The tire shop KPIs to track by location are car count, tires per ticket, alignment attach rate, average ticket, tire and service gross margin, labor %, comeback rate and bay time per tire job. Compare stores on rates (per bay, per tire job, per ticket), never on raw totals, and judge each store against its own last 13 weeks and the same week last year, because the changeover rush skews everything.
Most KPI guides for tire dealers are written for one store, or they sell a spreadsheet bundle. This one is for owners with two or more stores who want to know what's happening at every location from one page, and which number to ask a manager about.
Quick answer
- Volume: car count and tires per ticket.
- Selling: alignment attach rate and average ticket.
- Money: tire margin and service margin, kept separate; labor % of sales.
- Quality and speed: comeback rate and bay time per tire job.
- Fair comparison: per bay, per tire job, per ticket; same week last year during changeover.
What are the most important tire shop KPIs?
Eight numbers cover almost everything an owner needs to see. Each one has a plain formula, so every store calculates it the same way.
| KPI | Formula | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Car count | Paid tickets per day (or per bay per day) | Is the store getting cars in? |
| Tires per ticket | Tires sold ÷ tire tickets | Are they selling sets or singles? |
| Alignment attach rate | Alignments sold ÷ tire tickets with 4 tires | Is the counter offering the alignment? |
| Average ticket | Total sales ÷ tickets | How much each visit is worth |
| Tire gross margin % | (Tire sales − tire cost) ÷ tire sales | Is tire pricing holding? |
| Service gross margin % | (Service sales − parts and labor cost) ÷ service sales | Is the service side paying? |
| Labor % of sales | Total labor cost ÷ total sales | Is the schedule matched to the cars? |
| Comeback rate | Tickets with a return for the same job in 30 days ÷ tickets | Torque, balance and TPMS quality |
| Bay time per tire job | Minutes from car in the bay to car out, for 4-tire jobs | Where the day's capacity goes |
That's nine rows because margin is split in two. Keep it that way. A store can look fine on blended margin while discounting tires hard and making it back on brakes.
How do you calculate alignment attach rate?
Count alignments sold, then divide by tire tickets where 4 tires were sold. Don't divide by all tickets: oil changes and flat repairs will drag the rate down and hide the real story.
Modern Tire Dealer's long-standing rule of thumb is that "for every four retail tires sold, there should be an alignment sold" (Modern Tire Dealer). Whether your stores get near that depends on your mix, so set the target from your best store, not from an article.
A low attach rate at one store usually means one of three things: the counter isn't offering it, the alignment rack is down or booked out, or the store sells a lot of fleet and used tires where alignment isn't sold. Check which before you coach.
How do you compare tire shop KPIs across locations fairly?
Raw totals reward the biggest store. Use these four rules instead:
- Use rates, not totals. Car count per bay per day, tires per ticket, attach per 4-tire ticket. A 3-bay store and an 8-bay store can then sit on the same page.
- Compare each store to itself first. Build each store's normal range from its last 13 weeks. A store outside its own range is the call to make, even if it still beats the others.
- During changeover, compare to the same week last year. Spring and fall swaps bend every number: car count jumps, ticket drops (mounts and storage), bay time rises. Week-over-week comparisons in October and November are mostly noise.
- Split retail and fleet. Fleet tickets have different tickets, margins and attach rates. Report them as a separate line, or a fleet-heavy store will always look like your worst seller.
If you also run quick lubes, the same method is in our quick lube KPIs by store guide. For repair-heavy stores, see KPIs by store for auto repair.
Worksheet: a 3-store weekly tire scorecard
Here's one week for an owner with three stores. (Made-up numbers, not real store data.)
| Store A (6 bays) | Store B (4 bays) | Store C (8 bays) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Car count per bay per day | 5.8 | 6.1 | 4.2 |
| Tires per tire ticket | 3.6 | 3.7 | 2.9 |
| Alignment attach (4-tire tickets) | 24% | 21% | 9% |
| Average ticket | $410 | $395 | $330 |
| Tire margin | 27% | 26% | 23% |
| Service margin | 58% | 55% | 56% |
| Labor % of sales | 24% | 26% | 31% |
| Comebacks (30 days) | 1.1% | 1.4% | 1.2% |
| Bay time, 4-tire job | 42 min | 45 min | 58 min |
How to read it:
- Store A and B are close. B's labor is two points higher; worth a look at the schedule, not a phone call.
- Store C is off on five lines, and they're connected. Fewer cars per bay, more single and pair sales, very low alignment attach, lower tire margin, higher labor and longer bay time.
Ask Store C's manager three specific questions:
- Bay time is 16 minutes longer than Store A on the same job. Is the alignment rack or a balancer down, or is it staffing?
- Attach is 9% against 24%. Is the counter offering alignments on 4-tire jobs?
- Tire margin is 4 points under A. Which discounts are being given, and by whom?
A labor number above 30% with the lowest car count per bay also says the schedule is built for a busier store than the one C actually is. For reference, one Tire Review finance guide sets total labor expense at no more than 25% of gross sales (Tire Review); treat that as a starting point, not a rule for your mix.
What can't the POS tell you about each store?
Your POS knows what was billed. It can't tell you:
- Tire jobs done without a ticket. A set mounted for a friend, a "cash" job, a ticket never closed. A bay camera counts cars and tire jobs at each bay, and you can match that to tickets the next morning. Our tire inventory audit shows the same check from the parts side: tires received vs tires billed.
- Real bay time. Ticket open and close times only work if the counter opens the ticket when the car pulls in. Cameras time the bay itself.
- Calls that never became tickets. "Do you have my size?" calls missed during the rush don't show up anywhere in the POS. See how tire shops lose sales on the phone.
You don't need all three on day one. Start with the eight POS numbers by store. Add the camera count when you want to know the numbers are complete.
How often should you review tire shop KPIs by location?
- Daily (5 minutes): car count, average ticket and any store outside its normal range.
- Weekly (20 minutes per manager): the full scorecard above, one goal per manager with a number on it.
- Monthly: margin by store and by tire brand or line; schedule and pricing changes.
- Each changeover: this year vs the same weeks last year, plus bay time and storage pickups per day.
Our guide on holding store managers accountable has the weekly call agenda and a scorecard template managers can see.
Mistakes that make the numbers useless
- Each store calculating differently. If one store counts a flat repair as a tire ticket and another doesn't, the attach rate is meaningless. Write the formulas down once.
- Blended margin only. It hides tire discounting behind service profit.
- Ranking stores on totals. The biggest store always wins, and managers stop paying attention.
- Too many KPIs. Owners who track 30 numbers end up acting on none. Eight, with ranges.
- Looking monthly only. A bad week during changeover costs more than a bad month in July.
How Trilix fits
We build the scorecard so nobody pulls it by hand. Your POS, supplier invoices and books come together on one owner dashboard, with every store on the same formulas and a flag on anything outside its range. Camera analytics on the cameras you already have add tire jobs counted at the bay and real bay times, so you can see the work that didn't make it onto a ticket. It sits on top of the systems you run today. More on how this works for tire stores on our tire and auto repair page.
Want every tire store's numbers on one page?
We'll look at your POS, supplier invoices and cameras and show you what your scorecard would flag.