I just bought a set of USA made, premium all season tires (Michelin PREMIER A/S - 205/55R16 91V) for a total of $641 installed w/ road hazard. Plus I will have $116 in free shopping at Sears/Kmart. How you ask? Read on!
I have ample free time to do lots of price research as well as coupons and such. I found that Sears, of all retailers, had the BEST possible deal on (USA made) Michelin Premier A/S tires in stock 205/55R16. I need a set of 4. Two of my tires are worn out and the other two have very poor wet traction. I almost always spin the wheels taking off from a stop when the ground is wet. Living in the Pacific Northwest, it's downright dangerous to have tires like that. I find myself always gritting my teeth when going around corners for fear of tire slippage.
First of all, the tires themselves are currently priced $129.49 each on sale. That's cheaper than TireRack, but higher than Discount Tire by $9. However, this is offset by the next thing....
Second, I found a $35 off coupon with "Shop your way rewards" on a $300+ purchase from Sears. (This brought the tires down to $120.94 each, matching Discount Tire's $121 price)
Third, I ordered them for pickup/installation in Oregon where there is 0% sales tax. (Not something everyone can do, but that was about a $65 savings for me.)
Fourth, Sears is doing an apparently unadvertised massive combined total of $110 in "bonus points" for Shop Your Way rewards on automotive products like tires as well as services such as balancing, etc on top of the standard $6.42 and some change for buying the tires themselves and whatever else they counted as merchandise. I found it by adding 4 tires to part and checking total out the door pricing with installation. The bonus points must be spent within a 90 day period or they are lost, but that's easy enough to do. With another hefty $20-35 coupon, I may get a $300ish sale priced TV for close to half price with the points+coupon.
Fifth, I put them on my new 1.5% cash back credit card with a 0% APR intro rate through Sept 2016. I'll be paid off before interest kicks in. This adds a $9.62 "rebate" of sorts that I can redeem later.
So, out the door price I paid up front for four tires ($483.76), installation (free), "90 day balancing" ($47.96), 4 new rubber valve stems ($11.16), old tire disposal ($8), Road Hazard ($90.72), 0% sales tax, the total came out to $641.60.
Taking into account the $116.42 in rewards points on future purchases within 90 days from any Sears or Kmart, (they can be split between multiple stores and multiple transactions), it drops the price to $524.58.
Then taking into account also, the 1.5% ($9.62) cash back bonus (with 0% interest), it drops the price to $514.96.
I will have to use a tank of gas and a day's time to go get them, but $25 in gas vs $65 in 9.5% sales tax? It's obvious which is the better option since I have all the free time in the world. Adding $20-25 back to the price, it brings the price back up to $540. But, that averages the price of each tire to $135 with installation & road hazard. Not too shabby!! :mrgreen:
The absurd $48 "90 day balance" seems to be the mandatory minimum, unless you want your tires to feel octagon shaped anyway. The system asks you: "Do you want your tires balanced?". The three options are:
- 90 day balance for $48
- Lifetime balance for $68
- "No thanks"
Since a tire generally needs balancing ONCE, unless it's removed from the rim, the extra $20 for "lifetime balancing" is probably a waste of money. Unless they are going to slam me with balancing fees on road hazard claims.. hm, I didn't think about that. Well here's hoping I don't ever need to make a claim on road hazard. I consider it an insurance policy on my tires. When you pay for insurance, you really hope you never need to use it since it means something horrible went wrong and when it comes to tires, it could be dangerous. I'd rather have some recourse for repair, replacement or at least a deep discount on a replacement. Road hazard for all 4 tires for $90 is cheaper than ONE replacement tire at full price, so I figure it's worth the insurance.
While I kind of hated to run up $640 on my new credit card, I couldn't pass up the pricing on such good tires with the coupon and rewards with 0% interest. It'll be paid off before the 24% interest kicks in. (I have a big black mark on my credit, so I'm working on rebuilding it)
Here is the screenshot just prior to finishing checking out, with the prices/points highlighted:
I have ample free time to do lots of price research as well as coupons and such. I found that Sears, of all retailers, had the BEST possible deal on (USA made) Michelin Premier A/S tires in stock 205/55R16. I need a set of 4. Two of my tires are worn out and the other two have very poor wet traction. I almost always spin the wheels taking off from a stop when the ground is wet. Living in the Pacific Northwest, it's downright dangerous to have tires like that. I find myself always gritting my teeth when going around corners for fear of tire slippage.
First of all, the tires themselves are currently priced $129.49 each on sale. That's cheaper than TireRack, but higher than Discount Tire by $9. However, this is offset by the next thing....
Second, I found a $35 off coupon with "Shop your way rewards" on a $300+ purchase from Sears. (This brought the tires down to $120.94 each, matching Discount Tire's $121 price)
Third, I ordered them for pickup/installation in Oregon where there is 0% sales tax. (Not something everyone can do, but that was about a $65 savings for me.)
Fourth, Sears is doing an apparently unadvertised massive combined total of $110 in "bonus points" for Shop Your Way rewards on automotive products like tires as well as services such as balancing, etc on top of the standard $6.42 and some change for buying the tires themselves and whatever else they counted as merchandise. I found it by adding 4 tires to part and checking total out the door pricing with installation. The bonus points must be spent within a 90 day period or they are lost, but that's easy enough to do. With another hefty $20-35 coupon, I may get a $300ish sale priced TV for close to half price with the points+coupon.
Fifth, I put them on my new 1.5% cash back credit card with a 0% APR intro rate through Sept 2016. I'll be paid off before interest kicks in. This adds a $9.62 "rebate" of sorts that I can redeem later.
So, out the door price I paid up front for four tires ($483.76), installation (free), "90 day balancing" ($47.96), 4 new rubber valve stems ($11.16), old tire disposal ($8), Road Hazard ($90.72), 0% sales tax, the total came out to $641.60.
Taking into account the $116.42 in rewards points on future purchases within 90 days from any Sears or Kmart, (they can be split between multiple stores and multiple transactions), it drops the price to $524.58.
Then taking into account also, the 1.5% ($9.62) cash back bonus (with 0% interest), it drops the price to $514.96.
I will have to use a tank of gas and a day's time to go get them, but $25 in gas vs $65 in 9.5% sales tax? It's obvious which is the better option since I have all the free time in the world. Adding $20-25 back to the price, it brings the price back up to $540. But, that averages the price of each tire to $135 with installation & road hazard. Not too shabby!! :mrgreen:
The absurd $48 "90 day balance" seems to be the mandatory minimum, unless you want your tires to feel octagon shaped anyway. The system asks you: "Do you want your tires balanced?". The three options are:
- 90 day balance for $48
- Lifetime balance for $68
- "No thanks"
Since a tire generally needs balancing ONCE, unless it's removed from the rim, the extra $20 for "lifetime balancing" is probably a waste of money. Unless they are going to slam me with balancing fees on road hazard claims.. hm, I didn't think about that. Well here's hoping I don't ever need to make a claim on road hazard. I consider it an insurance policy on my tires. When you pay for insurance, you really hope you never need to use it since it means something horrible went wrong and when it comes to tires, it could be dangerous. I'd rather have some recourse for repair, replacement or at least a deep discount on a replacement. Road hazard for all 4 tires for $90 is cheaper than ONE replacement tire at full price, so I figure it's worth the insurance.
While I kind of hated to run up $640 on my new credit card, I couldn't pass up the pricing on such good tires with the coupon and rewards with 0% interest. It'll be paid off before the 24% interest kicks in. (I have a big black mark on my credit, so I'm working on rebuilding it)
Here is the screenshot just prior to finishing checking out, with the prices/points highlighted:
