New free on-farm ‘tyre check’ service from Agri Point
Tanvic Tyres is an AGRI POINT dealer covering parts of the East Midlands and South Yorkshire. Tanvic has announced a new free service available to farmers, within its catchment area. The service was launched at the LAMMA show. Farmers will be able to benefit from a half-yearly 'tyre check' for their agricultural vehicles without cost or obligation. A Tanvic service engineer will perform a visual check of the condition of agricultural tyres and will also check and adjust tyre pressures.
Vic Thompson, Managing Director of Tanvic Tyres explains, "We have adopted a similar approach for commercial vehicle customers through the Truck Point network and it has been extremely successful. The emphasis is on prevention and maintenance. Although some customers may initially be sceptical and suspect it may be an attempt to force an unnecessary sale, this is far from the truth. An on-farm inspection is a win-win arrangement for both parties. If an engineer can call while he is out on the road, at a mutually convenient time, the farmer can avoid a call out charge if work is needed. From our standpoint, it means that we can plan our work more effectively, as opposed to 'fire-fighting' emergencies. The long-term goal is that our engineers can give advice on good tyre management, to improve performance and bring down running costs. For example, if our engineer detects irregular shoulder wear and recommends swapping wheels, the farmer will get longer life from both tyres on the axle. We are able to offer this service because of our membership of the AGRI POINT network and the backing of Bridgestone/Firestone, the world's largest agricultural tyre manufacturer."
The advantages of the service to the farmer are numerous. If problems are detected early enough, they can be rectified in advance. This may prevent a failure at critical times such as harvest, when lost daylight time can be an expensive setback. It will also prevent the need for panic buying and a potentially poor purchasing decision.
Firestone's Marketing Manager, Barry Coleman commented, "We are watching the Tanvic trial with interest. At Firestone, we have been focussing our efforts on getting close to farmers and contractors and listening to their opinions. Tyres are far more complicated these days and account for a larger percentage of a tractor's running costs, but equally, they can deliver improvements in performance that have a real impact on the bottom line. Good tyre management is in everybody's best interest – including the environment's! I'm sure Tanvic's new customer service initiative will be a big hit with farmers and contractors. My objective is to have all AGRI POINT dealers running similar programs shortly.'
