The Opti-Tread® Experience at Lithia Ford Lincoln of Boise

Lithia Ford Lincoln of Boise is a giant of customer service. They engage their customers.

They take care of them from the moment they arrive. They answer questions patiently. They don’t pressure anyone to make unnecessary purchases. Their automated systems send reminders… and they invest in technologies that make the customer experience quicker and more pleasant.

With all that, Lithia Ford Lincoln of Boise was still having a problem. It is one familiar to most in the industry. Customers who have every reason to purchase new tires or get an alignment, simply driving away with their vehicle with a potentially dangerous condition. Did they want a second opinion? Were they looking for a better price? Did they not have time to wait? Did they simply not believe the recommendations of the service writer? Or was it a combination of all of these?

Ted Wesler is the Service Director and a long-time industry veteran. He knows that customer hesitation, that failure to close an obvious sale, rarely had to do with them actually wanting a better price. It almost never stemmed from a problem with his staff. He knew that people just don’t trust verbal recommendations from those who stand to gain from recommending services and purchases. This dilemma nagged at Ted. He has searched for a way to help his customers see that his techs and service writers are on the level, to engage his customer and get them the information they need to know, in a way that anyone can grasp quickly.

Over the years, Ted tried many options. He kept looking for a solution to his problem, a product or method that fostered the trust and rapport he wanted to build with his customers. Something that could dispel the stigma of the rip-off. It was then that he stumbled across a product called “Opti-Tread®”. A simple system utilizing wireless mobile electronics to take both tread depth and pressure readings, analyze the inspection data and print out a Tire Audit Report. This report is not designed for the technician though. This report is designed for the customer. Placed in the customer’s hand, he/she can easily see, on the colorful graphic report, the remaining tread, current pressure and wear patterns. The report can help detect if there is a nail or other puncture in one of the tires. Most importantly though, it’s not coming from the technician. The customer can see it’s coming directly from the computer analyzed report. No bias. Just the facts.

Ted knew he needed to find out more about this Opti-Tread® and promptly called Squarerigger, Inc. the maker of the product, for a demonstration. Ted now has 5 Opti-Tread® kits, one for each of his Ford Quick Lanes and one for the drive lane. According to Ted,

“Every car that goes through Lithia Ford Lincoln of Boise gets an Opti-Tread® inspection, every customer gets a report. Customers love it, employees love it. […] It’s been in place long enough now that when our customers come back, they ASK for their Opti-Tread® report.”

The simple idea of computerized electronic readings and easy-to-understand graphical reports really helps customers understand, for themselves, the current state of their tires. It gives them everything they need to make purchase decisions right on the spot. This bares out in practice as well with Ted pointing out a 38% to 42% average monthly revenue increase since installing Opti-Tread® at his location.

Opti-Tread® is now also fully integrated with the TABS AutoFluent System. Readings taken through Opti-Tread® are passed directly to AutoFluent including a graphical Tire Audit report which can be attached to the repair order. This means no more pencil marks and everything is saved so that technicians and service writers can compare previous visits to current inspection information to paint a complete picture of tire usage and wear.

For more information about Opti-Tread® or arrange for a live demonstration, just click the link below and visit the Opti-Tread® website:www.optitread.com