Tyre prices

Phone around some garages. They will give you some idea of what the prices are. You can then jot this down on a piece of paper and work out who is giving the best deal.

S

Don't just phone the multiples with high rent sites on main roads or purpose built places on new trading estates, flash signs, big ads in local papers, block ads in yellow pages and TV ads. Someone has to pay for all that - you. One tyre place in town has a telephone number listed as 'Pirelli gate house', even when they have a special offer buy one get one half price they want £150 for a pair of P6000,

195/60VR15. The mom and pop village garage 100m away did me a pair of P6000 for £126 fitted and balanced. Other places will ask "What you been quoted? We'll match it." they back off and start suggesting that the tyres aren't 'E' marked when I tell them £125.

-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!

If you're anywhere near Hampshire I bet you'll struggle to beat

I bought a pair of Continental 185/65 x 14 a couple of years ago for £39 each all in, when ATS or Kwik Fit wanted over £70. Same sort of difference with Michelin on another car I had.

We have another local tyre depot which looks like a glorified garden shed but fitted budget tyres 155/70 x 13 to a friends old Fiesta for £18 each all in when Just Tyres (usually cheap but they have some awful staff) wanted £28. I hadn't heard of either brand on offer, and she's got 25,000 miles or urban driving out of them so far without falling off the road, so they couldn't have been too bad!

Does my head in when people ask that. I'm phoning them because I want to know what *their* price is. After phoning up several places I'll then go to the cheapest (providing I haven't heard bad reports about them, but there's not much that can go wrong when fitting a tyre). I'd rather know what is genuinely the cheapest, not including any price matching, because then I can just go straight back to them next time I need anything.

Peter

Don't forget the killer questions

Does it include valve and balance Does it include VAT

How do these kinda "backstreet" locations compare with the prices offered by the net such as mytyres.co.uk and blackcircles.co.uk?

The problem with tyres off the net is the fitting, garages tend to hoover out your wallet for just fitting and balancing, some are reluctant to do it at all. I find that if you go armed with your own tyres to one of these part worn places, the young lad will fit them for £10 stuffed in his sky rocket.

Main dealer was cheapest for me by a long way for drive in tyres.

I think internet sites were a bit cheaper but not much. I wasn't after a particularly uncommon tyre though.

Do try the dealer though. You may be pleasantly surprised.

LL

The former are invariably cheaper IME.

There are of course mobile tyre fitting services,

for example.

James

AstraVanMan ( snipped-for-privacy@WithThanks.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

"You're the first on my list to phone" works wonders.

Yep, that's what I always say. Same with insurance companies.

Peter

Not as bad as the robbing Solicitors that ask how much you are buying/selling a house for before they quote you.

I know it must be so hard to write a different (bigger) number in that box on the conveyancing forms. Oh! so much extra hard work for them.

Rob

The message from "Kalico" contains these words:

And notice that they're still charging the same sort of percentages for house sales (as are Estate Agents) despite the rapid rise in house prices.

Then they moan when they get complained about as the worst type of robbing b*****ds. The type that smile and shake your hand whilst lifting your wallet!

Of course, the same is true of all trades related to property etc when prices go up.

Rob