Houlton Tire now sells truck parts

Houlton Pioneer Times photo/Gloria Austin
NEW DIVISION — Keith Hersey, manager of Houlton Tire Company, is seen getting a truck part from the store’s inventory. Houlton Tire Company has added a new truck parts division to its full line of service. For more information, call 532-6571.
New line of product better serves customers
By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
    Houlton Tire Company on Smyrna Street has added a new truck parts division to compliment its already full line of service.
    “We added the division to go along with our road service and inspections,” said Keith Hersey, manager of Houlton Tire Company. “It is an added service we are offering.”
    The new truck parts division was unveiled to customers two weeks ago, but had been in the planning stages since last October.
    “We weren’t sure what we were going to do, how we were going to do it, or even if we wanted to do it,” said Hersey. “But, having done it in the past for a number of years, it fell into place.”
    The new truck parts division was introduced not so much by demand, but as a necessity.
     “By doing the commercial inspection for truck and trailer, we were always running for extra parts that we didn’t have here,” said Hersey. “Or, on our road calls at night, if you needed something and we didn’t have it, we had to call someone to go in [to their store] or we couldn’t repair the job until the next day.”
    Hersey said the service will be available upon customers’ needs.
    “It’s fairly new,” he said. “Sales have been pretty decent for just starting out. We are getting calls every day on it.”
    In addition to the new truck parts division, Houlton Tire Company offers a variety of other services, as well.
    “We do hydraulic hoses and fittings,” Hersey said. “We have two-wire to six-wire.”
    The company also sells tires, fixes exhausts, does alignments on passenger through commercial vehicles, along with inspections, including heavy duty and over-the-road truck and trailers.
    “We do everything except engines, transmissions and rear ends, as far as internal tear downs,” Hersey explained.
    Some of the brand names at Houlton Tire Company include Bendix; Dayton, Gunite, Stemco; National; Timkin. They have Monroe shocks, Spicer and Donaldson fuel, oil and water filters. They also carry cam shafts and u-joints, as well as Cooper, Firestone and Bridgestone tires.
    “I think the new truck parts division will do well,” Hersey said. “The idea is to start small and see where it goes.”