CALABASAS, Calif. (Feb. 8) — Tire Recall Registry Inc., a new company offering electronic tire registration to independent tire dealers, has opened for business in Calabasas.
TRR is the brainchild of Lori Neville, a 22-year veteran of tire retailing and a member of American Tire Distributors, and Paul Stansen, an attorney who for several years has run his own digital document management company, paperlessUSA.
Stansen said TRR will transmit all electronically collected registration data — consumer, tire and dealer information — to tire manufacturers, both in the standard, federally mandated postcard form and in digital form. The company also will provide dealers with monthly compliance reports and consumers with printed certificates of tire registration, something consumers have never received before, Stansen said.
TRR charges dealers 99 cents per tire for the service, in a prepaid account charged to their credit cards; when their account balances reach $40 or less, they receive an e-mail reminder to replenish them. Dealers may then seek reimbursement of the fees by charging consumers, though some dealers have told Stansen they will pick up part of that expense.
Dick Johnson, CEO of American Tire Distributors, said his company is letting ATD member dealers and distributors know about the new service, largely because of Neville´s long membership in ATD. ATD has no business or financial interest in TRR, Johnson added.
Some 300 to 400 ATD members have signed up for TRR´s service, Stansen said, and the company has plans to meet with all major tire and auto manufacturers to try and secure their endorsement.
TRR is only the second private tire registration firm in the U.S. The first, Akron-based CIMS Inc., provides registration cards and an information clearinghouse to independent dealers for collecting registration data, but has long argued against electronic registration as just another layer of burden to dealers.