,
a mobile service company that works
primarily with high-end cars,
christened its new truck March 3.
The Isuzu box truck,
outfitted with new Hunter
Engineering Co. equipment, travels
to customers to sell and service
tires, said Pit Crew Tire owner
Craig Knarich. His warehouse, which
holds a $75,000 inventory in tires
of various sizes and primarily
Michelin and Continental brands, is
in his garage at home, but he
services a tri-county area, even
expanding into Tampa.
Mr. Knarich, who also is a full-time
firefighter, said the main
philosophy of his business has been
to compete thorough service. In the
same vein, Mr. Knarich said he
doesn’t shy away from charging
prices that are higher than other
area shops. “The industry needs to
start selling tires at what the
quality of the tires (is) instead of
price,” he said.
His business mostly comes from word
of mouth since he said he does not
run conventional advertising such as
print and radio ads. Also, Mr.
Knarich said, new-car dealerships
refer many customers to him because
he is able to solve the complicated
vibration problems of the high-end
European luxury cars. “If you take
care of your customers, they will
come back to you and tell somebody,
and that’s how I do business,’ he
said.
After 15 years of running the
business, Mr. Knarich said he has
built sales to about $200,000 a
year. He originally got the idea
from a venture with a friend where
the two pieced together sets of
tires from used tires then sold them
at auction.
Craig J.
Knarich
Owner Operator
Pit Crew Tire Service
Palm Harbor Florida
