Are the extra warranties worth it?

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Discount Tire really pushes their road hazard warranty at around $15 per tire.

What are your thoughts on these?

Personally I think they are a bit of a rip, but I used one once, no questions asked.
 
seems to me that theyre kind of useless, because if after 20k miles, I get a nail or blowout, Ill end up with a pro-rated new tire that Ill have to purchase at least to some extent anyway. And, Im not keen on having one oddball tire, even if the tread is the same (so Id end up buying at least 2 anyway).

So, sure if I got a bad nail or blowout, Id buy 1.5 tires instead of two.

Say my tires are $100 each (I try to buy high quality speed-rated tires that get top results), the question becomes, if I want twonew tires for one axle, will they pro-rate both tires that I replace or only one? If they will pro-rate both, then Id get likely $200 worth of tires for $100. I paid $60 for the warrantee, so I came out OK. If they would pro-rate only one, then Id likely get 2 tires for $150. Id have saved $50 but paid $60 for the warrantee.

This is all assuming that I had about 20k on a 40k rated tire, which is aboutthe mileage rating of what I buy.

I dont but them... I figure all it takes is me to not use the warranty for a set of tires, and Ive nearly bought a new replacement tire with the cost.

JMH
 
I'm not sure if I would pay that much money for a road hazard warrenty. I usually get my tires from a place that includes it. I also get lifetime rotations & balancing included. I have had to replace 2 tires and get a few nail holes patched. IMHO, it is worth every penny.

If you want to get technical, both of the tires I replaced shouldn't have been covered. One was slashed, but the sotre manager said it was close enoguh to the tread that they could maintain I ran something over. The other one was damaged in an accident - I don't want to openly admit to what I did here, but I think some would call it double dipping. I ended up with $165 in my pocket and a new tire.
 
I have no doubt that Discount Tire will stand behind the warranty, I have found them to be a good company (they're called America's Tire Company here) to deal with.

I doubt I have had 1 tire in 30 that has failed because of a road hazard. I would rather be self insured.

Don't you already get free lifetime flat repair and balancing from them with the normal tire price? That's something that can get used, road hazard insurance on top of that seems like a looser.
 
The bottom line is it is not getting any easier to decide. This of course leads me to believe it is more profitable for the ones you buy the guarantee from. Actually I am a bit torn. Some real questions are if you gamble and lose, what are the consequences and cost? What can you get on the open market and at what cost?

A recent case was getting a set of Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo's, a best of breed tire. The local Bridgestone vendor offers the full enchilada: free rotation, free flat fix, road hazards, almost religious in working you in if you have a problem.

Actually for the same products, the local vendor is competitive with Tirerack or Discount tire, (app the same price for products)sans local tax (8.25%) If you add in the extra priced warranty, the tire costs more and that does not even count the extra cost of local mounting. (40-60 dollars)

So if you have the problems on the road then in theory you can bring it to the local Bridgestone vendor and he will honor the gurantee. I am sure it depends on whether the guarantee includes the local dealer charges such as patching dismount remount and balance costs. Of course, if you have the extra warranty, it should/will cover any out of pocket costs.

So in this case, I have a vehicle that sees a lot more time out of town and the local club warehouse offered the full enchilada and has warehouse clubs in most every place that I seem to go. So the warranty is good at any Costco.

The worse that has ever happened to me in over 1.2M miles of driving has been a slow leaking tire due to nail. I had a ultra high performance tire take a nail and the total cost to jack up dismount rim and tire combination, dismount, patch, remount, balance and retorque the lug nuts was 11 dollars.

Tire warranty was

" "Unlimited Time - Free replacement first year or 25% of tread, then prorated to final 2/32" of tread."

I might be a total anomoly but I have a tendency to think my experiences are pretty common. Upshot I would not get it.

[ May 30, 2005, 05:26 PM: Message edited by: ruking77 ]
 
DTC's free flat repair covers repairable flats, and I've had more than a few be unrepairable due to the nail penetrating the sidewall or in one case, a gash so wide that a patch wouldn't cover it!

I always get the road hazard, but I'm pretty hard on tires. I drive about 100 miles /day across Houston and daily drive in unpaved, off-road areas near RR tracks.

and as far as coverage, there are 10 DTC for every one Costco or Sam's around here. There's always one close.
 
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