Now is the time to help your clients who own Auto Parts Stores, Parts & Service Departments at Auto Dealerships, Tire Centers, and even Hardware Stores utilize their co-op funding for Spring car clean-ups and tune-ups. Once the weather warms up, it isn’t such a bad job cleaning your tires, wiping down the seats, windows, and giving the car a great clean-up. Manufacturers such as Simple Green (yes, they are listed in the Co-Op Connect Platform), make great cleaning products for everything for your cars, your home, to industrial, etc. Other manufacturers use this time to promote their “Spring Tune Up” specials, where you can come in for an oil change, tire rotation, and a fluid check. This is exactly what you want to do if you are prepping your car for a late spring/early summer road trip-style vacation.

This year seemed to be a brutal winter all over the country. Places that normally never see snow (hello, Florida) saw snow, while other parts of the country experienced colder-than-normal temperatures that also came with more snow and ice than usual. Some of the problems caused by these colder-than-normal temperatures need to be addressed before hitting the road. Cold weather can weaken your car batteries or cause suspension damage from potholes. It would be horrible to be 800 miles away from home, stranded at a rest stop, when your car won’t start up again due to a dead battery. Some folks are faithful in putting snow tires on their cars in early fall, and this is the time to take them off and put on the all-weather tires. Things like spark plugs only need to be replaced every 60,000 to 100,000 miles but you better check your oil level before hitting the road. If you use conventional oil, you would want to stay on top of oil changes every 3,000-5,000 miles, while Synthetic Oil will get you 7,500-10,000 miles. The great thing about taking your car to an oil change “store/location” (yes, Quaker State is in the Co-Op Connect Platform) is that they often replace your air filter, check your windshield wipers (and replace if necessary), and check your tire pressure, which clears up a lot of potential problems.

Lastly, but right “up there” in importance is your tires. Tires generally should be replaced every 5 to 6 years, regardless of the mileage, as the rubber degrades over time. While the average tires last 50,000 – 60,000 miles, you must replace them sooner if the tread depth falls too low, or if you notice cracking or bulges on the sidewalls (or, if you are like me and seem to find every “nail” in the road!).

Below are just a few of the Auto Parts-related brands that offer co-op funding to their reseller channel that are listed in the Co-Op Connect Platform:

Brand Name – Products/Services – High-Level Guidelines

Castrol, Inc./Quick Lube – Oil Products, Castrol GTX, GTX High Mileage, Non-Synthetic Products, Syntec and Syntec Specialty Products.
Co-op funds are available, but you must contact the customer’s sales rep at Castrol. The only advertising media not eligible for Co-op funding is newspaper advertising.

Bridgestone – Passenger and Light Truck Tires
This program also applies to the Firestone brand. Accrual amount earned varies on channel of the dealer. To obtain accrual dollar amount you should contact [email protected]. Reimbursement is up to 100% for traditional and digital advertising.

Yokohama Tire Corporation – Passenger, Lite Truck and Performance Tires
Co-op funding is available, but the mfr. will not share with third parties. Contact Mary Beaver at Ansira (who administers the program for Yokohama) for assistance. She can be reached at 866-306-6448 or via email at [email protected].

Summary
To find out more about our Co-Op Connect Platform, or our Co-op Concierge Services, call us at 877-990-2667 or email [email protected].

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