New Tyre and Service Centre Thriving in Jersey
With a top speed limit of 40mph and just 346 miles of roads, you might think Jersey isn’t a natural home for motoring fanatics. But as Robbie Hannah, owner at Tyre and Service Centre Jersey explains, Jersey is awash with interesting cars.
“Jersey has a small population of just over 100,000 but there are more than 186,000 cars. Not bad for an island with just 1 dual carriageway.”
Based in St Helier, Tyre and Service Centre Jersey is a new enterprise, primarily undertaking tyre and automotive work for retail customers, as well as some small commercial fleet work. Running a tyre and automotive business in Jersey comes with its differences. Compared to similar enterprises operating on the mainland, Hannah reports a variance in car types and tyre choices.
“It’s not unusual to see a Bentley, a Ferrari and a Range Rover all in the same morning. Plus, there’s a staple quantity of Ford Focus’ and all the in-betweens. Jersey is an affluent island and we’re lucky to get to work on some very high-performance cars.”
Typically, top-end cars demand top-end tyres, but it’s not quite as straightforward as Hannah explains.
“With a top speed limit of 40 miles per hour across the island, it can be difficult to justify premium tyres. For a lot of our customers, a budget tyre would suffice – even with a premium vehicle. But lots of our customers take their prestige cars to France for the weekend. It’s a short hop on the ferry and when in Europe, we know they’ll need those premium tyres! Overall, I’d say we sell about 60% premium tyres and 40% budget.”
With 20 years’ experience in Jersey’s automotive sector, Hannah is well versed in supporting and servicing the islands’ favourite pastime. As the previous owner of The Full Service Centre, a garage that he sold to motoring legend Nigel Mansell and then ran under its new name The Mansell Collection, Hannah’s experience is already proving itself. Despite only being open for a few months, the 4 service bays and 2 tyre bays are already running at capacity, as Hannah explains.
“Business has really taken off. We’re already planning on doubling the premises to accommodate demand. Our customers are primarily retail, but we have some commercial contracts with some of the island’s smaller businesses. Extra space means we’ll be able to grow the commercial side of the business. “
Behind the thriving business, Hannah has chosen tyre business management software that he knows will scale with his strategy and his success.
“CAMEO has enabled us to really hit the ground running. I have instant access to all the operational data I need. The tyre stock inventory is really efficient and because it’s all cloud-based, I can log in from wherever I am. I’ve used another well-known tyre solutions provider in the past, but CAMEO is definitely better at service and tyre work.
“Customers really like the text notifications, reminding them when their services are due. The texts are really driving our repeat business. Customers call off the back of the SMS reminders and we can schedule in their service. CAMEO’s appointment calendar gives me instant visibility of when we’ve got capacity – whose working, what bays are free and when. It’s saving us time, making us more efficient and that means more time on the tools.”
“Then when the cars on the ramps, the vehicle inspection form also allows us to flag other issues with the customer’s car. It’s safer for the customer and we’re picking up extra work for the same car.”
“All of these CAMEO features have been part of the success and why we have kept our bays full and the team busy.”