Commitment to Service Lives on at Family-Owned Bingham Tire, Goodyear’s March Dealer of the Month

AKRON, Ohio, March 12, 2010 — The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company recently named Bingham Tire as its Commercial Tire Dealer of the Month for March.

The Barbourville, Ky.-based tire dealer was chosen for providing customers outstanding service, while helping them choose from among the Goodyear, Dunlop and Kelly tire brands. The dealer of the month honor also recognizes Bingham Tire for helping customers make full use of Goodyear services, such as fleetHQ and TVTRACK and GTRACS automated retread tracking system.

“My father set up his Goodyear service shop in a small shed beside the family home in 1964,” said Brent Bingham, Frank’s youngest son and co-owner of Bingham Tire. “As a coal haul truck driver, he saw a great opportunity in providing coal mines with good tire products and great service to help them reduce their operating costs. Some of those companies were turning their tires every 90 days.”

After his father turned over the business to Brent and his brother, Scott, in 1994, the two sons relocated the store from Flat Lick to Barbourville, Ky., to handle the growing business. Scott died a year after they opened the Barbourville location. In 2002, Brent’s oldest brother, Kim, returned to Kentucky to work for the growing company.

In June of 2001, Brent and his wife, Nina, opened the Barbourville retread plant, which produces about 100 tires per day using the Goodyear Precure and UniCircle retread processes. And in 2005, Brent and Nina bought a dealership in Clinton, Tenn., extending the company’s reach 90 miles south toward Knoxville, where it serves companies that handle over-the-road freight. Since Brent and his late brother, Scott, relocated the family business’s first store in 1994, the company’s annual sales have grown from $500,000 to more than $8 million.

Today, Brent manages Bingham Tire, following his father’s commitment to offer quality tire products and services. It’s a commitment that has earned Bingham Tire designation as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’s Commercial Tire Dealer of the Month for March 2010.

“I am so pleased and very excited about being named Goodyear’s Dealer of the Month,” Brent said. “I take a lot of pride in the fact that we’ve always treated customers the way we would want our family to be treated. Regardless if our customers have one truck or 120 trucks, we provide them the same level of service and help them to make the most of their investment in tires.”

Each month, Goodyear honors dealers that provide customers outstanding service, while helping them choose from among the Goodyear, Dunlop and Kelly tire brands. The dealer of the month honor also recognizes Bingham Tire for helping customers make full use of Goodyear services, such as fleetHQ and TVTRACK and GTRACS automated retread tracking system.

“Instead of just selling Goodyear tires and service, we encourage our employees to always look at what customers are running, ask questions and learn as much as they can about their operations,” he said. “With that information they can then make suggestions as to what will work to help them attain the lowest cost per mile.”

Goodyear Commercial Tire Systems offers products and services to the trucking industry, including a full range of original equipment and replacement tires and retreads. In addition, the company offers FleetHQ business solutions to fleets of all sizes. This includes the 24/7 fleetHQ Solution Center, national programs, tire management tools, on-line information access and business problem-solving for tomorrow’s trucking fleets. For more information on Goodyear’s commercial tire capabilities, visit the Goodyear Commercial Tire Systems Web site. For more information about Bingham Tire, visit the Bingham Tire Web site.