John Kingston
3 min read
Relay Payments has launched providing its payment services to maintenance, tires and repairs with the announcement of three new partnerships.
The trio of repair and maintenance businesses that now accept payments through Relay are Southern Tire Mart at Pilot (which is a joint venture between the tire provider and the giant travel stop operator), Boss Truck Shops and AMBEST Service Centers.
Southern Tire Mart at Pilot (STMP) has more than 75 locations. Boss has more than 45, and AMBEST has more than 115, according to a spokeswoman for Relay Payments.
“This announcement marks one of Relay Payments’ first moves into the repair, tow and maintenance market, expanding digital payment options for carriers and improving acceptance and workflows for these merchants,” the spokeswoman said in an email to FreightWaves. While the three companies are not all launching their acceptance of Relay Payments at once, the spokeswoman said, “we’re announcing the partnerships at the same time as we wanted to show our commitment to making large strides within this new vertical with some of the largest names in repair, tow and maintenance in the U.S.”
For example, the prepared statement released by Relay quotes John Boynton, president of STMP, as saying the company “integrated with Relay last year to simplify service payments and combat fraud, and it’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience for our customers.”
Southern Tire Mart at Pilot–the formal name of the entity now accepting Relay Payments services–was formed in 2021 between Pilot Co. and Southern Tire Mart, which the spokeswoman described as “the largest commercial tire dealer and retread manufacturer in North America.”
Relay took a big step forward down to the retail level for truckers last year when it announced that Love’s Travel Stops would begin accepting Relay for fuel payments at its travel centers.
However, Relay Payments still does not have a payments agreement with Travel Centers of America and Casey’s (NASDAQ: CASY), two of the larger travel stop operators in the U.S.
Payments from Relay are not made via a fuel card or some other debit card. Instead, according to the prepared statement from Relay announcing the partnership, drivers or fleets utilize Relay’s platform to locate the maintenance facilities that accept Relay Payments. Repair and maintenance merchants accept digital codes, referred to as RelayCodes, that allow fleets to leverage secure payments from their Relay account.
“Launching service, maintenance, and repairs is a major milestone towards our mission of becoming an end-to-end payment network for the trucking industry,” Relay’s CEO and co-founder Ryan Droege said in a prepared statement. “By introducing acceptance of Relay at service locations along with discounted repairs, we’re not only lowering operating costs for our customers but also creating greater efficiencies by consolidating all over-the-road expenses in one platform.”
