Tired of Bad Tire Deals?

About a year ago, my niece needed to buy her first set of new tires. I was honored that she asked me to go along. In that exercise, I showed her four different ways that the sales reps try to “add on” to a final bill. Here is a list and the savings she enjoyed.

• Buy five tires – As soon as you tell them you want a set of tires, they assume you mean five tires unless you advise them otherwise. They will tell you that your spare is old or the tread does not match the tread of your new tires. If you tell them you will just buy one new tire at a later time if you should need one, they argue that the new tire will have a different diameter than whatever is left of your other tires. Conclusion: This is probably the last set of tires this car will ever need. If she does have a tire problem it will probably be repairable. There is no need for a fifth tire at this time. Take the best of the old tires and make that into the spare. Savings: $67. (Exception: If you expect to keep your vehicle for 60,000 miles or more, a fifth tire is okay provided you include it in your tire rotation cycle)

• Road Hazard Insurance – The idea is if a tire should become defective due to some sort of road hazard, like a pot-hole or nail, the tire store will issue a prorated credit toward a new tire. The problem is that so few tires actually have this problem that the insurance company (the tire store) is always the net-winner and nearly all buyers are net-losers. Conclusion: We said, “No thank you”. Net savings: $16

• Tire disposal fee – The tire store charges $2.50 per tire for this service. However they do not pay such a fee themselves. Some of the better tires, with sufficient tread, are taken to a flea market and sold. The rest of them are hauled off by a fellow who grinds them into a roofing product. Conclusion: We told them if they want to keep the tires, they may have them; otherwise put them in our trunk and we shall dispose of them ourselves. They kept the tires. Net savings $10.



• Cross Cutting the tire for extra stopping capacity – They offer to put the tires on a large wheel and modify the tread by cutting the tire cross-wise. They claim that the vehicle will stop faster. I don’t know about that, but if Firestone or any other manufacturer thought that such an exercise would enhance the breaking capacity, without some off-setting sacrifice, they would surely do it themselves. Conclusion: We said, “No thank you” Savings $40.

By the time we were done, my lovely niece left the tire store with a brand new set of excellent tires that should last for at least four years. She also had an extra $133 in her otherwise empty purse.

We went to lunch and I got a very heartfelt hug. It was a great day for both of us.

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