Revolutionizing Tire Service With Derek Naidoo, CEO of USA GoMobile

Derek Naidoo is the Founder and Owner of USA GoMobile, a company that offers convenient mobile tire, oil change, and battery services to customers at their preferred locations. Since its inception in 2018, GoMobile has expanded to 48 franchises, overcoming challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues, and establishing a significant presence in the automotive service industry. Originally from South Africa, Derek has spent over 35 years in the automotive field, specializing in engine management systems and diagnostic tools before turning to entrepreneurship.

In this episode…

The automotive industry is rapidly evolving to meet changing consumer demands for convenience and efficiency. How are mobile tire services transforming the way people maintain their vehicles?

According to Derek Naidoo, CEO of USA GoMobile, mobile tire services are revolutionizing vehicle maintenance by bringing convenience directly to customers. The company offers on-site tire replacements, oil changes, and battery services at locations convenient for the customer, including homes, offices, golf courses, and even hotel parking lots. This approach not only saves time for individual consumers, but also caters to the growing last-mile delivery sector by servicing fleet vehicles that provide these convenient delivery services.

On this episode of Gain Traction, Mike Edge welcomes Derek for a conversation about the rise of mobile tire services, the challenges of growing a franchise during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the logistics of operating a mobile tire business. They discuss the types of customers served, the design of specialized service vehicles, and the various challenges faced in different weather conditions. Derek also shares insights on franchisee profiles and the future of automotive maintenance.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

• [01:41] Derek Naidoo details his 35-year journey in the automotive industry
• [02:47] How USA GoMobile thrived through COVID-19 challenges
• [04:08] The diverse demographics of GoMobile’s customer base
• [06:29] GoMobile’s unique franchise model and operational insights
• [12:44] Three types of GoMobile franchisee profiles
• [14:31] How GoMobile partners with non-tire shops for mutual referrals
• [21:53] Derek explains his mantra: “Measure to manage for business success”

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Derek Naidoo on LinkedIn
• USA GoMobile 
• Ryan Ragan on Linkedin 
• Automotive Service and Tire Alliance
• Mike Edge on LinkedIn
• Tread Partners

Quotable Moments:

• “I’ve been involved in the automotive industry pretty much my whole life, almost 35 years, focused in engine management systems design and development.”
• “COVID was both ways. People didn’t want to go to tire shops, but we couldn’t get vehicles. Huge demand, yet challenging.”
• “We’re selling convenience. Society’s moving towards services delivered to their homes instead of performing mundane tasks.”
• “We need to be able to measure what we do. If you can’t measure, you can’t manage. What we know, we can manage.”
• “We have three types of franchisees: tire shops, industry entrepreneurs, and investors looking to expand their reach.”

Action Steps:

1. Embrace convenience as a core offering: Address the growing demand for convenience in society, making your business more appealing to customers who prefer not to spend time traveling to a shop.
2. Develop strategic partnerships: Create beneficial partnerships with mechanical shops and non-tire-selling auto services to offer a complete customer solution. 
3. Adapt to market challenges with flexible solutions: Plan for and implement logistical strategies to overcome challenges like inventory management and technician availability.
4. Utilize technology for operational efficiency: Implement technology solutions such as e-commerce platforms and mobile apps for scheduling and operations management. 
5. Focus on measuring and managing performance: Adopt a data-driven approach to track performance metrics and make informed decisions.

• Derek Naidoo
• Gain Traction Podcast
• Mike Edge
• Tread Partners
• USA GoMobile

Transcript

Announcer:

Welcome to the Gain Traction podcast, where we feature top automotive entrepreneurs and experts and share their inspiring stories. Now, let’s get started with the show.

Mike:

Hello, folks. Welcome to the Gain Traction podcast, the exclusive podcast for Tire Business. I am Mike Edge, your host. Today’s guest is Derek Naidoo, founder and owner of GoMobile Tires. Derek has a very cool story, and I cannot wait to get into it with him.

But before we begin, let me tell you a little bit about our sponsor, Tread Partners. Tread Partners is the leading digital marketing agency for tire and auto repair operations that have five to hundreds of locations. Multi-location shops face enormous challenges. Tread Partners gets it. Don’t waste time and money with marketing agencies that don’t specialize in this space. To learn more, visit Treadpartners.com.

My past guest shout out today is Ryan Regan, executive director of ASTA. If you get a chance, please check out my podcast with Ryan at GainTractionPodcast.com. We had a great conversation. I think you’ll enjoy it. So let’s get this podcast started. Derek Naidoo, welcome to the Gain Traction podcast.

