27 www.aftermarketonline.net JUNE 2024 Trusting in tyres HB Dennis bags five-star reviews with tyre measurement system that ramps up transparency and customer trust HB Dennis Airside Service has boosted transparency and bagged rave customer reviews with TreadReader’s DriveOver ramp tyre measurement system. Based north of Dublin, close to the city’s airport, the garage specialises in Land Rovers and operates a low-volume, high-quality business model. It installed TreadReader’s DriveOver ramp in May 2021, following a recommendation, and has found it to be not only a precision tool for assessing tyre condition, but also a boon for customer service. Laurence Poole, HB’s director, said: “In the past, I’ve known incidents where people don’t believe you when you say their vehicle needs new tyres. They think you’re just trying to sell them something. “The system gives us a lot of transparency. It generates a print-out of all four tyres, which we give to each client. They can see a 3D image of the tread, which highlights different zones across each tyre and displays the depth. It’s really a thorough and clever piece of kit.” Poole said the ramp is positioned at the front of the workshop, so the camera shows the vehicles coming in, which adds an extra layer of evidence for the client. “From an operational perspective, it speeds up our ability to do a tyre tread inspection and the accuracy is excellent.” Each scan carried out by the DriveOver ramp inspects up to 400,000 measurement points with accuracy to within 0.2mm. By scanning the full width of the tyre and 50-60mm around it, the system achieves a level of accuracy and consistency far greater than conventional analogue and digital gauges, or competitor systems which only take a single-line scan, Poole said. TreadReader DriveOver is suitable for all workshops, car dealers and tyre suppliers, irrespective of the size of the operation. The system is available as surface mounted, fitted at Airside Service which requires no groundworks, or a flush in-ground system. For Poole, the DriveOver ramp’s chief benefit is customer service. He describes an occasion where a client wanted to check whether their vehicle actually needed new tyres, and the system was able to provide an immediate and definitive answer in seconds. “We had a client come in one day who had been told, by a different garage, that they needed new tyres. We said ‘just drive over this; it’s a free test and it only takes a moment’. I looked at the results and confirmed they did not need new tyres.” Poole said the company achieved a five-star Google review because of its honesty — and the client in question became a regular. “This just gives us that layer of transparency and honesty that we need in the industry. It’s been a great tool for us.” The garage is now planning to expand into airport parking, offering a concierge collection service with ‘whileyou-travel’ vehicle repairs. It intends to install an additional DriveOver ramp at its forthcoming off-airport parking site. System achieves level of accuracy and consistency far greater than conventional analogue and digital gauges Tyre systems
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