Coates wasn’t only one of the first to offer RFR protection online. He also pioneered selling tires online through his automotive shop before RF Safe became a life’s mission, and to this day, Coates’ company is the only one to have ever made it possible for someone to buy tires online and have them installed anywhere at home, work, or even in the grocery store. And this was in the 90s!
Valley Journal
Thursday, April 1, 1999
Mechanic Combines House Calls with Cyberspace Shopping
BY JUDY KING
Valley Journal Staff Writer
John Coates has come up with a creative concept that combines computer shopping with a unique accommodation to customer convenience.
It started a year ago when the enterprising young mechanic from Virginia set out on his own after working for a local tire outlet.
“I had less than $600, so having my own garage was impossible,” Coates recalls. “Instead, I had a one-ton truck and my hand tools, and I began doing fabrication on the truck.”
Necessity proved the mother of invention for Coates, who utilized his expertise in automotive air-conditioning to provide mobile repairs and retrofittings from the truck. The convenience of this mobile service made it an instant hit.
In a few short months, Coates, 28, had the means to rent his own garage. “I found this great space on County Road 110, next to the Go-Kart Track, just a hundred feet off the highway.”
But having a place to work on his specialties of exhaust, brakes, and tires didn’t stop the mobile service. As air-conditioning season gave way to snow tire time, Coates outfitted his truck with equipment for carrying, mounting, and balancing tires. He invested in spin balancing, guaranteeing accuracy within an eighth of an inch.
“Mobile tire service was something for large commercial trucks, but it didn’t exist for passenger vehicles,” Coates explains. “Our truck went to wherever the customer wanted the service done: in the driveway of their home, the parking lot at their job, the supermarket parking lot. It was up to the customer.”
With the in-the-truck tire service flourishing as swiftly as had the mobile air-conditioning operation, Coates noticed that many of his customers were purchasing their products from the websites of major retail tire suppliers.
“Those websites weren’t all that user-friendly. I started thinking about how it would work if the customer could order those tires through a website of mine.”
Working it through in his head, Coates designed a comprehensive tire-purchase-and-service system.
Tires would be purchased from the manufacturer or directly from Coates if the item were in stock (and paid for by check or credit card) and shipped to the customer’s address or Coates’ shop. There, they would be taken to the designated delivery site for installation. Old tires would be picked up and taken for environmentally appropriate disposal for a small fee covered by the customer.
With the procedure in place, Coates teamed up with web page designer Jay Terry of the Aspen-based Imagine Digital Productions. Terry is now putting the finishing touches on the consistently user-friendly website www.buytires.net for electronic browsing through an array of options on tread designs and prices. Coates is depending on word-of-mouth exposure to get his double-faceted service out there while they’re working to wave up the search engines.
With the construction of the already online website in its final phases, Coates sits at the desk of his crowded office off to one side and takes a moment to contemplate how far he has come in the one year he set out to develop the innovative enterprise.
“My goal has always been to help people by providing a service and the best prices.”
Just then, a mechanic pokes his head in and says, “John’s always thinking up new inventions and doing things for people.” He lends his pick-up to customers who have to get to work while their vehicle is here. “The truck’s out right now.”
Coates doesn’t see anything unusual in providing transportation where it’s most needed. “Make it as easy as possible for the customer.”
That said, John Coates turns his attention back to the computer and the internet address which is the source of such great expectations.
VIRTUAL TIRE STORE. Innovative mechanic John Coates maximizes customer convenience with a one-of-a-kind combination of a user-friendly website and user-site service. (Judy King photo)
