What should a shop do when a stored tire is damaged or lost?

First, find out what actually happened

A set that cannot be found is usually misplaced, not gone. Before anyone tells the customer anything beyond a calm request for a little time, run a structured search: check the recorded rack position, then the positions on either side and above and below, then the intake bay, the changeover bays, and any overflow area. Pull the intake record and confirm the set actually arrived and what it looked like. Sets get returned to the wrong shelf after a changeover more often than they leave the building.

If the search fails, look at the outbound side. Was a similar set picked up recently by a customer with a matching size? Were tires released without the tag being cleared? A tire that was mounted on the wrong vehicle by mistake is a specific and fixable problem, and the sooner you know, the easier the correction. For damage rather than loss, compare the intake photos to the tire in front of you and decide honestly whether the damage occurred in your care, arrived that way, or cannot be determined.

Keep reading: How do you track where every customer's stored tires sit on the rack?, What is the best way to remind customers about a seasonal tire changeover?, Why should a shop record tread depth history for every stored tire set?. See how TireKeepr helps you tire storage and seasonal changeover tracking.

Telling the customer, and what to offer

Call rather than text, and lead with what you know and what you are doing about it. Customers accept mistakes far better than they accept silence or vagueness. If the set is lost, say so, explain the search that has been done, and give a firm time by which you will either have it or have a resolution. If a tire is damaged, show them the intake photo and the current condition side by side so the conversation is about facts, not memory.

The remedy should match the situation and be offered rather than extracted. For a lost set, replacing the tires with equivalent new ones in the same size and category is the clean answer, adjusted only if the originals were near the end of their life and the customer agrees. For damage, a repair, a single replacement tire, or a credit toward the next changeover may be enough. Whatever you offer, put it in writing the same day and do not make the customer chase you for it. Related: What is the best way to remind customers about a seasonal tire changeover?

Insurance, storage agreements, and the limits of both

Many shops carry garage keepers coverage or similar policies that may respond to customer property damaged or lost while in the shop's care, but every policy has its own conditions and deductibles. Know what yours covers before you need it, and keep the intake photos and records because they are what an adjuster will ask for. A written storage agreement that sets out how the shop values a set and what it is responsible for is also useful, but it works as a framework, not a shield. Related: Why should a shop record tread depth history for every stored tire set?

Treat any limitation of liability in your agreement as a starting point for a fair conversation rather than the end of it. A customer who stored four nearly new tires and is offered the agreement's minimum value is going to leave, and tell people why. The reputational cost of one set of tires is small compared with the referral value of a customer who saw you handle a problem well. Where the value in dispute is significant, get advice from your insurer and, if needed, an attorney familiar with bailment rules in your state. Related: How do you track where every customer's stored tires sit on the rack?

Fixing the process so it does not repeat

Every lost or damaged set is a diagnostic. Trace it back: was the rack position recorded wrong, was the tag missing, did a changeover return the set to a random empty slot, did a tire get stacked under something heavy? Find the step that failed and change it, whether that means a mandatory position update at return, a rule that tags stay on until the tires are on the car, or a floor-level zone for heavy sets. Related: When should you swap from winter tires back to summer tires safely?

Then check whether the same failure is sitting elsewhere unnoticed. A quick audit of a random sample of rack positions against records, done in the quiet weeks after each rush, catches misfiled sets before the customer calls for them. Storage software with position history makes this easier because it shows who moved a set and when, but the habit matters more than the tool. A shop that audits will lose fewer sets than one that only searches when a customer is standing at the counter.