Winter tires and commercial fleets: the dates that cost you

In Quebec, passenger vehicles — which includes most service pickups and vans — must be fitted with winter tires from December 1 to March 15. The fine is per vehicle, and a non-compliant vehicle grounded on a storm morning is a day of lost revenue.

The real cost isn't the fine

• A grounded technician = 6 to 8 lost billable hours.
• A missed emergency call = a client phoning your competitor.
• In an accident, non-compliant tires complicate the insurance file.

Service-fleet logistics

The classic trap: everyone calls the garage in the last week of November. For an 8-vehicle fleet, that's a two-week wait. The practice that works:

• Book staggered slots in October at your garage (2 vehicles per week).
• Track the change date per vehicle, not from memory.
• Reminder on November 25 for stragglers, and April 1 for the summer swap (running winter tires all summer wears them twice as fast).

In MainteQC

Every vehicle has its last tire-change date and tire season. The system alerts before December 1 if a vehicle isn't compliant — and for snow-removal operations, dispatch blocks assigning a vehicle not fitted for winter. Details on the features page.