Manual DOT entry
Technicians transposed DOT/TIN codes by hand—often in dim bays with raised markings— and legacy flows offered no validation to catch mistakes.
Overview
Tire Registration Plus is an all-brand electronic tire registration platform that helps retailers and repair shops comply with the FAST Act. I served as the sole designer and product manager, leading the product from concept → launch, integrating with POS systems, and building recall monitoring.
- Problem: Paper postcards and brand-siloed websites made compliance slow and error-prone.
- Solution: A unified cloud platform + APIs for fast registration and real-time recall checks.
- Distribution: Standalone web app and dozens of POS integrations.
The Challenge
After the FAST Act increased penalties for failing to register tires at the point of sale, the industry was still relying on paper postcards and manufacturer websites. Both approaches had major shortcomings:
- No validation: Retailers could mistype DOT/TIN numbers with no feedback.
- No visibility: Once data was sent, shops had no way to verify registrations or track completion.
- No customer contact: Retailers couldn’t directly notify customers if a recall was announced later — responsibility shifted entirely to the manufacturer.
Tire retailers needed a single, all-brand solution with validation, oversight, and recall readiness.
Discovery & Research
We conducted shadowing sessions inside local tire shops—most notably with Belle Tire, where we had full access to technicians and workflows. Seeing the work first‑hand surfaced the core problems we needed to solve.
Duplicate work
Customer and vehicle data already in the POS had to be re‑entered into postcards or manufacturer sites, slowing counter workflows.
No recall visibility
Shops couldn’t check recalled tires in real time or contact affected customers—creating safety risk and potential fines.
These observations shaped our design goal: build a platform that is fast, accurate, and proactive. It needed to meet shops where they already work while adding oversight and recall readiness.
Architecture
The TRP cloud platform served as the single source of truth for all registrations. It exposed DOT/TIN Validation and Recall Check APIs to both the web app and partner POS systems. Registrations were stored centrally and automatically transmitted to manufacturers, ensuring compliance, data accuracy, and recall readiness at scale.
Designing the Solution
We translated research insights into four core capabilities—built once in the TRP cloud and delivered consistently across the web app and POS integrations.
All‑brand electronic registration
- Problem: Siloed brand sites and paper flows slowed counter work.
- Solution: A clean, task‑focused web app that supports every brand in one place.
- Why it matters: Faster service, fewer steps, and consistent records for audits.
Tech: Registration stored centrally; exports/reporting for manufacturers.
POS integrations
- Problem: Duplicate entry of customer/vehicle data from POS → website/postcard.
- Solution: Pre‑fill registration from POS; user confirms instead of re‑typing.
- Why it matters: Reduces time at the counter and transcription errors.
Tech: Partner SDK/REST hooks; secure payload with audit trail.
DOT/TIN validation
- Problem: Manual DOT transcription in dim bays with zero validation.
- Solution: Real‑time checks for length, plant/week/year codes; model pattern hints.
- Why it matters: Catches errors before submission; cleaner data for compliance.
Tech: Validation API used by web + POS; ruleset versioning.
Recall monitoring
- Problem: No real‑time warning when selling/servicing recalled tires.
- Solution: NHTSA feed checks at point‑of‑sale + ongoing backchecks on history.
- Why it matters: Prevents risky sales and enables proactive customer outreach.
Tech: Recall Check API; notifications & exports for outreach.
Impact
First-to-Market
All-brand electronic registration platform.
14+
POS & shop management partners integrated.
14
Major dealer groups adopted, incl. Pep Boys & Belle Tire.
↓ Errors
Validation reduced DOT entry mistakes and rework.
Integration Partners
Dealer Groups
“Tiremetrix created an easy to use registration platform that delivers real benefits for my business and customers. Now, every tire is checked for accuracy, age, and recall status before the customer leaves the shop.”
“When we entered the DOT number in Tire Registration Plus it alerted us that the tire was subject to recall. We were able to contact the customer immediately. Made us look great!”
Reflection
Tire Registration Plus didn’t start from a blank slate. The idea surfaced during user research on other Tiremetrix products, where conversations with technicians and shop managers revealed the pain of tire registration. It was a reminder that some of the most impactful product ideas come directly from watching how people work.
Over time we realized the standalone web app was useful, but the real growth came from pivoting to POS integrations. By meeting shops where their data already lived, we gained adoption across dozens of partners and large dealer groups. Looking back, the UI design was only a small piece of the work. The bigger challenge was in systems thinking, partnerships, validation logic, and compliance workflows.
Not every ambition was realized. I wish we had made more progress with OCR-based DOT capture, which could have reduced errors even further. We also explored using big data and early machine learning to map DOT patterns to tire models and even predict values without manual entry. Those experiments were ahead of their time and foreshadowed capabilities that are now becoming mainstream.
In the end, TRP taught me the value of zooming out beyond screens. The real design challenge was in the ecosystem, where aligning regulations, data standards, integrations, and business incentives created lasting impact.