, wheel alignments can be just the ticket. With the right equipment, alignments don’t even require a hard sell — that is, if you operate proactively.
According to Pete Liebetreu, vice president of product management and marketing at Hunter Engineering Co., it’s common for alignment issues to go unchecked.
“The stark reality is that half the cars on the road today are out of alignment when measuring and comparing to manufacturer specifications,” he says.
‘A virtuous service’
Alignments don’t have to feel like a hard sell. “Alignments are a virtuous service that’s in the customer’s best interest — especially, when taking into account modern tire prices,” he says.
“The cost of tires is a prime driver for an alignment that will save your customer money in the long run. Getting an alignment is one of the best protections you can put into your tire investment.”
That approach is an effective way to sell the service to customers, says Liebetreu.
Investing in the right equipment to help gauge when an alignment is needed also can help dealers differentiate from their competitors, says Liebetreu.
“Traditional shops don’t tend to invest in fast, highly capable alignment equipment to check every vehicle.
"They sell alignments when tires wear unevenly or the customer purchases a new set of tires,” he says, adding that opportunities beyond those situations abound.
“When you invest in highly productive, durable alignment equipment, you ensure that your shop is ready to measure every vehicle, every day — even with technological advancements and vehicles being increasingly more" connected.
“A connected vehicle still cannot measure its alignment, which means the (tire dealership) has the opportunity to provide value and attract customers” with the right set-up in place.
Digital inspections
“Digital inspection makes presenting alignment checks even easier,” says Liebetreu, who notes that Hunter’s HawkEye Elite alignment equipment can assess vehicle alignment issues in just “70 seconds or less.”
With digital inspections, “you can send a text with an image of the red alignment printout and an explainer video or celebrate one more ‘green’ item passed.”
Inspections are also a great way to build customer trust. Liebetreu says tire dealers should “provide a courtesy check with every visit. Share the good news when (a vehicle) passes. Explain the value” of an alignment or another needed service when a vehicle fails.
But don’t beat around the bush, warns Liebetreu. “It’s very simple. Let them know you do alignment services and recommend the service with new tires.”
Victor Rivilla, marketing director at CanDo Diagnostics International, says “speed and accuracy” can be great assets when looking to make a quick alignment sale. “No one wants to spend unnecessary time waiting for an alignment,” he explains, adding that older equipment that hasn’t been updated in a while can slow things down.
Rivilla notes that with CanDo’s SWA-5D Alignment System, "a vehicle only needs to be placed on a lift, then set up with the targets and then raised and lowered once while taking the measurements and making the adjustments.”
He recommends marketing alignments just like you would an oil change.
It’s basically “a drive-in and drive-out alignment experience,” he says.
‘The quickest way’
“The quickest way to sell a wheel alignment is to always attach it to a tire sale,” says Liebetreu, “or if your shop performs services outside of tire work, alignments can also be presented to customers who are in for other services.”
He additionally recommends that technicians “present (alignment work) in such a way that the customer must decline.” And he suggests emphasizing safety considerations.
Liebetreu suggests using a straightforward framework and telling customers that “tires are expensive. And safety and handling are priceless.”
Often, with this approach, the customer will say “yes sooner or later,” he says.
Rivilla emphasizes that highlighting safety and long-term cost benefits can be key to making an alignment sale.
“The quickest way to sell an alignment is by presenting facts and stats that show how a proper alignment contributes to greater savings in both fuel economy and the cost of tire replacement — and, even more so, overall safety.
In addition, “for some late-model vehicles, alignment can also have an impact on the safety systems of these vehicles,” adds Liebetreu.
How about ADAS service?
It also doesn’t hurt to highlight additional services that can be add-ons to an alignment service, notes Liebetreu. “We’ve established above that the alignment is additive to a tire sale. But not all alignments are created equal.
“Some alignments also require steering angle and/or safety system resets. And some tire dealers can charge extra for those additional services,” while others “choose a different route and just charge more for the base alignment and building these additional services in.”
He suggests that dealers “choose the path that best resonates with your shop style and customer base.”
Tried-and-true tactics also remain effective. “In the past, alignment was a gateway to looking under the vehicle and finding suspension work. The durability of modern vehicles has slimmed these opportunities somewhat, but a good tire dealer will not forget they are still there.
“Again, this is virtuous work. Suspensions are a safety component.”
Liebetreu also emphatically suggests that tire dealers “get into advance driver assistance (ADAS) service. You are already doing steering angle resets and have been for years. Taking the next step into driving procedure resets for ADAS is no more complicated.
“These are add-ons that the manufacturers have built into modern alignments, so don’t ignore them,” he says, adding that ADAS service is “typically no more complicated than scan tool work, but is more easily performed and documented if your scan tool and aligner integrate.
“Move beyond driving procedures and add some of the forward-facing procedures for camera and radar alignment that go hand-in-hand with wheel alignment. These services require some space in front of the rack, but many can be performed in existing bays today by creative vehicle placement.
“ADAS work is the future and not nearly as scary as it seems as first,” says Liebetreu. “There are really easy ways to ‘level-up’ your ADAS capability without taking it all on at once.”
