If you live in a snow state, then you’re probably used to having to switch your car’s tires twice a year. As a good general rule of thumb, your car should have summer tires in the summer and winter tires in the winter in order to get the best performance through every season. And while tire shops can easily switch the tires out for your, storing them is another part of the equation.

Fortunately, if you get your car worked on by your local dealership, they typically have ways to store your winter tires. But how do they keep track of them?

Storing your winter tires at a dealership can be a major convenience

While many car owners tend to take their cars to independent shops for repairs, many others go to dealership service bays instead. And while prices for labor and parts are usually higher at a dealership, they can act as a one-stop-shop for customers looking to get work done and their tires stored for the season.

The process is simple, if you need your winter tires to be stored for the season, then the dealership shop will unmount them and store them, and then mount and balance the summer tires on your car while you wait. You can even buy new tires while you’re there if needed.

Storing winter tires is not only beneficial for the customer, but it’s also beneficial on the business side of the equation as well.

According to the Tire Business, offering tire storage continually draws customers back to the dealership in addition to opportunities for additional vehicle services. However, Automotive News says that tire storage isn’t exactly a profit source for the dealership, but the profit source is the return business.

Keeping track of those winter tires can be tough for dealers

Having the dealership store your winter tires is quite convenient for the customer, but for the dealership, it can be tough. Having to take inventory of all of these tires and then store them has become a challenge for some dealerships.

Automotive News reported that many dealerships in the Denver, Colo., area store around 300 to 450 different sets of tires every year, and as you can imagine, it can be tough to keep track of them all. In fact, there have even been customers that have complained about dealers losing their winter tires, which can be a nightmare for both parties.

Fortunately, there are services like InvenTire, which is a Colorado-based company that has created tire inventory management software so that dealerships can keep better track of their customer’s tires all year.

According to Charlie Doebbler, the COO of InvenTire, the company is currently providing its service to three dealerships in the Colorado area but is looking to expand in order to offer its tire inventory service via many more dealers nationwide since seasonal tire storage is beneficial for not only the customers but for dealers as well.

Winter tire storage is mainly offered in high-end dealerships

Many of the dealerships that currently offer winter tire storage options are higher-end dealerships like Audi, Porsche, BMW, and Lexus stores. However, other more mainstream dealers should be following suit soon enough with the help of companies like InvenTire.

“We’re just getting started, but we’re looking to expand throughout the state and to anywhere people use snow tires,” Doebbler said. Hopefully, they will, since winter tire storage is an important service that many dealers and customers probably never thought they needed, but can benefit from it greatly.