CC:
Often one of the most missed inspection items on a vehicle, that’s also a sales opportunity. It’s this, the spare tire. You’re probably never going to sell a customer a brand new spare tire. But spare tires have other opportunities. In particular the TPMS sensor. If you have a vehicle that has a TPMS sensor inside the spare tire, like on some full size SUVs or other vehicles that are more luxury, well, it’s going to have that fifth sensor that needs to be serviced along with the other four sensors. If you’re selling a set of tires, don’t forget about the spare. To see if a spare tire has a TPMS sensor, you might need a TPMS tool that will tell you if there’s a fifth sensor on the vehicle or look at the service information. This way, you know when you replace the other four sensors on the vehicle, there’s not that possibility of the fifth one failing on the spare tire and then you having a comeback because the customer reports the TPMS light is on.
The other opportunity, well, it doesn’t even involve a spare tire. Many vehicles have ditched the spare tire in favor of extended mobility pumps and sealants that are located in the trunk. These can be injected into the tire and that sealant hopefully will fill the puncture on one of the road tires. But this is another opportunity. These are designed only to last between three or four years. Look at the service information in the service interval. Chances are if it has one of these, it’s going to be listed on that schedule.
Make sure you’re replacing these and looking at the date on the side to make sure it’s good for the vehicle. When you inspect the spare tire, make sure you’re checking the inflation, you’re checking the TPMS sensor, and then you’re also looking in the trunk to see if they have one of these packed with sealant that may be three or four years old. These are new opportunities for your shop in terms of TPMS sensors and other products that may be in the trunk.
I’m Andrew Markel, thank you very much.