Derek:

Thanks, Mike. Thanks for having me.

Mike:

Well, listen, you’ve got a great story. You guys are doing something very unique. I think there’s been a lot of people trying it in different ways, but you guys are servicing customers by meeting them where they are with tires. And if you don’t mind, can you give us a little bit of your background and then let’s get into GoMobile and how you got there.

Derek:

Yeah, absolutely, Mike. I’ve been involved in the automotive industry pretty much my whole life, almost 35 years, 36 years of it, involved with the OEMs and the manufacturing side, specialized in engine management systems, design and development. Spent some time producing diagnostic tools, designing and developing diagnostic tools for the automotive industry. And the last 28 years I’ve been pretty much an entrepreneur, self-employed, had a few businesses in the automotive industry, but always focused in the automotive industry. It’s all I know, let’s put it that way.

Mike:

That’s awesome.

Derek:

Yeah, the high-tech side and the engineering side. That’s basically what it is.

Mike:

And for our audience’s sake, where are you originally from?

Derek:

I’m originally from South Africa. I spent most of my life in South Africa.

Mike:

Were you running buddies with Elon Musk or anything like that?

Derek:

Definitely not. Definitely not. He’s a lot younger than I am. He is a different type of crazy genius, so definitely not in the same era.

Mike:

That’s true. So you get this idea, I know you’ve done a lot of entrepreneurial ideas, but you’ve been going at GoMobile for several years now, and you guys are very successful. There was a nice article that Don Detore did about your tire business, but you’re at 48 franchises right now, correct?

Derek:

Yes, sir. We had 48 franchises right now. We started in 2018. Well, the idea started in 2018. We started franchising at the end of 2019, sold our first two franchises, and then Covid said hello, and so that put a little bit of a damper on it.

Mike:

Yeah, Covid would’ve been brutal at that time, no doubt about it, getting started.

Derek:

It was, and it was both ways. On the one hand, people didn’t want to go to tire shops. They needed tires, so there was a huge demand for on-site services. But on the other side of it is that we didn’t have vehicles. The automotive industry came to a standstill, so we couldn’t get vehicles. So it was a bit of a challenge. But yeah, post-Covid and five years later, we have 48 franchises right now.

Mike:

So what does the typical GoMobile customer look like? I mean, what’s the demographic of a GoMobile customer?

Derek:

So there’s two types of customers that we have on the retail side. It’s obviously the individual that wants to have their tires replaced, and that’s something that we would do either at their home or offices or pretty much wherever they are. We’ve done installations in golf courses and hotel parking lots and restaurant parking lots. So it just depends entirely on what is convenient to the customer.

Mike:

I like the golf course idea. I mean, you’re going to be on the golf course four hours, might as well have your tires serviced while you’re there. That’s funny as heck.

Derek:

Absolutely. Yeah, it’s great. The guys tee off, and when they get back to their car, they’ve got new tires on.

Mike:

Well, he can also tell his wife, “Hey, I’m going to get my tires changed,” right?

Derek:

Absolutely.

Mike:

He doesn’t have to bring up the golf part, right?

Derek:

Yeah, exactly. So yeah, so that’s been the one side of it. And the other side of it is obviously the fleet side. The fleet is… It varies from little landscapers to electricians and plumbers and all the way up to Amazon vehicles.

Mike:

Yeah.

Derek:

So when we started this in 2018, myself and a buddy of mine, Joe Flores, who actually helped co-found this with me, we were at SEMA, and in 2018 everything was going on about last-mile services as such, and with the rise in convenience services like deliveries with food deliveries and grocery deliveries and pharmaceutical deliveries. And so we said, “Why would anybody want to get involved or compete in that environment?” And so I said, “Well, why don’t we come up with something that services those people that are actually delivering that last-mile service? Service those vehicles that’s delivering a last-mile service.” And that’s what brought the whole concept into play. And we find ourselves here now five years later, growing nicely, lots of challenges along the way with us doing this for the first time, but over and above that, it’s been pretty successful.

Mike:

Well, I mean, you’ve hit a critical part in being an entrepreneur. You get to the five-year mark, usually you’re starting to iron out some of these challenges that maybe the early franchisees faced with you, but you’ve got a pretty good game plan for these guys now, don’t you?

Derek:

Yes, we do. We’ve had many challenges, like I said, right down from the design of the vehicle, our vehicles are designed very differently to any of the other mobile bands that you would see out there. I placed a large emphasis on ergonomics and the way the operation actually works from tires, oil, and batteries, so we’ve sort of got that set up.

