Tire Dealers Find Relief from California Mandate

Hey Roy, welcome back to the Modern Tire Dealer Show.

It's great to have you on the program again.

In this case, a special edition of the Modern Tire Dealer Show that focuses on one of the most significant developments to hit the tire industry within the last several years.

I'm referring to the state of California's tire fuel efficiency mandate that when enacted will have major ramifications for tire dealers and also potentially independent tire dealers.

As you know, MTDs cover this story very extensively, and I would refer listeners of the Modern Tire Dealer Show to several updates we've recently posted on ModernTireDealer.com if they're looking for the latest.

More recently, I also understand that TIA, in working with the California Energy Commission, was able to secure some very important carve-outs that will help tire dealers get If I'm not mistaken, there were certain requirements that would have placed unnecessary burdens on members of our audience and readers of MTD.

Can you talk about those carve-outs that Tia was able

to achieve? Absolutely, Mike.

And first of all, thank you so much for having me back on the program.

It's great to be here again and great to speak with you on this topic.

We had a lot of concerns with this regulation, and we continue to have significant concerns, but the updated proposal did include some several meaningful improvements that address a lot of the concerns raised by TIA.

And we appreciate the Commission's effort to provide more time for implementation, broaden the recognition of specialty tire categories, and clarify the scope of the program.

But there were also many several wins that we were able to secure for California tire dealers.

And two of those I'd really like to highlight for you, Mike.

The first being the elimination of the showroom educational requirements.

And this would have been extremely burdensome because a dealer would have had to have a trained salesman on staff explaining to the consumer what this tire program was, how the fuel efficiency was going to improve their car with their choice of the tire.

The tire list of the approved tires for the California Energy Commission would have had to have been available at the dealership.

So a dealer would have not only had to explain this to a consumer, have it available, but they also would have needed to have a dedicated computer in the showroom that the consumer could then have accessed.

and looked on the approved list to find the set of tires that they were looking for.

This was in addition to several posters and signs that would have had to have been displayed in the store, all that we were able to eliminate in the final regulation.

There was another big win for us as well, and that was that to ensure that the regulation only applies to the sale of new tires.

That means a dealer cannot be penalized for installing tires that a consumer purchased elsewhere.

So if they somehow bought it online, it slipped through the system.

If they bought it out of state, if it's an old set they had in their garage, anything like that, the dealer would not be penalized for installing those tires that are not on the approved list.

So we were glad that the commission listened to us, at least on a few of these aspects that we think is gonna make it a little bit easier for tire dealers.

Hey Roy, welcome back to the Modern Tire Dealer Show.

It's great to have you on the program again.

In this case, a special edition of the Modern Tire Dealer Show that focuses on one of the most significant developments to hit the tire industry within the last several years.

I'm referring to the state of California's tire fuel efficiency mandate that when enacted will have major ramifications for tire dealers and also potentially independent tire dealers.

As you know, MTDs cover this story very extensively, and I would refer listeners of the Modern Tire Dealer Show to several updates we've recently posted on ModernTireDealer.com if they're looking for the latest.

More recently, I also understand that TIA, in working with the California Energy Commission, was able to secure some very important carve-outs that will help tire dealers get If I'm not mistaken, there were certain requirements that would have placed unnecessary burdens on members of our audience and readers of MTD.

Can you talk about those carve-outs that Tia was able

to achieve? Absolutely, Mike.

And first of all, thank you so much for having me back on the program.

It's great to be here again and great to speak with you on this topic.

We had a lot of concerns with this regulation, and we continue to have significant concerns, but the updated proposal did include some several meaningful improvements that address a lot of the concerns raised by TIA.

And we appreciate the Commission's effort to provide more time for implementation, broaden the recognition of specialty tire categories, and clarify the scope of the program.

But there were also many several wins that we were able to secure for California tire dealers.

And two of those I'd really like to highlight for you, Mike.

The first being the elimination of the showroom educational requirements.

And this would have been extremely burdensome because a dealer would have had to have a trained salesman on staff explaining to the consumer what this tire program was, how the fuel efficiency was going to improve their car with their choice of the tire.

The tire list of the approved tires for the California Energy Commission would have had to have been available at the dealership.

So a dealer would have not only had to explain this to a consumer, have it available, but they also would have needed to have a dedicated computer in the showroom that the consumer could then have accessed.

and looked on the approved list to find the set of tires that they were looking for.

This was in addition to several posters and signs that would have had to have been displayed in the store, all that we were able to eliminate in the final regulation.

There was another big win for us as well, and that was that to ensure that the regulation only applies to the sale of new tires.

That means a dealer cannot be penalized for installing tires that a consumer purchased elsewhere.

So if they somehow bought it online, it slipped through the system.

If they bought it out of state, if it's an old set they had in their garage, anything like that, the dealer would not be penalized for installing those tires that are not on the approved list.

So we were glad that the commission listened to us, at least on a few of these aspects that we think is gonna make it a little bit easier for tire dealers.