Mobile tire installation firm eyes expansion

IRVINE, Calif. — Mobile tire installation is coming to a city near you — if it's not already there.

Now that ASAP Tire, a mobile tire installation service launched in 2015 by auto industry veteran James Chen, has the financial backing and business acumen of growth accelerator Cie Digital Labs (CDL), the company has plans to expand its service from its home base in Southern California to densely populated cities across the U.S.

ASAP Tire provides tire installation wherever the consumer needs the service, be it at home, office or golf course — wherever and whenever is most convenient for the consumer.

It is a business model that seems to be working. Since partnering with CDL — which specializes in collaborating with startups and providing them resources, particularly capital, to fuel growth — ASAP Tire has grown from one van servicing one part of Southern California to 12 vans that service Los Angeles and Orange County in California, as well as cities in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.

ASAP Tire also has quadrupled its workforce during that time, growing from a handful of employees to more than 20, including technicians, software developers and support staff.

Plans call for the company to expand to San Francisco, San Jose and Chicago and by year-end, “in terms of footprint, the company will grow three to five times to where it is today,” according to Anderee Berengian, CEO of CDL.

The goal, Mr. Berengian said, is to offer the service throughout the U.S.

“Density is our friend,” Mr. Berengian said. “It's just makes it easier for us to create a profitable business because the more an area is dense, the more it keeps demand busy. We want to be in a dense area, especially in the Midwest.”

Consumers may purchase their own tires and have ASAP Tire install them, or they may purchase the tires through ASAP's partners. Mr. Berengian declined to name the distributors ASAP uses.

“We are brand-agnostic,” he said. “We are customer-focused. We're not focused on pushing one brand over another. What we're looking for is to make it convenient for you.”

If the consumer elects to buy tires through ASAP Tire, a company representative contacts him or her to determine the best tire for the vehicle. Once the purchase is made, the consumer will have the option of having ASAP Tire install the tires at a location of the consumer's choice.

A certified technician will come to the vehicle to balance, rotate and/or install the tires. The old tires are taken away and recycled.

The cost to install is roughly $20 per tire, according to Mr. Berengian, depending on several factors, including the size of the tire and the difficulty of the job. Customers are billed after the service is completed.

Mr. Berengian said the majority of ASAP Tire's customers find the company through referrals. Customers, he said, have raved about the service.

“It's been unbelievably positive,” he said. “Some of the words they've used to describe it is: ‘convenient,' ‘high quality,' ‘good value,' ‘trustworthy.' They love the service, love the convenience of it. They're typically shocked how easy the process is, relative to cost.”

Convenience was the most compelling factor in Mr. Chen's vision for the company.

“Today's consumers are busier than ever with increasingly less patience to wait for anything,” Mr. Chen said. “Yet tire installation services haven't changed in decades. You still have to wait hours at a tire store over multiple visits to shop for the right tire and get tires replaced.”

Mr. Chen has been involved for the past 20 years with Axis Sport Tuning, supplier of the Axis-brand wheel line. He and Mr. Berengian are co-leaders of the company.

“James is involved in the business day-to-day,” Mr. Berengian said. “My team does the initial lab setup, building all the technical support, running chunks of the operation for ASAP. James has experience in the tire business, and he has nucleus of knowing what folks to hire. And he knows the operational process. We both compliment each other.”

Irvine-based CDL said it raised $1.8 million for the company via venture capitalist firms Wavemaker Partners and RezVen Partners and other industry veterans. The capital was used for, among other costs, adding more vans.

Mr. Berengian said each van costs roughly $45,5000, plus another $20,000 in product to go inside of it, including a generator, compressor and tire-removing equipment.

The company is using full-size Ford Transit and Mercedes Sprinter panel vans equipped with Hunter Engineering Co. tire changers and balancers. Several vans have paint schemes featuring the company's tire supplier partners, such as Continental, Michelin or Pirelli.

CDL also provides ASAP Tire with shared and dedicated domain experts in Web and mobile development, business development, finance, human resources and IT, with Jim Davis a former eBay and PepsiCo Inc. executive, offering marketing strategy advice.

“We are in the process of launching a bunch of technology for the consumer and driver...that will allow us the foundation to scale the business,” Mr. Berengian said.

Customers have been requesting that ASAP Tire add additional services to its portfolio, such as wheel alignment or flat tire repair.

For now, though, the firm intends to focus on tires.

“We'll add to it when it seems right,” Mr. Berengian said. “We might focus on some basic car repairs, such as wiper blades, batteries, cabin filters...any basic maintenance. We'll try to stay away from changing liquids or any hazardous situations.”

All other possibilities about expanding the business are being considered, he said, including adopting a franchise model. “We'll determine the pros and the cons, and make a decision from there,” Mr. Berengian said.

ASAP Tire uses sophisticated data to determine mathematically not only which cities to expand to, but also which areas within those cities to offer the service and how many vans are needed to cover that specific area.

“In a year, I'd like to have a strong presence in major metropolitan areas of the U.S.,” Mr. Berengian said. “Then in five years, I'd love to have all major metros and second- and third-tier areas with people covered with our service.”