Wheel and tire rentals, while not a completely different industry, will be a new challenge. We look forward to the earning potential.
Eric Marlin, Premier Wheel Workz Franchisee

(L-R) Eric Martin; Dale Ingram, President of Premier Wheel Workz; and Mitch Robinson. See RTO Online's videocast interview with Tommy Crenshaw, vice president of operations for Premier Wheel Workz here.

Eric Marlin and Mitch Robinson, longtime rental-purchase veterans, branched out into the wheel and tire rental industry by opening their Premier Wheel Workz dealership in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Friday, August 1. According to Marlin, it's a natural fit with their rent-to-own (RTO) background. However, Marlin says the learning curve has been steep and he feels fortunate to have had the training and ongoing support of Premier.

See RTO Online's videocast interview with Tommy Crenshaw, vice president of operations for Wheel Workz here.

"There are a lot of things we're excited about with this new venture," said Marlin. "Mitch and I have been doing RTO for a long time. Wheel and tire rentals, while not a completely different industry, will be a new challenge. We look forward to the earning potential."

Marlin observed that custom wheel rental is a precise and highly customized world. "It just doesn't work to merely tack on a wheel and tire rental component to our rental-purchase operation or simply apply what we know about RTO to an automotive scenario. There is so much more to this."

Marlin began his RTO career 25 years ago with Bestway Rental in Lewisburg, Tn. He worked his way up through the ranks of management to become district manager until five years ago when he launched his own store in Carthage, Tn., and one later in Smithville. He has enjoyed being his own boss, making his own decisions and profiting personally from having his own business. He met up with Robinson on the softball field a few years ago, and they discovered they had RTO in common.

Robinson had found RTO 15 years earlier but didn't get the usual start with an established firm. "A buddy's father owned a shopping center in Manchester and felt the demographics it catered to would be a good fit with rental-purchase." So Robinson took on the challenge of opening and running an RTO store, cold turkey, as an owner operator. "I started from scratch and learned as I went." Mitch still has that store and has since opened another one in Woodbury.

Marlin and Robinson decided to pool their experience, and they formed a partnership two years ago. Recognizing the potential of taking their collective RTO knowledge to a new level in the wheel and tire rental industry, they researched and discovered Premier Wheel Workz.

See RTO Online's videocast interview with Tommy Crenshaw, vice president of operations for Premier Wheel Workz here.

The Concept. The Company

"We latched onto the concept of wheel and tire rentals, but we needed to find the right organization," says Marlin. "We had been looking for a year and a half. We talked to three different companies and then found Dale Ingram, president, and Tommy Crenshaw, vice president of operations, with Premier Wheel Workz. "We went to a store grand opening and liked the set up. They seemed to know what they were doing in a relatively new industry." Their experience in automotive was impressive, as much so as the franchise knowledge and look that Marlin and Robinson felt would be equally important.

The Premier Companies and Wheel Workz formed a joint venture earlier this year, merging the automotive talents of Ingram and Crenshaw with the franchise expertise of Premier's president and CEO Trooper Earle, whose proven start-up and support system has successfully helped experienced RTO dealers get into business for themselves and thrive.

Knowing that Americans love to distinguish themselves through their vehicles, the Premier Wheel Workz team has gone to the market with a way to customize vehicles without debt, making it a rental market. And the concept has caught fire, gaining momentum in both the automotive and rental–purchase industries. With Earle's support in franchising and the understanding Ingram and Crenshaw bring of wheel rentals, Premier Wheel Workz offers unique access to an exciting business opportunity to retail wheel and tire dealers and to rental-purchase dealers.

"Premier Wheel Workz offers a lot of things to their customers that others don't, and that peaked our interest, like their in-house machine shop and the OEM wheel program," says Robinson. "They provide customers with more variety of options than a standard store. And they obviously know their industry inside and out. Plus they know how to help those of us with experience in RTO or automotive, but not necessarily both."

"Forming our new venture with Premier put it all together for us and our franchises," says Ingram. "We are able to teach in both the wheel business and RTO."

Training

Nothing can replace the combined 40 years of experience that Robinson and Marlin bring to their new dealership nor the commitment to customer relations. They have seen and done just about everything in the industry, including the establishment of multiple operations. They understand what it takes to be a success. And they are discovering how their background will help them translate that success to wheel and tire rentals.

Building on that kind of background and experience, the Premier Wheel Workz franchise program includes extensive training for its new dealers to help them integrate RTO into the automotive industry and also understand the complexities of the industry itself. According to Ingram, training is an invaluable part of the Premier program.

"You wouldn't think veterans like Eric and Mitch would need training," says Ingram. "But they will tell you how important it has been to get up to speed with a knowledge of tire sizes, offset, vehicle makes and what fits and what doesn't when going from stock to custom. It's incredibly difficult. Likewise, we can provide the RTO knowledge to those coming from an automotive background. It's important to realize that even though these industries serve one another, it is vital that we provide the necessary training to close any gaps."

Premier Wheel Workz offers 12 days of training. "We want a new owner operator to get comfortable," says Ingram. "New dealers spend the first three days with some amount of book and video learning and safety instruction, but there is a lot of hands on here in our Memphis headquarters. Next, we bring seasoned tire and wheel professionals to the new dealer's location for training on his site. He'll meet with our franchise and operations experts for a dealer check out. Then we'll come back for a soft opening and again to help them with their grand opening. We offer a whole package to build the confidence of the dealer and help him get his Premier Wheel Workz store up and running."

"Training went very well," says Robinson. "We were instructed for a few days then had time to digest before we got more. I didn't know anything about wheels and tires, but about halfway through the training, I felt comfortable about opening. This is the first really good training program offered by a tire and wheel outfit. And it's working. We were ready for our grand opening!"

Marlin agrees. "I feel ready to go in more ways than one. I've been doing RTO for 23 years. I'm ready to add a new spin!"

The national office of Premier Wheel Workz is located in Memphis, Tn. For more information, contact Tommy Crenshaw at 800.779.3639 ext. 401, or visit www.wheelworkz.com.