We now have an organization in place to give franchisees hands-on experience from the lowest to the highest level
Scott Savell, co-founder, Premier Wheel Rentals

For over a decade Scott has developed his niche market and watched it grow. Now he has launched a new chapter as co-founder of Premier Wheel Rentals.

Scott Savell is a risk taker. When he and two partners launched the first ever wheel and tire rental company, people thought they were crazy. “They’re right,” says Scott. “But you’ve gotta think out of the box to rent wheels and tires. People say that about RTO too. I don’t lose sleep over what people think of me or my business.” And for over a decade Scott has developed his niche market and watched it grow. Now he has launched a new chapter as co-founder of Premier Wheel Rentals.

Scott began his career in RTO just out of college 20 years ago. A native west Texan, he had planned a different career track, but the sorry condition of the oil industry in the 1980s did not bode well for an individual with a college degree in petroleum land management. Scott had never heard of RTO but he had a wife as well as a child on the way and needed a job. It was a family member who told him about an opening for store manager in a furniture, appliance and electronics rental business. He landed the job and began a successful career in rental purchase.

“I learned on the spot,” says Scott. “I also knew about six months in that I wanted to do this by myself.” But for the next 2 ½ years he stayed with that company opening stores and fixing problem stores, gaining experience in managing and in running a business. And then he decided to make things happen on his own.

“It was time to live the American dream,” says Scott. “I love challenges and I know there is no greater challenge than launching your own business.”

With two children now, he needed capital to open his own store. He had the idea and the expertise, but he needed the money. “An idea can’t go anywhere without money,” he says. “I felt like I could run my own business. But I knew even at the young age of 25 years that the worst mistake I could make was to even attempt to open doors under capitalized. There are inevitably things that come up. If you don’t have financial flexibility to endure, you will fail. You need to be able to have enough start-up capital plus some to be able to withstand the wind and rain when it comes.”

Based on my experience I was able to secure half of the money to launch a store. A friend agreed to provide the rest as venture capital, so I picked up my family and moved from a good paying job in West Texas where I had lived all my life to East Texas where I launched Save-All Rental.” Scott expanded to three stores over the next few years.

One day in 1994, Scott got a call from a friend within the RTO industry - a friend whose ideas he respected. “He called me one day and said, ‘I’m going to rent tires.’ I thought he was crazy. But the more he explained what he was doing, I saw sense in it. He wanted to provide an option to customers they hadn’t had before: a way to customize their car when it wasn’t always easy for them financially. He wanted to open a wheel and tire rental store that could offer a range of rental options and payment plans.”

Scott continues. “I always knew my friend was an awesome concept guy. Approximately one year later, he approached me about becoming a partner with him and another friend. At first I wasn’t sure about selling my own stores to do this. It was a strange market at that time with values of rental stores going up and down. I chewed on it, prayed on it, a few days later decided the timing was right and I would go with it.”

Within a short time, the trio decided to sell franchises, operating under the trade name of Tire Time Rentals. According to Scott they had a great game plan. Scott knew nothing about wheels and tires but understood rental operations and was experienced in launching a business. One partner had a general understanding of tires and had been in the rental industry longer than Scott. And the third individual understood wheels and tires extensively.

“We thought we had a great set up, a full package here and that we could really develop this thing. In two years time, from 1996-98, we sold 27 franchises in Texas, New Mexico and California.

But the three partners found they had too many differences, and their partnership disbanded. “I picked up my family and moved to Brownwood, Texas to launch my own Wheels and Tire company,” says Scott. “After all I had been the guy going around opening up storefronts. I had been learning the business from top to bottom and was able to go out and start up.”

For two years Scott operated one store himself. His goal was to raise his kids - now three - in rural Texas and provide good service to his customers. He still believed in his concept and eventually got the itch to expand. He opened a store in a bigger market, Temple, Texas and was very successful. With eventual plans to franchise, he named his stores American Tire Rentals and opened a third one in Waco, Texas. He then opened one in Atlanta, Georgia, but this time he had new motives.

A few years prior to opening in Atlanta, Larry Sutton, CEO of Rent-n-Roll and long-time friend of Scott’s, had asked if he could come visit Scott’s Brownwood storefront. Larry was interested in the concept and told Scott that he was planning to open a store in Tampa, Florida. Scott was interested to see how the concept would work in a large metropolitan area like Tampa with an operator as dynamic and innovative as Larry.

“It’s worked pretty good for Larry so far,” says Scott. “Atlanta was a great rental market as well, and we were the first one there.”

Over the next months other competitors followed in Atlanta, and within a year there were six. But Scott feels that being the first storefront there has paid off handsomely. “We’re the best!” he says.

Scott began thinking about franchising once again. But he had a new idea about how to proceed. He discovered that Trooper Earle, CEO/president of Premier Rental-Purchase, was getting into wheels and tires and he knew of Trooper’s success with franchising in the electronics, furniture and appliance rental purchase industry.

“But operationally, a wheel and tire business is different from rental purchase,” says Scott. “In dealing with tires, there is that element of custom fit, of knowing what will and won’t work when ordering something not in stock. That is where it is important to understand wheel and tire applications. The learning curve is to the extreme. I called Trooper and suggested we combine my knowledge of my industry with his expertise in franchising. We had two proven commodities and together could be second to none.”

“I was very interested in partnering with Scott Savell,” says Trooper. “He has more knowledge of the wheel and tire rental industry than anyone in the United States. Premier has a proven franchising program that is working incredibly well for us. Combining our franchising program with Scott’s industry expertise was a natural for both of us. We both expect big things from this partnership. Together, we will offer to our dealers all the great franchising support we do now for our Rental-Purchase dealer (which includes startup assistance, financing, marketing, HR services, buying power and more) along with best operational support and industry expertise available in the industry.”

With nothing ahead but tremendous potential, Scott and Trooper introduced Premier Wheel Rentals last April. “We now have an organization in place to give franchisees hands-on experience from the lowest to the highest level,” says Scott. “We are the only one that can offer complete training and the support from top to bottom that franchisees deserve. We have worked hard and are ready. Premier Wheel Rentals is really the wisest choice for anyone interested in this unique and emerging industry niche called wheel and tire rental.” Using an analogy from his favorite sport, football, Scott continues, “I want prospective franchisees to know they should get on the right team to help them win the Super Bowl in an exciting new industry!”

By being on that team, franchisees will benefit from a variety of support services around the clock. According to Scott and Trooper, operational training will be conducted in actual wheel and tire rental stores to give a franchisee the best possible hands-on training available from the tire machine to customer service. Premier Rental-Purchase will make available advertising ideas and strategies to sell not only wheels and tires but the rental concept as well.

“Just like with our Rental-Purchase dealers, we will be heavily involved with our Premier Wheel Rentals dealers. Our franchising philosophy is unique. We not only allow, but encourage our dealers to be entrepreneurs and try new things if they think it will improve their business. Our franchising program continues to provide our dealers with the right amount of guidance, support, and operational freedom” says Trooper. “Over the past decade, Premier has worked closely with all our dealers to provide each dealer what they need, without being controlling. With Scott’s industry expertise, Premier is now set to provide our Wheel and Tire Rental dealers with the best franchise support in the industry.”

Scott adds, “There is a tremendous demand in the market for customers who love to customize their vehicles. Therefore there is tremendous potential for our success - but only if we run our businesses properly.”

To contact Scott Savell about franchising opportunities, visit www.premierwheels.net or give him a call at 1-800-2-PREMIER.