Snider acquires 27 TCi Tire Centers locations

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Snider Fleet Solutions, one of North America's largest commercial tire dealerships and retread producers, has acquired 27 commercial tire locations, including four retread plants, from Michelin North America's TCi Tire Centers L.L.C. subsidiary.

The deal closed June 30. No purchase price was disclosed.

The acquisition increases Snider's store network to 81 locations and extends the dealership's commercial tire coverage into Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia and Louisiana, while also adding locations in Florida and Tennessee, Marty Herndon, executive vice president and chief operations officer of Snider Fleet Solutions, said in an interview with Tire Business.

This move also expands Snider's distribution ability to 75 percent of the continental United States, the company said.

“We feel like to be a significant player in the commercial tire industry and truck tire maintenance arena, we're going to need 100-plus locations and $1 billion in sales, and this platform will allow us to make that a reality,” Mr. Herndon said of the acquisition.

Along with the newly acquired locations, Snider also is in the process of opening four additional commercial locations that should be in operation by year end, he added.

The four retread plants purchased by Snider use the Michelin Retread Technologies (MRT) process. They are located in Jackson, Miss.; Birmingham, Ala.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Jacksonville, Fla. All are housed in commercial locations acquired by Snider.

Together they will boost Snider's truck tire retreading capacity to about 3,500 units a day, Mr. Herndon said.

Prior to the purchase, Tire Business ranked Snider as the seventh largest commercial tire dealership in the U.S. and Canada in 2016 with 50 commercial tire locations and $300 million in commercial sales. The dealership also ranks as the fourth largest truck tire retreader, producing about 2,550 retreads per day at its seven retread plants.

“This acquisition extends our coverage throughout the eastern United States,” said John Snider, president and CEO of Snider Fleet Solutions. “It allows us to help our customers in more locations and provide our expert services to new customers.”

Snider Fleet Solutions describes itself as an innovator in the fleet service space, having recently introduced a proprietary information management system. Called FleetSMART, the technology allows technicians at any location to service trucks according to that fleet's unique service guide, the company said.

“We're excited to extend the reach of FleetSMART to more highways and more customers,” Mr. Herndon said. “Now our customers will know their fleet is being managed exactly to their specs across more of the U.S.”

Mr. Herndon said the deal with Michelin and TCi came together after the dealership expressed its decision to expand its presence in the Southeast and Deep South. Once the company made this known to Michelin, the two were able to put together the deal for the locations in those states.

Together the new locations bring Snider's total employment to more than 1,500.

“We're excited about the new associates that we're bringing on board, and servicing our existing customers over a broad area and strengthening our own network,” Mr. Herndon said.