Quoting Tool Boosts Tire and Accessory Sales 

Original Article – Canadian Auto Dealer

In a world where car dealers can be overwhelmed by companies pitching them complex systems to improve their performance, sometimes a “no-brainer” that’s easy to use and implement, and that delivers can’t miss financial results is a breath of fresh air. 

That’s what QQuote appears to offer car dealers who are looking for a way to effortlessly sell more tire packages and accessories. 

The QQuote tool takes complex tire and rim matching calculations that usually requires a salesperson to visit the parts department, and delivers the results instantly so that they can be shared with a customer. It helps the sales and F&I teams aid consumers in making a quick decision. And results within dealerships show that having instant access to information can lead to a dramatic spike in sales. 

An Easy Decision

“It’s a no-brainer,” said Susan Gubasta, President & CEO of Mississauga Toyota, and former President of the Trillium Automobile Dealers Association. “We increased our tire business by over 200 per cent last year with this tool.” 

“It is the ‘easy button’ for the variable side of the house. It provides three levels of quotes: Premium, High Value and Economy within seconds. You get consistency of price throughout the store and you will get the all-in price based on what options you choose,” said Gubasta, whose dealership has been using it for more than a year. “As our margins are continuing to be compressed by competition in the marketplace, we need to look to other areas for gross generation,” she added. 

“It removes what I call the turnstiles — the things that slow down the buying process,” says Gubasta. “It takes mere seconds to generate quotes. We are not only just selling tires consistently in parts and service, we are also selling them in the front end of the store because it’s such an easy tool for product advisors to use.” 

Gubasta says they now use the tool to present winter tire packages to car buyers all year-round so buyers can amortize the costs and add it to their monthly payments. They also offer tire storage to help boost service retention.

Quoting Tool Boosts Tire and Accessory Sales

“Think of the time savings on the employee side, and the time savings for the parts department alone having to quote all these tires during busy tire season,” said Gubasta. “They can’t keep up. Now it takes seconds for every quote.”

Gubasta’s dealership is now going to add the QQuote accessories quoting tool to further boost sales of those products too.

“As our margins are continuing to be compressed by competition in the marketplace, we need to look to other areas for gross generation”

Susan Gubasta, President and CEO of Mississauga Toyota, and former President of the Trillium Automobile Dealers Association

It might not be rocket science, but the system was developed by a mechanical engineer who worked in the aerospace industry and on the Canadarm named Andy Dalrymple. He’s the Founder and President of QQuote, and formerly was CEO of a company called Tire Butler.

“It’s about making it easy for the dealership staff and consumers,”

Andy Dalrymple, Founder/CEO – QQuote

He says the tool lets anyone at the dealership — and not just the tire expert — to feel confident in providing an instant quote to consumers. Consumers can also access the quoting tools themselves on the dealership’s website. 

Better Tracking, Better Results

For dealerships, the system also provides full backend analytics that helps them keep track of all the quotes, monitor tire and accessories sales, and even help identify star performers who are selling lots of tires and accessories packages — and those that need more training. “I think that’s the most powerful part of this,” says Dalrymple. 

“It’s the backend that’s unbelievable,” says Gubasta. “You can market to the consumer if they didn’t buy. That’s another priceless aspect to this. It’s not a one-time shot.”

Dalrymple says the dealership can showcase the OEM tires and package and accessories, and also the aftermarket products available for the vehicles they sell.

The QQuote system presents consumers with three options, good, better and best and at least for Mississauga Toyota, the majority of consumers opt for the best or premium offerings. 

The service costs dealers $499 a month. “At the end of the day it doesn’t cost us anything, it’s done so well for us,” says Gubasta. “It’s a win all the way across. It’s customer retention at the end of the day when you sell tires and accessories. Proving a great quoting tool boosts tire and accessory sales.”