But operationally, there’s a ton of challenges that always come up with environment of this nature, getting tires on time, making sure that customers are being serviced within the time periods that we give them. So there’s a number of other challenges, including technicians. It’s a huge problem finding the right technicians. And in some areas in the country, we are working in really cold areas, especially at this time of the year. When it starts snowing out there, you’re not going to find many technicians that want to go out and work in a mobile environment at 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mike:

Yeah.

Derek:

I was going to say 20 degrees Celsius, but 20 degrees Celsius is really warm.

Mike:

Well, it’s a… No, look, it’s a concept that I think everybody can wrap their head around. I think it’s the functionality that you’re figuring out, that how do you make it work for the customer and streamline it? Because like you said, the tire delivery, you have to have tires ready and if somebody misses on those tires, then it pushes the schedule back, correct?

Derek:

Absolutely, absolutely. It definitely does. And the consequential impact is a lot more than somebody missing an appointment in a brick-and-mortar tire shop.

Mike:

Yeah.

Derek:

So that is definitely something that is very, very important for us and our customers that we make sure we meet those times for both sides, for us as well as for the customer. Fortunately, we don’t keep inventory, so our tires are all purchased as per the client requirements. So if you wanted to have an installation done, you would go online, order the tires, we would then have those orders placed directly with our wholesale distributors. The wholesale distributors deliver to us directly to each of the individual franchisees. And then the franchisees take those tires out in the morning when they leave, and go out to the individual customers.

Mike:

How many sets tires can you leave with in a day? Not do in a day, but I realize you probably have just… Or do you have to go back and pick up a new set each time you go back out?

Derek:

No, definitely not. That would be very, very inefficient. So the guys can leave with about five sets a day. Some guys can squeeze in more depending on how they lace them up into the van, but average is about four to five sets that the guys would leave in a day.

We’ve had instances, and this doesn’t happen all the time, but we’ve had instances when doing fleet work where you’re doing 10, 12 vehicles a day, then what we would do is we would send an additional vehicle out where they’re working, and they’re working in one spot. For example, if we’re doing an Amazon fleet of 10 or 12, 14 vehicles at a time, the guys would go out with whatever they can carry in the van, and then for five hours later we’d send out another van or another truck to drop off new tires and pick up the old tires.

Mike:

It’s all logistics, isn’t it?

Derek:

It’s all logistics. It’s all logistics. Fortunately, that doesn’t happen all the time. That’s more the exception than the rule. But generally that’s what we would do.

Mike:

Now, will you guys do… Just like if a customer wants an oil change?

Derek:

Yes, we will do oil changes as well. Currently, most of our oil changes, more than 90% of our oil change revenue is currently generated from the fleet segment of the business. But the retail segment is definitely growing. We are getting a lot more into the retail now than before.

Mike:

Well, it’s interesting. I mean, I was just talking to somebody about, I was going to interview you. So we were talking about just the whole concept and everything, and it’s interesting, but he was telling me that “I don’t do it,” but he goes, “I’m getting to the point where I would probably pay that surcharge, in a sense. You pay a little extra to have somebody come to you just for the oil change, because then I don’t have to take my car down. I don’t have to worry about a ride back. I don’t have to worry about the logistics of just that one day where you take your car in or even having to wait there.” I mean, if you were to choose to do that, it just does make things, it can make things so much simpler, especially even if you work out of your home. Hey, you can have somebody come here, you guys come here, take care of the oil change that I need, and it just takes away the hassle.

Derek:

Absolutely. That’s exactly what we’re selling. At the end of the day. It’s convenience. We selling convenience, and that’s what we find that society is moving towards, right down to food deliveries, like I said earlier on, and a variety of other things that people are having delivered to their homes instead of going out there and performing those mundane tasks as such, or waiting three hours in a tire shop or two hours in a tire shop. So the guys are definitely growing. That part of the market is growing whereby it’s not just seen as a convenience from a food perspective, but you’re getting a whole lot of other automotive services that are being supplied, glasses being done this way for a long, long time, and it’s the norm. We are so used to calling the glass guys to come out and do our installations.

Mike:

Yeah. Oh, you’re talking about a safe light auto.

Derek:

Auto. Yeah, it’s like a safe light guys and the number of others, as well, that’s doing automotive glass. It’s more convenient, and that’s exactly where we see this tires, oil, and batteries going to, as well.

Mike:

No, it totally makes sense. I could totally see it picking up steam, and it’s very refreshing to see that you guys are at 48 franchisees. So talk about it from the franchisee standpoint. What’s the type of personality that wants to be involved with to buy into GoMobile franchise?

