Road Hazard Warranties

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doitmyself

doitmyself

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Many agree that extended warranties on appliances and electronics are just a money making scheme for the sellers and a questionable investment for the buyer.

What are your opinions of add-on tire road hazard warranties? They cost about $8 dollars per tire and claim to cover repairs, replacement, rotation AND balance for the entire life of the tire. Since good tires run $80 dollars each (and much more), the road hazard warranty seems like a great deal.

Any opinions or advice?

Thanks.
 
I think they are a pretty good deal. I like them for the free tire rotation/balances which cost a lot of money sometimes. They pay for the occasional flat tires I get because I live in a growing area with lots of construction. I've had valve stems go bad and it paid for replacements. Also my son apparently gashed his tire on a curb and it paid to replace his $200 tire. Sometimes you can bargain them down. They offered us $8 for one tire. We walked away and they ran after us for $8 for all 4 tires, so we said OK.
 
Quote:



What are your opinions of add-on tire road hazard warranties? They cost about $8 dollars per tire and claim to cover repairs, replacement, rotation AND balance for the entire life of the tire. Since good tires run $80 dollars each (and much more), the road hazard warranty seems like a great deal.


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This type warranty is usually only good from point of purchase, or chain of stores. Free rotate etc, is usually used to high pressure you into additional purchases.

Original "road hazzard" warranty is normally included in price and backed by manufacturer, or distributor. Covers tire replacement cost based on percentage of tread used when tire has had non-repairable puncture to tread surface area,

Bob
 
if any sort of extended warranty was actually worth the cost, the manf would not offer it. remember they are in the buisness of amking money. its a gamble and they nearly awalys win.
 
I think they offer it and make money on it because most consumers will not use it fully, and if they do use it, will bring them back for additional service and purchases. Many will never have their tires balanced, rotated and sell their vehicles before they have a flat or the tire strikes an object causing damage. I'll bet most people never even check their tire pressure. Just gets air put in when they take it in for service or they visually notice it is 20 pounds low and looks kind of funny.
 
IMHO, best money ever spent.

As most know, the MFG warranty only covers tire defects, not road hazards. A patch costs around $15-20 so even if you have one, you've covered the cost on that tire. I purchased a rather expensive set of tires and had to have two replaced due to nails in the shoulders. The road hazard was around $16 for each tire. All I had to pay on the new ones was the road hazard for them. For $32, I got $320 worth of tires.

Rotations and balances run $34 (dealer price and I'm sure it's cheaper other places). I rotate and balance mine every 5000 miles so I do well with the lifetime R & B costs. My local Goodyear dealer even offers this service on non-Goodyear tires. You pay for one R & B and the rest are free for the life of the tires.

If you never have to use the road hazard, the cost of the warranty can be applied to a ne wtire purchase (from Goodyear's warranty statement). Also, I picked up a screw in a tire while on vacation recently. The warranty is valid nationwide and I paid nothing to have it patched.
 
IMO, can be a good deal and provide peace of mind. I had a Bridgestone BT70S blow out the inside sidewall! and the replacement tire with mounting and balancing was only $49. You lose somewhat due to pro-rating but I still think it is a good deal considering all the detritus you see on the roads that can ruin your tires. I bought some Cooper Lifeliner GLS tires recently and they came with a free road hazard warranty. If a tire store has sales quotas and they are trying to meet their month end goal you might even get them to throw in the warranty for free.
 
Probably a good deal for some, but not for me. I've only had one flat, but the tire was old and due for replacement anyway. I also don't let anyone touch my lugnuts (I take the wheels in loose). I've purchased 6 sets of tires in my life so, at $8 a tire, I've saved $192.
 
I had sam's club make good on their warranty a few years ago.

IIRC, mount/balance and warranty were all one "tire installation package" and it was only $7/tire.

They fumbled the math on my prorated replacement and subtracted the cost of mounting it, instead of adding it. So I made out ok.

Easily lots of gotchas. Not worth it on $40 tires, but their sales subsidize the profits on $40 tires, so I would expect them to be pushed mostly on the cheapies.
 
If you tend to pick up nails a lot, then go for it. When I was driving into (new home) construction areas I was using the road hazzard constantly (18 patches in my RF tire over the life of the tire!) That tire alone paid back and more the cost of road hazzard.
Now that I don't venture into places like that anymore I've forgone the road hazzard. I've picked up only 4 nails in the past 16 years, and I plug my own tires. (this is after going to get the first one patched and all they did was plug it for $15, so I said -- this ripoff, I'll do it myself. 8 bucks (cost of the kit) covered the other three flats after that).

Alex.
 
Depends what your tires are worth.

The 14 inch tires on my saturn are kuhmo brand, and are 30 dollars.

I'll buy a full sized spare before I spend 8 dollars per tire for insurance on a tire.
 
The only time I did not purchase the Road Hazard warranty on a new set of tires was the time I needed it. I ended up replacing 2 of those 4 tires at a cost of $100 each. If the tires are really inexpensive like JustinH's above, then obviously there is no reason to purchase the warranty.
 
Why do my posts continually get deleted? What was wrong with my post???
smirk.gif


All I said was that in my opinion, road hazard warranties are a waste of money as most tires come with a pro-rated road hazard warranty with the purchase price of the tire. For what it costs to buy the extra road hazard warranty, you'll more than make up for it with the pro-rata road hazard.
 
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I don't know that I've ever seen a tire that came free with a pro-rated road hazard warranty. They nearly all come with a pro-rated manufacturing defect warranty.
 
Drew, are you submitting your thread after the preview? If your just clicking the button and killing the window your post is gone.

Alex.
 
They do not list it on their website, but in the paperwork when you buy tires, it's there.

"New Tires - Road Hazard The limited warranty applies to all owners of the tire using it in non-commercial service. If our examination shows that a passenger, SUV, or light truck tire covered by this warranty has become unserviceable due to a normal road hazard (ie non repairable puncture, cut, bruise, snag, or impact break) during it's service down to 3.32 of an inch, it will be replaced on a pro-rata tread wear basis."

For the cost of the "free certificate", this warranty that Discount already gives you will more than make up the cost, assuming you only lose one tire. It's a pretty darn good deal!
 
Bridgestone has pretty much the same when I was looking at the Turanza LS-H today. I don't know if all mfg offer this though. Was this only on 1 brand of tire?

"††Replacement at no charge (excluding taxes and disposal fees) if your Bridgestone tire becomes unusable for any reason within the manufacturer's control for up to 3 years from date of purchase or 4 years from date of manufacture, whichever is to the owner's advantage. Certain restrictions and limitiations may apply."
 
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