FORT MILL, S.C. — Continental Tire the Americas' BestDrive L.L.C. opened four commercial tire servicing locations in late 2018, including its first in Oklahoma, and plans to open sites in Arkansas, California and Texas in early 2019.
The openings — in Longview, Texas; Marietta, Ga.; Idaho Falls, Idaho; and Oklahoma City — extend the BestDrive network to 28 tire centers in 15 states. The new locations are all conversions of existing facilities.
BestDrive Managing Director Sonny Simpson said the new locations will enable BestDrive to "serve our customers more efficiently" and help fleets achieve "LODC" (lowest overall driving cost).
BestDrive will supply the new locations in Oklahoma City and Longview — which opened for business on Nov. 6 and 7, respectively — with retreads produced at its Dallas plant, BestDrive said.
The Oklahoma City center, which spans 25,000 square feet, is located west of the city proper at an exit along I-40. The Longview service center is located on South Loop 281 just five minutes from Texas I-20, providing ready access for local East Texas fleets, BestDrive said.
BestDrive acquired Contractors Tire Co. Inc. in Marietta to support its Forest Park, Ga., retread plant, and opened a sales office/mobile service site in Idaho Falls to support its retread plant in Salt Lake City.
BestDrive did not disclose its investment in the openings nor comment on their staffing levels.
"BestDrive's continued expansion allows us to better serve our long-haul, regional-haul, and on/off-road fleet customers," Steve Postel, Continental's director of retail for the Americas region, said.
These latest openings bring to six new locations put into service in 2018 by Continental.
The company earlier opened two stores in Texas, including the retread plant in Grand Prairie, a western Dallas suburb.
BestDrive commercial tire centers offer total fleet tire management with Continental, General Tire and AmeriSteel brand products, as well as other supplemental tire brands. The dealerships equip fleets with new tires and ContiTread retread solutions as part of the ContiLifeCycle program, designed to lower costs and prolong the life of a Continental tire, BestDrive said.