Derek:

Yeah. Currently we have three types of franchisees. We have the tire shops, the existing tire shops that want to extend their reach, because currently tire shops generally service between four to maybe six, seven miles off their facility. That’s their client base. That’s where they draw a lot of their client base from. But with having the mobile side of it, they can now extend that client base of 30 miles-plus, depending on what they want to do. Specifically on the fleet side, they really like that. So now they’re able to do that and that’s the tire shops.

Then we have the entrepreneurs, the guys that have been involved in the industry, mechanics, or they’ve been tire guys. They now want to take that next step and become an entrepreneur, and we all want to live that American Dream. And those are the other guys that we have that are franchisees.

And then lastly, we have investors, people that come in and buy in multiple territories, they employ technicians, they employ operations managers, and they treat it as a corporatized business venture.

Mike:

Interesting.

Derek:

So those are the type of people that we have currently in it. We also have a few fleet owners that are bought into the franchise that service their fleet, as well as other fleets, as well. So that’s what makes a franchisee, based on the knowledge.

Mike:

Well, and on a preliminary call, we spoke briefly about this, but isn’t a good target also the groups? Or I guess from a referral side are the shops that don’t sell tires, but they’re just mechanical shops, service shops, but they don’t really want to be in tires. So having some form of referral business or partnership with a GoMobile group is advantageous for them and vice versa.

Derek:

Yes, sir. That is. So it’s significant because we don’t do any mechanical repairs, so the partnerships that we’ve been able to create with mechanical shops that don’t do tires is that they give us their tire work or they give us a tire referral, and in exchange, whenever we go out and do an installation of tires, if we notice anything, we will refer the client back to those mechanical shops. So it’s a quid pro quo scenario.

Mike:

It’s got… That seems like a very friendly relationship for sure.

Derek:

It does. It does have that. And also the nice thing about the mechanical shops, for example, they’ve got the vehicle in there, they’re doing a service, they doing some mechanical repair, the wheels are off. Whilst it’s there, we go in, change those tires onto it, mount balance and the client leaves now knowing that he got it all done in one place, instead of having now to go and make a separate trip to a tire shop.

Mike:

And that allows them to keep their affinity or their affection for the mechanical shop that they’ve always had. They don’t have to go look for somebody to replace their tires now.

Derek:

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And we’re also finding that with car dealerships, as well. So we have certain car dealerships, OEM dealerships, that just cannot get your tires down on time. So they use us to do those tire installations for their clients on site. So we would go to the dealership, pick up those tires, and then go and install it for the client, and we just pull the dealership back.

Mike:

Well, and the other thing, you’d mentioned this a little bit ago, but the tire shops that would franchise with you, it’s interesting because now it’s a less-expensive investment in building another store, but it almost becomes another store. It just extends their arm out there without having the whole new building, employees, et cetera.

Derek:

Absolutely. Absolutely. It does make it a lot more convenient for them as well, especially if they want to try a new area. Hey, I want to try and operate in a certain suburb or a certain city that’s close by. Instead of them going out and physically building out a full brick-and-mortar retail environment, they use the opportunity with the mobile facility to actually address that.

Mike:

Well, if somebody wants to get in touch with you, what’s the easiest way, Derek? I want to ask you that before I forget.

Derek:

Yeah, so the easiest way to get a hold of us is to is via email, obviously, on [email protected]. Or they can contact our offices here, our head office here in Portland, Oregon. They can contact our offices on 503-999-3647.

Mike:

Awesome.

Derek:

So that will get them directly to our offices here, as well.

Mike:

And then the website is?

Derek:

The website is USAgomobile.com.

Mike:

Yeah. Awesome.

Derek:

That’s where you get all the franchise information. And from there you can link up to our e-commerce site, like every franchisee has a full e-commerce website. So day one that they start, their clients are able to order ties from them online, they can schedule their installations as well at the same time. So all of that is all taken care of from an online basis. Our technicians, every technician with every franchisee has an app on their phone that allow them to do the scheduling and monitor the vehicle movements. They can see exactly via the built-in maps on exactly where their whole day is going to be, per se, for wherever their installations are scheduled for.

Mike:

Very nice. And one more question related to the service side. What’s a typical install at a site take in regards to time?

Derek:

So on an average vehicle, you’re looking about 45 minutes from start to finish. That means from the time they stop, take out the jacks, make sure the wheels are chocked, they do the inspections, remove the wheels off the car, take it into the van, take off the old tires, mount the new tires on, balance it, and replace them back on, final torque check, equipment back in the van, 45 minutes.

