Rent-to-own News - New Premier Wheel Workz opens in Murfreesboro, Tn.

Eric Marlin and Mitch Robinson have combined their 40 years of rent-to-own experience and opened a Premier Wheel Workz wheel and tire rentals dealership in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The learning curve has been steep, but Marlin says they both feel Premier’s automotive training and franchising support has enabled them to open with confidence and be prepared for success. And they look forward to ongoing services to help them grow.

Marlin began his RTO career 25 years ago with Bestway Rental in Lewisburg, Tennessee.

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, Tennessee, and one later in Smithville.

He met up with Robinson, a 15 year RTO veteran, on the softball field, and they discovered their common interest in RTO. Robinson began his career as an owner operator of an RTO store and has since opened a second in Woodbury.

Marlin and Robinson decided to pool their experience, and they formed a partnership two years ago. They recognized the potential of taking their collective RTO knowledge to a new level in the wheel and tire rental industry. That industry overlapped with the RTO market they knew well. However they carefully decided to become a Premier Wheel Workz franchise because they knew they would need their help.

“We latched onto the concept of wheel and tire rentals, but we needed to find the right organization,” says Marlin. “[Premier] seemed to know what they were doing in a relatively new industry.” And Marlin and Robinson were impressed by the franchise knowledge and look that they 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. Premier Wheel Workz offers unique access to an exciting business opportunity to retail wheel and tire dealers and to rental-purchase dealers.

“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 are now discovering how their background will help them translate that success to wheel and tire rentals. But there is still room to learn.

According to Marlin, what most people don’t realize is that “this is a precise and highly customized world into which we’ve entered. 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.”

Ingram says that because Premier Wheel Workz understands the need for extensive training, its franchise program includes 12 days of rigorous preparation for its new dealers to help them integrate RTO into the automotive industry and also understand the complexities of the industry itself. Ingram feels the 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.”

Training includes some amount of book and video learning as well as safety instruction, but there is a lot of hands at the Wheel Workz Memphis headquarters. Plus, seasoned tire and wheel professionals come to the new dealer’s location for training on his site. New dealers meet with Premier franchise and operations experts for a dealer check out. Training continues at a soft opening and concludes at the 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,” says Ingram.

“I didn’t know anything about wheels and tires, but about halfway through the training, I felt comfortable about opening,” says Robinson. “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!”

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.