The “tyre waltz” is in full swing at Communauto

Changing your car tires weighs on you? Imagine having to change 14,000 of them.

This is the chore that the Montreal Communauto teams must tackle twice a year in order to comply with Quebec legislation on winter tires. A challenge whose scale is growing at the frenetic pace of vehicle purchases by the popular car-sharing company.

Communauto is finishing its winter tire operation these days, after a summer of planning and a fall of work. In Quebec, the legal deadline for installing winter tires is set for 1^er December.

“The person responsible starts making appointments at the beginning of July. We have to block the vehicles at the station a month in advance to avoid there being a reservation” at the same time, explains Simon Rouleau-Mailloux, material resources manager, in front of busy mechanics. “We start changing tires at the end of August and finish at the beginning of November. »

Mr. Rouleau-Mailloux and his teams need a month of margin to catch the few recalcitrant cars that have left Montreal for long periods and other unforeseen events. And “garages have zero availability in November,” he explains.

Communauto operates approximately 5,000 vehicles, including 3,500 in Montreal.

“A blitz”

The majority of Communauto tire changes are carried out by private garages, located throughout the Montreal region in order to reduce transit time.

But last year, the company bought its own mechanical workshop on Monk Boulevard, in the southwest of the metropolis. Objective: take care of the most expensive repairs, carry out certain maintenance… and change tires. Lots of tires.

“It’s a blitz. It’s stock. It’s 40 tanks [par jour], the rhythm has to be there,” explained the boss of the garage, Patrick Darche. Through the sounds of a percussion drill and the smell of oil, he poetically evokes a “waltz of tires”. “We will respond to demand. »

This is constantly growing. Just this year, 900 vehicles were added to the streets of Montreal.

Mr. Darche circulates through the rows of shelves which – all full – can accommodate more than 3,000 tires. The others are stored in private garages and in a large warehouse rented by Communauto. The mechanic also wants to sacrifice his local storage space to add lifts and increase his work capacity.

Because there is work. “ [Les pneus]we stop on 1^er November and we start again on March 15” with summer tires, he says with a laugh. “It seems like we sigh and start again on the other cycle. »

Communauto CEO Benoit Robert has been thinking about opening a garage for a long time. “It was stressful, because it’s not our profession,” relates Simon Rouleau-Mailloux. “ [Ça permet de] do as much as possible on our own vehicles and also have priority, because when you go to another garage, there are also other customers,” adds Patrick Darche.

To the research of a small car

Exit the Prius C. Exit the Kia Rio. Communauto is scratching its head these days to find the new subcompact model of which it will purchase thousands of copies over the coming years. The small gray cars that have become omnipresent in the metropolis will therefore take on a new face. “Unfortunately, this is the last year of the Kia Rio,” since the manufacturer is abandoning the model, explains Simon Rouleau-Mailloux, material resources manager at Communauto. “There, we are looking for what will replace the Kia Rio as a small car. » Toyota stopped producing Prius Cs for North America in 2019. Already, faced with supply difficulties in recent years, the company began purchasing different models of mid-size cars to offer them as unannounced rentals. (“Flex” service). It has also given up on color uniformity (too bad for gray) and is delaying the scrapping of its oldest cars.