Mike:

Very nice. And then how do you guys accept payment usually? Is it right after the service, or beforehand?

Derek:

We have both. A lot of our payment gets done pre-service, so when the guys are booking online, they would just make their payment directly with their credit cards online, off the website. Other guys that call in, then we’ll accept their card at the time with the services being performed. So we take credit cards, checks, and obviously cash. I don’t know, maybe we should start taking Bitcoin as well one of these days, with the way…

Mike:

I know. No doubt about that. Well, this has been very educational. I really appreciate it. On a personal side, one of the things I like to do, Derek, is just let people get to know you personally, but I kind of asked you to be prepared, but do you have a story or a funny story that you can share with us that you’ve had, maybe encountered professionally?

Derek:

Yeah, like I said previously, I was thinking about it. I mean, I’ve been in the U.S. now for about 16 years, but before I moved here, I came through to Detroit in the early 2000s. And whilst I was in Detroit, I went to visit a friend out in Ann Arbor. And I gave him a call and I said, well, I’m on my way. And I jumped in the rental car and I drove through. And on the way through, I found it quite weird. It’s like, I was passing every vehicle on the road, and I couldn’t understand what’s going on. Why do you Americans drive so slowly? And so I get to his house and he says, “Man, you got here fast.” I said, “Yeah, what is going on? You guys drive so slowly.” He says, “What speed were you doing?” I said, “No, I was doing 100, 120.” And he says, “You do realize that in the U.S., we have miles and not kilometers.” And I was busy thinking, “I’m driving at a hundred kilometers an hour,” which is what, about 60 miles?

Mike:

Right. Right. You’re driving… Right, exactly.

Derek:

But obviously totally forgotten about it, that the readings in miles, it was actually quite weird. I was fortunate that my first little trip of that nature didn’t land me in jail.

Mike:

Oh, I know. I mean, you get reckless driving if you go 20 over. That’s funny as heck, man. You’re just smoking past everybody.

Derek:

I never passed a cop at all, so it was quite weird.

Mike:

That’s a great story.

Derek:

That was my crazy “Welcome to the U.S.,” right?

Mike:

That’s a great story. So what’s your favorite movie of all time? I think you mentioned you might have several, but…

Derek:

Yeah, I think very related to the industry, being a car guy, growing up outside of the U.S, we all had this amazing exposure to the Mustangs. The Mustangs have been a big thing, not just in the U.S., but all over the world. And I really liked that. And the one movie that got to me with the Mustang was the… Gone in 60 Seconds.

Mike:

Yeah.

Derek:

What’s it called…

Mike:

With Nicolas Cage.

Derek:

Eleanor.

Mike:

Oh, Eleanor. Yes. Eleanor was the name. Yeah. He had to talk to her because they always had a bad past.

Derek:

Exactly, exactly. Yeah. So it’s just something so iconic about that car and the way it looked and yeah, that’s always been one of my go-to movies here.

Mike:

That’s good. And just curious, what’s a motto… I don’t know, a quote, a mantra that you live by, somebody may have given you that, a mentor or something that you practice and live by?

Derek:

There’s so many things that come to mind, but the one thing that I constantly look at here in this business, and pretty much my life, as well… I’ve always believed that we need to be able to measure what we do. If you can’t measure, you can’t manage. And that’s something that I’ve always said. Even in our business, we’ve got to be able to measure how well are we doing? Are we doing well or not? And if not, that’s how we can manage it. What we know, we can manage.

Mike:

That’s awesome.

Derek:

So measure and manage has always been a big thing in our business.

Mike:

I like that one. And I’ve actually used that one before because you’ve got to be able to measure it. And I tell people in my past, from the marketing standpoint, “Look, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. And then you don’t know if it’s working or not. “

Derek:

Absolutely. Absolutely. And that’s how we adjust and move forward, right?

Mike:

Absolutely. Well, Derek, I got to tell you, man, it’s been a pleasure having you on the Gain Traction podcast. I’m glad we were introduced. It was Devin that introduced us, Devin Barr.

Derek:

Yeah, that’s right.

Mike:

Yeah. But thank you for being part of the Gain Traction podcast.

Derek:

Thanks, Mike. Thanks for having me on. Appreciate it.

Mike:

And to all our listeners out there, thank you for being part of the podcast. You make this possible. As always, if you would like to recommend a guest to me, please email me at mike at TreadPartners.com. Until next time, have a fantastic day.

Announcer:

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