Why do I read about SO MANY people buying tires online from Amazon, tirerack, etc?
The ONLY way I see buying tires online possibly making financial sense is if you have the ability to mount, balance, and rotate them yourself for free.
I cannot imagine this many people having their own tire machine and balancer, so I have to assume most take the tires to a shop to get mounted.
After factoring in the fees to get mounted, balanced, are you really still saving money? $20 saved on a tire price suddenly can be spent to get it professionally mounted and balanced.
You do realize some tire sites charge for shipping right? Do you factor the shipping costs into your "savings" ?
Do you consider the cost of rotating too? Rotations are free at most shops if you purchase tires there. Rotation is KEY to long tire life, and on some sportier/fancier cars, a PROPER rotation REQUIRES a tire machine to flip directional tires, and cannot be done at home by Joe Q Public.
Having to pay for rotations adds up.
How do you handle warranty issues? What do you do if the tire has a defect such as separated belts (which was common on brand new goodyear tripple treads for a long time) or sidewall bulges? Does the online supplier reimburse you to cover the cost of getting the defective tire dismounted and a replacement tire re-mounted/balanced?
Here is MY experience working in an independent tire shop
We bought from over 9 tire suppliers, meaning our prices were most of the time lower then anything you could find online.
The old guy working up front was selling tires for many years, and knew all there was to know about tires. He could recommend a great tire for a car that you never thought about putting on it, and that was better then you were initially going for. Most independent tire shops have an old guy like this.
We handled warranty issues, and ate the cost of fixing the issue. Customer came in with issue, and left with new tire, no questions asked, no talking to tire companies.
We rotated and inflated tires for the life of the tire, FREE.
(people who didnt buy tires from us paid I think $20 a rotation)
I read invoices, I saw them in person, and did not see how you could save over our final "out the door and on the road" price by buying online, unless you did everything yourself on your own equipment for next to nothing.
So those who get HUGE savings buying tires online, please tell me how you do it, because I really do not understand! I love saving money, just like everyone, so maybe I am just missing something here?
Rant, over
The ONLY way I see buying tires online possibly making financial sense is if you have the ability to mount, balance, and rotate them yourself for free.
I cannot imagine this many people having their own tire machine and balancer, so I have to assume most take the tires to a shop to get mounted.
After factoring in the fees to get mounted, balanced, are you really still saving money? $20 saved on a tire price suddenly can be spent to get it professionally mounted and balanced.
You do realize some tire sites charge for shipping right? Do you factor the shipping costs into your "savings" ?
Do you consider the cost of rotating too? Rotations are free at most shops if you purchase tires there. Rotation is KEY to long tire life, and on some sportier/fancier cars, a PROPER rotation REQUIRES a tire machine to flip directional tires, and cannot be done at home by Joe Q Public.
Having to pay for rotations adds up.
How do you handle warranty issues? What do you do if the tire has a defect such as separated belts (which was common on brand new goodyear tripple treads for a long time) or sidewall bulges? Does the online supplier reimburse you to cover the cost of getting the defective tire dismounted and a replacement tire re-mounted/balanced?
Here is MY experience working in an independent tire shop
We bought from over 9 tire suppliers, meaning our prices were most of the time lower then anything you could find online.
The old guy working up front was selling tires for many years, and knew all there was to know about tires. He could recommend a great tire for a car that you never thought about putting on it, and that was better then you were initially going for. Most independent tire shops have an old guy like this.
We handled warranty issues, and ate the cost of fixing the issue. Customer came in with issue, and left with new tire, no questions asked, no talking to tire companies.
We rotated and inflated tires for the life of the tire, FREE.
(people who didnt buy tires from us paid I think $20 a rotation)
I read invoices, I saw them in person, and did not see how you could save over our final "out the door and on the road" price by buying online, unless you did everything yourself on your own equipment for next to nothing.
So those who get HUGE savings buying tires online, please tell me how you do it, because I really do not understand! I love saving money, just like everyone, so maybe I am just missing something here?
Rant, over