Pro Mechanic's tire prices from the wholesaler

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I am just curious how much discount (or a reduced price) the professional mechanics/shop owners get from the tire wholesalers, if any, compared to Tirerack prices.

I understand the overheads the shop owners have, plus they need to make a profit. So I am not too sure if they can price match TireRack. I get it that they can't compete with Costco or Sam's Club.

I have a neighbor who used to own a shop but due to lower back issues, he sold the shop and now does basic car work on the sides (as he still has some equipment in the garage and also uses his old shop for some work like lifts). I asked him about Yokohama Geolander G91 cost and he quoted $240 a pop. Tirerack sells these tires for ~$160. I assumed that he would get some discount from the wholesaler and $180-200 would be a reasonable cost. I didn't mention anything to him but got me wondering.
 
He is not getting anywhere the same prices as a big outfit like TireRack, Costco, Walmart, etc is getting that much I can tell you. They eliminate the middleman AKA the wholesaler and the profits they make, they buy direct from the manufacturers.
 
Around 20-30% from walk in price. I know a guy locally that just sells tires out of his pickup truck on Facebook. He drives down to the wholesaler loads the tires then meets the customer. He mainly sells tires that walmart does not carry. He makes a decent living just loading and unloading tires.
 
With my TireRack wholesale, it varies. Sometimes its under 10$ a tire, which I dont bother laying out for, Ill let them order themselves and deal with the road hazard warranty etc if theres trouble. The most profitable are usually Porsche tires, usually in the 30$ markup each. Some earlier 993 tires, like the OE Pirelli P Zero Rossos, carry a 50-60$ markup per tire, which is nice when someone actually wants to spend the money on them. My local supplier just gives me my cost, and I add 20$ a tire to it. I also dont really do tires, so Im sure a tire only shop will get better deals due to volume, however I dont like installing tires at all. Its generally a break even or loss leader service, 160$ for about 1.5-2 hours isnt a great money maker. Plus the inherent liability of damaging a wheel means the profit is gone if theres a scratch.
 
Not much markup on tires at all. I just bought tires for my mom's Fusion. I got her Michelin Primacy MXM4 and they are 235/40VR19. The list shows at $220/ea and we do $5 over cost for employees which ended up being $202 to me per tire. So at the end of the day we lost money once everyone got paid.
 
I just bought 4- 235/60/18 General RT43 tires yesterday from Big O Tires. I needed them right away-so online ordering was not an option. A local family owned tire place quoted $160.00/per tire. The Big O Tires store quoted $122.00

That small family shop just doesn't get the cost of the large Big O stores. It's too bad as I really like the guys at the small store.

So-purchased them from Big O.
 
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Tires can be around 20% markup if your lucky. Not really worth the labor, damage risks, future free services often sold with install.
 
My local tire guy is the same price if not a little cheaper than walmart, big o, discount tire. You wont save money buying tires online to only have them mounted and balanced he charges more to people who bring in new bought online tires instead of buying from him directly.
 
Originally Posted by jakewells
My local tire guy is the same price if not a little cheaper than walmart, big o, discount tire. You wont save money buying tires online to only have them mounted and balanced he charges more to people who bring in new bought online tires instead of buying from him directly.


Many of us live in places where you have "the other side of town" (rents/overhead are cheap) where you can get a tire mounted and balanced for cheap.

Just sayin.
 
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I've been keeping my local shops in the loop by buying online and letting them mount and balance. Not as much profit, I know, but I drop off and pick up the next day so I'm filling in their gaps of slow time.

The wholesaler delivers almost any tire within 4 hours, often in less than an hour and a half, which means a local shop with two good wholesalers can service almost any vehicle, same day.
 
Originally Posted by jakewells
My local tire guy is the same price if not a little cheaper than walmart, big o, discount tire. You wont save money buying tires online to only have them mounted and balanced he charges more to people who bring in new bought online tires instead of buying from him directly.


Been thru that scenario. Still WAY cheaper buying major brands online and finding a shop to mount them. My local chain (Tread Quarters) stop mounting loose tires. I simply take them to one of several used tire shops who will gladly mount them, balance them just a well for cheaper and WAY quicker (as in "that will be $60, go ahead and pull your car up to bay two). Tread Quarters isn't a small chain either (under NTB tires along with Kramer and several other tire store brands). If they can't compete and pep boys can't compete I don't see how independent shops can compete. From what I can tell they compete by selling off and lesser known cheaper brands.

The ONE exception is Discount Tire which became popular as an online retailer but has store chains popping up locally with the same prices and selection as their online store.
 
Thank you, folks, for the insight. Almost every business is battling with 'online' forces.

I have no idea why Discount Tire is planning to stay out of the northeast market. The closest DT store for me is in VA.
 
Originally Posted by MoneyJohn
Thank you, folks, for the insight. Almost every business is battling with 'online' forces.

I have no idea why Discount Tire is planning to stay out of the northeast market. The closest DT store for me is in VA.


They may have decided it is a saturated market and not worth their time.
 
Originally Posted by MoneyJohn
Thank you, folks, for the insight. Almost every business is battling with 'online' forces.

I have no idea why Discount Tire is planning to stay out of the northeast market. The closest DT store for me is in VA.


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Oh man I wish DT would open up some stores in the northeast
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