Tyre changeover season: handling the autumn and spring rush

Open changeover bookings a few weeks before the first cold spell, in slots whose number of places matches the number of bays you can run at once, and let customers pick their time online. Customers with tyres stored at your shop book like everyone else and write their storage reference in the note, so you can bring their set out the day before. Keep some capacity outside the booked slots for punctures and walk-ins, and say on your page that booked customers go first.

Drivers who switch between winter and summer tyres all think of it at the same time: at the first frost or the first snow forecast, and again when spring arrives. For a tyre shop, that means a few weeks of queues, full phone lines and a car park full of vehicles waiting, followed by quieter months. Every driver who calls to ask "can I come now?" takes you away from the car on the lift.

Booked slots don't make the peak smaller, but they spread it over the day and pull part of it earlier. A driver who books ten days ahead doesn't join the queue on the first snowy Saturday.

On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page. Each slot belongs to one service, with its own start and end, and its own number of places. Customers pick a service, then a free slot; each booking takes one place, and when all places are taken, the slot disappears from your page. With two bays, a 30-minute changeover slot can take two places: two cars at once.

Lengths, places and prices are examples: set your own. Say in the description what's included (balancing, valves, pressure check) and that tyre prices are quoted separately.

For customers whose tyres you store, ask in the description for the storage reference or number plate in the note. The public booking form asks for first name, last name, email and phone, plus that optional note, which you read in your new-booking email. The evening before, check your bookings list and bring out the sets for the next day. The car arrives, the set is ready, and the job takes the time it should.

Not everyone will book, and punctures don't wait. Keep one bay, or some hours, outside the booked slots for them, and tell walk-in customers that booked customers go first. If you take a phone booking, pick a free slot in your calendar and enter the customer's name; email and phone are optional, and with the email they get a confirmation and a calendar file. Customers can't move bookings online: they contact you, and you reschedule from your list and confirm yourself, since Book doesn't email them about changes. Book doesn't take payments, so customers pay at the counter as usual. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.