FRANCHISED car dealers have increased their tyre sales threefold after signing up to Tyreserve, according to the online tyre provider.

Tyreserve started targeting the franchised dealer market in September and has since signed deals with seven manufacturers, including Peugeot, Volkswagen and MG Rover.

The company enables independent dealers and garages to participate in a national network by linking them electronically.

David Goodyear, managing director of Tyreserve, said: 'There have been five main factors keeping franchise dealers out of the large fleet tyre market – the need for one national price, no central billing, patchy availability of approved brands, lack of management reporting and poor driver acceptance.

'We have been able to provide dealers with the tools to overcome all these obstacles.' In a period of less than five months, Tyreserve has signed up 1,400 dealers to this programme to add to its 600 independent tyre centres and 300 mobile fitting units.

Don Lindsay, from group aftersales at MG Rover said: 'It provides a real opportunity for our network to give a better service to our fleet customers and gain a new revenue source that was unavailable previously.'

Peugeot dealer Renwicks of Plymouth has seen its tyre sales rise from 65 units in August to 153 in December after joining Tyreserve.