 APRO: The Official Voice of the Rent to Own Industry
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Rent-to-own franchises - Wheel Workz
Dale Ingram (info@wheelworkz.com) PO Box 172172 Memphis, TN 38187-2172 800/779-3639, ext. 401; fax 901/869-1715
Company-owned stores: 0
Franchise-owned stores: 12
Expansion plans: Wheel Workz just signed a contract with a new company, now called Southern Wheel Workz LLC, which has an area agreement to open up 25 stores over the next five years throughout Florida, Brazil, Panama and throughout the Caribbean; also, a third franchise-owned store will be opening in Nashville, Tennessee, soon. The type of franchise owner they’re looking for: Someone who loves cars, has the financial backing to buy into the franchise and who has a lot of enthusiasm for the business.
Why they’re different: “I think we have more of an all-inclusive system that contains sales, service, repair and rent to own,” says Premier Wheel Workz President Dale Ingram. “If you compared us to other rent-to-own stores that sell a few tires and wheels, we’re probably a tire-and-wheel store, which is complete with sales, service, repair and that also does rent to own.” In fact, a typical Wheel Workz store sells product 75 percent of the time and rents the rest. The concept also aims for wealthy and affluent customers as much as anyone else, says Premier VP of Operations Tommy Crenshaw. “We’re a destination for high-performance vehicles.” Ingram notes that the company slogan is: “Where athletes and stars bring their cars.”
What they’ll do for you: It runs the gamut, from sales to shipping. “We take a lot of the guesswork out of it,” says Ingram. “We take away the learning curve.” Crenshaw elaborates: “Anyone can learn this business in two or three years, but through us, you can be an expert in two or three months.”
License master franchise rights: Yes
Selling primary multiple store location agreements: Yes
Selling franchise agreements for just one store: Yes
Active franchisee advisory board: “No, but we will have,” promises Ingram. “That’s very important to us.”
Net worth of candidate: $500,000
Franchise fees: $30,000
Royalties: 5 percent
Advertising co-op: 2 percent
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Wheel Workz LLC
2012 APRO Convention and Trade Show July 24-26, Memphis, TN
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RTOHQ: The Magazine
RTOHQ: The Magazine is the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations' award-winning rent-to-own industry magazine, and it's available here. | |||
 CLICK HERE FOR OUR DIGITAL RTOHQ: THE MAGAZINE
RTOHQ: The Magazine’s upgraded digital format APRO's new, mobile-ready magazine is now available in addition to our print edition. The digital format provides the same informative content as our printed magazine, but also offers tools to make the reading experience more enriching. Access the table of contents page with one click or tap. Get additional information from advertisers by clicking on the links in their ads. The interface is easy to navigate and requires no special app—read our magazine on your computer, digital table or smartphone. Click here to access the digital version of RTOHQ: The Magazine March-April 2012.
A New Rent-to-Own Experience by Neil Ferguson Here’s the lowdown on APRO’s 2012 Convention and Trade Show, July 24-26 in Memphis. The RTO industry’s big event will offer many valuable experiences, including insights on how to turn your stores into “experiences”–the good kind for consumers
Who Is Your Competition? by Bill Keese In order to expand your customer base, you can learn a lot by observing your competitors. But first, you need to figure out just who they are. If you think your only competition is the rent-to-own store down the street, you’re not considering the bigger picture. APRO’s executive director offers a big-picture perspective.
A Review of Online Customer Complaints by Ed Winn III While rent-to-own companies have not cornered the market on negative reviews posted on consumer complaint websites, it’s no surprise that there are cyberspace beefs against RTO. APRO’s general counsel reviews some of them in search of a pattern and he considers appropriate response to online complaints.
Rent-to-Own Families, Part VIII by Kristen Card Our series of family-run rent-to-own businesses continues with profiles of the Homeiers in Kansas and two Texas-based sets of kindred colleagues, the Spangles and the Weisblatts.
Future issues of APRO's magazine will be available in this same new format. Click here to access past issues that are not yet archived in the new interface.
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Association of Progressive Rental Organizations 1504 Robin Hood Trail Austin, Texas 78703 800/204-2776, ext. 103 Fax 512/794-0097 |