C o m m e r c i a l T i r e D e a l e r TM
SYLVESTER TRUCK AND TIRE SERVICE INC. IS A ONE-STOP SHOP FOR LOCAL AND OUT-OF-TOWN FLEETS By
Shana O’Malley-Smith
I
t’s hard to miss the sprawling 20,000-square-foot Sylvester Truck and Tire Service Inc. building when traveling along I-90 in the Cleveland suburb of Avon, Ohio. Interstate 90 is the longest interstate highway in the United States, stretching from Boston all the way to Seattle, with millions of vehicles traveling along the thoroughfare each year. When a piece of land nestled alongside the highway came up for sale more than 20 years ago, Dave Sylvester jumped on the opportunity. “The visibility and location is what drew me here,” says Sylvester, owner of Sylvester’s. “I have an excellent location in the state of Ohio.” Sylvester Truck and Tire Service Inc. is both a full service commercial truck tire and repair shop as well as a car and light truck tire and auto repair shop all under one roof. About eight years ago Sylvester also became a certified Mitsubishi Fuso truck sales and service specialist. “We’ve been doing very well with them,” he says. Sylvester, a G3X Goodyear dealer, sources his Goodyear, Kelly and Dunlop brands from Capital Tire Inc. while sourcing his other major tire brands, including Continental, Firestone, Hankook, Toyo, Michelin, BFGoodrich, Cooper and Roadmaster, from K&M Tire Inc. He also is a member of K&M’s Big 3 marketing program. Sylvester keeps about $1 million worth of inventory at the shop with twice-a-day w w w . M o d e r n T i r e D e a l e r. c o m
Dave Sylvester is owner of Sylvester Truck and Tire Service Inc. in Avon, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb.
deliveries from both of his key suppliers. His inventory includes some 2,000 truck, light truck and passenger tires. The commercial truck work makes up about 70% of business, while the retail side makes up about 30%, according to Sylvester. The retail side features six bays capable of working on all aspects of tires as well as everything underneath the vehicle and engine work. “Diagnostics, brake work, muffler work, tune-up work and that kind of stuff,” he says. Sylvester’s employs about 16 technicians, some of whom are cross-trained to work on both sides of the shop.
“If the retail side is quiet and they need some work, we have it set up where they can take some of our lighter truck business and vice versa. If the truck side is very busy, I have a few cross-trained technicians who can come over to the truck side and help us out,” he says. The truck side features eight large bays that can hold up to four trucks per bay or
Also in CTD Plenty of optimism: Panelists predict the OTR tire market will continue to grow ............................... 46
39
