How RNR Tire Express Grew to $350 Million by Expanding Access to Affordable Tires

Small business takeaway:

• RNR Tire Express shows how a family-run tire franchise scaled to $350 million in systemwide revenue by solving a practical affordability gap: Safe tires are essential but often expensive upfront. Its rent-to-own model brings more customers into the market by making a necessary purchase easier to afford; its shift from custom wheels to needed tires made the business more recession-proof; and its emphasis on employee training, community ties, and personal service gives a transactional category a reason for customers to return.

RNR Tire Express built its business on a reality that hits close to home for millions of Americans: People depend on their cars and trucks to get to work, buy groceries, and shuttle kids to school, but many can’t afford the sudden, steep cost of new tires.

Forgoing the average cost of nearly $900 for a new set of tires can leave people driving on unsafe tires or buying used, a gamble that could cost far more than money. 

RNR’s business model borrows from the rent-to-own model popular with furniture and appliances, where customers take home the product right away but pay in manageable installments over time until they own outright. It gives customers a flexible, affordable way to buy new tires and pay over time, with ownership as the goal. Compared to financing, rent-to-own doesn’t require credit checks or interest payments.

It’s an approach and business ethos that’s helped the franchise retailer, which sells name brand tires and custom wheels, scale to 213 locations across 31 states and Canada, generating over $350 million in systemwide revenue in 2025.

It’s carving out a niche in the U.S. tire industry, which is projected to reach $64 billion by 2030, from $56.3 billion in 2025, according to Mordor Intelligence. Over 85% of RNR’s customers opt in to its payment model, highlighting the demand for alternatives to traditional financing in an inflationary macro environment.

“We’re really flexible with people so they can put safe, quality tires on their car,” Adam Sutton, CEO of RNR Tire Express, told CO—. “Some people pay weekly, others monthly. It’s about what you can afford. And recently, we’re seeing that people who haven’t historically needed this option are getting squeezed — their pay isn’t going up, but their costs are. People are feeling more pressure than ever.”

RNR’s pivot from selling mostly ‘wants’ to ‘needs’ recession-proofed the business and ‘opened us up to a whole new world of customers’

Sutton’s father, Larry, who grew up without much as the son of a single mom, founded RNR in 2000 in Tampa, Florida, as Rent-N-Roll, a custom wheel store that sold tires. 

At the time, a teenage Sutton worked part time for the business, helping with marketing. In 2003, Larry started to franchise the business. Then, in 2010, on the heels of the global financial crisis, RNR shifted its approach from selling mostly wheels, “a want, not a need,” said Sutton, to selling mostly tires, a necessity.

“Wants go first,” Sutton said. “The shift opened us up to a whole new world of customers,” helping to recession-proof the business, since everyone who drives needs tires. Currently, 70% of RNR’s business comes from tire rentals and sales.

Early in his career, Sutton founded a creative company that grew into a SaaS live event technology platform used at major sporting events and festivals. “I had a blast and I loved it but was traveling all the time,” he said. At the time, he had young kids.

He sold that company and set his sights on his next chapter, applying to a variety of jobs. When his father in 2017 suggested he take over the family tire company “a job in Tampa where you get home for dinner,” he said, Sutton was sold.

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Treating workers and customers like family proves good for business

To set itself apart from other tire and automotive retailers and keep customers coming back, RNR has focused on designing high-end showrooms and waiting rooms.

“We really want to create a value-driven experience,” Sutton said. Delivering that experience requires focusing on company culture, customers and community, in that order, said Sutton. The brand makes a point to treat customers like family.

“I always say, ‘We’re not in the tire or wheels business but in the people business,'" Sutton said. “We know customers’ names and what’s going on in their lives. We enjoy getting to know them, and it also pays dividends on the business end.”

To build a strong company culture, RNR prioritizes leadership training for its staff, which “doesn’t always show up on the P&L, but it’s invaluable,” he said, and it promotes a spirit of service through regular volunteer days and giving back.

RNR gives franchisees a guide of suggestions on how to get involved in the community. It’s the giving back and the personal relationships that keep customers coming back, even as the model of paying for products in installments has become more prevalent in recent years, said Sutton.

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Attracting more franchisees with an entrepreneurial itch: ‘People want to go out and invest in themselves’

RNR’s franchisees, for their part, have evolved over the years, too. Initially, RNR attracted franchise owners who were mostly from the rent-to-own sector — be it furniture or electronics. More and more, those looking to own an RNR franchise are an eclectic group, a mix of business owners who want to diversify and W-2 workers across industries with an entrepreneurial itch, he said.

“People want to go out and invest in themselves,” said Sutton, and they recognize that tires are a necessity. “Even one day when we get flying cars, they have to land.”

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