National Dealer of the Year Award for Tyrepower
By Pauline Stewart.
It’s a lean, efficient and energetic team at Tyrepower – Bodie Abrahamson, Chris Pennell and Luke Ebsworth and they are very proud and pleased to have won ‘National Dealer of the Year’ for Tyrepower in Whitianga.
Locally owned Tyrepower in Whitianga, commenced business in 2021 just before Covid 19 lockdowns. Of the 20 New Zealand Tyrepower stores in New Zealand, Whitianga is one of the most recently established, and happens to be the smallest Tyrepower store in the country.
On Saturday, 30 September, it was announced that Whitianga Tyrepower won ‘Dealer of the Year’ for 2023 in just their second year of operation. This follows winning the ‘Best Presented Store’ In New Zealand in 2022 when they had just completed their first year in operation.
“We are pretty stoked,” says Bodie, the owner of the business with his wife, Lisa. “It’s been quite a ride with Covid and then the weather blows, and sometimes things have been pretty lean, but we have kept on offering the best service and deals we possibly can and anticipating the needs of drivers out there.”
The Dealer of the Year award is based on sales, store growth, presentation, customer service, industry knowledge, community involvement, online reviews and presence in the local community.
“This award is a big deal for our store and means a lot to us,” says Chris, the Manager. “We have doubled what we have done since last year, in terms of service.”
There are over 275 Tyrepower stores in Australia and next year, Whitianga, as the winning Kiwi store, will be competing with the winning stores from Queensland, NSW, West Australia, South Australia and Northern Territory for “International Dealer of the Year. This will take place in April in Sydney.
“All stores are individually owned and operated and it’s a very competitive market. But we are up for the challenge,” says Chris.
When The Informer made arrangements for an interview and photo, we could not have been better served with the information and hospitality offered by the youngest member of the team, Luke.
Luke Ebsworth’s aim is to eventually gain an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering. There is not an apprenticeship that can be done in the tyre aspect of vehicles. He loves what he does and learning about every aspect of the vehicle industry. Luke also added, “I really like Whitianga, it is a great place to establish yourself in a business.”
Tyrepower Whitianga facts
Tyres: Deals with cars, vans, 4X4 tyres and have access to all tyre brands, are EV tyre specialists and have a massive range of entry level and premium tyres in stock. Plus, motorbike, scooter and lawnmower tyres.
Services offered:
Wheel alignments and wheel balancing, puncture repairs, mag and alloy wheel exports (they have a show room full of mag and alloy wheels), mag wheel repairs.
Commercial fleet tyre service – truck and tractor tyres, with a fleet truck doing call outs and fleet tyre management; Free quotes; Afterpay and SmartCover Finance; Courtesy Cars; Pickup and drop off service.
Congratulations Tyrepower! Go to their user-friendly website for more information.
Caption: Tyrepower owner, Bodie Abrahamson, Service assistant Luke Ebsworth, and Manager Chris Pennell proudly show the awards.