The rare case: tires and maintenance at one supplier
Most fleets split their work. Tires go to a tire supplier, maintenance goes to a shop, and nobody holds both halves of the record.
Billings runs sixteen services, which covers both. Tires and retreading alongside brakes, oil changes, cooling system, suspension, A/C, engine repair and scheduled maintenance.
For a fleet of light vehicles and trucks together, that means one account, one history per unit, and one visit where there would otherwise be two.
Where the money actually is
Tire spend is the visible number. The expensive number is downtime, and it is the one most fleets never put a figure on.
A vehicle in a shop twice for things that could have been done once is paying for the second visit in lost use rather than in parts. A unit that fails on the road costs more than the same work scheduled, by a wide margin, before anyone counts the delivery that did not happen.
An account exists to move work from the first category to the second.
What gets agreed
Specifications by position and vehicle type. A maintenance schedule matched to how your vehicles are used rather than to an average. Terms and authorization settled once, which is what matters at 2 AM on a roadside call. Records, so cost per unit becomes a figure you can act on.
Alignment belongs on that schedule rather than in the reactive pile: heavy-duty truck, trailer and car and light truck are all done here, and alignment is the tire saving that costs the least to obtain.
Across the state
Belgrade is the other Purcell location in Montana, commercial only, covering the southwest. A fleet working both ends of the state should ask for one account spanning both rather than a separate relationship at each.
What to bring
The unit list by type with sizes and positions. How and where each vehicle is used, including towing and unpaved miles. What has been failing. Who authorizes work, and how you want it billed and reported.
About this store
The Billings store carries all nine Purcell tire categories, is open Monday to Friday, 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM, and is managed by Larry Wagoner.
See the national fleet services page for the other 48 locations.