Colway tyres - who fits 'em?

You are the one who doesn't understand, that cost is what they consider the true cost of fitting tyres, what you are forgetting is that some of the profit in the sale of the tyre is subsidising the other costs involved (machinery, labour, tax, disposal etc.), I would expect the 'on-line' buggers to just about give the tyres away considering the discount / mark-up there is on tyres.

FYI, the same is true about the mark up on exhausts...

"But you're obviously too stupid to understand that."

Oh yeh, and you know what about the industry.... nothing, I thought as much.

Yup. Can tell you work 'in the industry'. Arrogant, always trying to justify overblown charges.

I'm a retailer, have been for 14 years, so understand margins / labour costs etc..... if the small dealer is charging more to supply and fit a tyre than it costs to order online and pay him to fit it, then he's charging too much - or his supplier is. Simple, really. Whatever the reason the tyre dealer charges more, someone, somewhere is making a healthy profit on the back of consumer ignorance.

As for exhausts, they're the biggest rip-off in the business.

eg. local fast-fit shed quote for a full MkI Golf system from manifold back: around £200 fitted. Cost from GSF: £40 quid delivered. Time to fit: 1/2 hour without a hydraulic lift and airtools. [1]

Even you have to admit something is wrong there?

[1] Before you say anything, the fast-fit shed looked it up in their Timax and Bosal catalogues, I got a Bosal from GSF, so the parts are identical.

Yes you are, totally... :~(

:::Jerry:::: ( snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

No, you are.

And you smell.

Ner, ner, ner.

Please, miss! Jerry flicked a bogey at me!

Obviously you've run out of arguments to justify rip-off pricing in the tyre and exhaust industry.

If my local indie charged the same all-in cost as for his tyres as buying online and paying him to fit them, then he'd be raking it in.

As it happens he doesn't. Which begs the question - why?

They were about five years old when they started noticeably cracking. I have many other tyres which I know to be much older that haven't cracked up. I was told that the problem is the low levels of "carbon black" in cheapo tyres that causes their early demise (I assume it is true)

Certainly Costco do an individual membership but most people seem to fit the conditions or a way round.

Costco have in the past sold Kormoran (a michelin licensee, I was told) Michelin (all they sell now with the exception of taxi remoulds) and they used to sell uniroyal. The deal with Michelin is now so good that Mich are cheaper than crappo tyres. Last week I bought two fiesta tyres (155/70 x

13 ) for 34 pounds all inclusive (for two that is!) I doubt whether even cheapo tyres can be any cheaper.

mrcheerful

No, just pissed off with having to repeat myself to someone who is proving to be nothing but a total f*ckwit - and to think you say you run a business.....

OK, then, explain this.

Go to local tyre dealer and ask for a pair of Pirelli P6000s. He quotes £60 a corner fitted. Decline offer.

Go online, order a pair for £38 each, delivered. Take this pair to local tyre dealer, pay £10 each for fitting. Total cost £48 per corner.

Tyre dealer is happy as he's earned £20 for 15 mins work.

Customer is happy as he's got a pair of tyres fitted at same dealer for £24 less than dealer wanted.

Dealer could have cut out all this crap by quoting £48 per corner fitted in the first place.

What's the reason he can't do that? - either he or his supplier is putting a silly mark-up on the tyres.

Taking this further - if you can buy tyres cheaper online than his supplier charges him, then the local dealer could just open an account with an online tyre retailer enabling him to quote an all-in cost around the same as the customer gets if he buys online and pays for fitting.

I wouldn't even complain if the dealer stuck a couple of quid on the online prices to enhance his profit - if he'd quoted me £50 - £52 per corner, I'd have been happy.

As it happens, I didn't order online as I found another local tyre dealer offering NCT5s for around £45 per corner, fitted. However, I did return to the original dealer when I needed another pair of tyres, and he managed to do a pair of Eagle Venturers for around £50 per corner.

50% profit margin = 100% mark-up, and you claim tyre dealers aren't ripping people off!

There's very few industries get away with that kind of mark-up. Sportswear and trainers being one of them - and we all know what a rip-off industry that is.

I have a set of Colway M&S tyres. They are not cheapos and I couldn't get them from the usual tyre & exhaust rip-off merchants anyway.

I used to have a good arrangement with one of the big chains. They would fit the tyres for free and I'd give the lad who did it a tip - no paperwork and no come-back for them if anything was wrong with the tyre. Unfortunately they've now been told they can't fit customers' own tyres. That's a bit illogical really because they will repair leaks on tyres they didn't supply, which can involve removing and refitting them.

I don't buy tyres online. I usually get them from traders at Mini shows who don't have big overheads and don't have to stock a large range. They can bulk buy one or two makes in the popular sizes and sell them at a reasonable price. In any case most of the big chains don't keep

10" tyres in stock these days. STS did have some A008s but they wanted to charge £54 each whereas I can buy them at half that price and get them fitted for £9 a tyre.

But the mark-up is used to hide other costs, it's not all profit if you are talking about a 'high street' outlet, but there again, if it's a online warehouse with little or no overheads and no other costs involved with fitting etc) it is all more or less profit - who is the real rip off merchant..... And you still have to pay for the tyres to be fitted !

:::Jerry:::: ( snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they :::were saying :

It's low tech, so not "cool", and can't be done while looking busy in an open-plan office.

Most of which you have to pay anyway, whether the guy is busy or "reading" the Sun.

*ding!* Exactly what I said.

Except you're forgetting that you're going to get a higher percentage of those calls if you get listed as the "agent".

:~)

You can look very busy whilst on the phone, and as long as no one hears your conversation (or logs the number) they will never know what you were talking about - a screen full of online tyre prices etc. is a different thing all together I suspect !

You are missing the point, just fitting tyres is not going to pay the bills.

No you are not because if people are not paying through the nose to get their online tyres fitted, which the 'agent won't be allowed to do (otherwise his listing will be removed and the contract ended), the 'customer is still going to buy online - the relationship between online supplier and their agent will be an unequal 'I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine', with most of the scratching being done buy the agent at best.

:::Jerry:::: ( snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they :::were saying :

I'm fairly sure they're not expecting the "agent" to fit for nowt.

And I don't regard a tenner a tyre as "paying through the nose".

Some of the better places online arrange fitting with a local fitter for=20 a fee as a Partner, and they deliver the tyres directly there, so the=20 local places doesn't even need to worry about stocking, and storage=20 costs.

--=20 The poster formerly known as Skodapilot.

Unless they've changed recentley, they only stocked Michelin tyres. not the best prices for new tyres, but not bad for a branded tyres of a known make.

Some of the better places online arrange fitting with a local fitter for a fee as a Partner, and they deliver the tyres directly there, so the local places doesn't even need to worry about stocking, and storage costs.

Yes, I know, and it's all been pulled to bits in this thread about a week ago or so now....

Yep, I was agreeing with you on this. Having said that, in the past I have looked at the online buy+local fitter, buying from a local fitter, and buying from an AA garage on two occasions.

1)The Online service wasn't that great for either. 2)i)Local fitter offered better deal because the size/quality was odd, I wanted reasonable quaility in a 13" tyre in a wider than normal size. ii) needed a high performance 15" tyre from a good known brand and they weren't so good a deal. 3)i)AA Garage had trouble finding anything halfway decent I reckoned I could depends on in a 13" tyre in the width I wanted. ii) With Member discount and a choice of two or three I was able to pick a decent 15" tyre and get the rating one higher than the minimum for the car, I got them at a better price.

I guess it just shows that one size doesn't fit all, either in choice or damage to the pocket, and ultimatley nobody is likely to go to the wall in the short term unless they do something stupid.