Re: New tires from TireRack-Will dealer be offended?

That's what I told my neighbor as I was looking at him like there was an alien growing out of his forehead. It's not like I'm bringing in my own oil and filter every 3,000 miles. Also, I bought the car from this dealer and have them do all the maintenance. I'm guessing they aren't going to jeopardize future car sales over 4 tires.

Thanks for the input.

No. Often times it's still cheaper. It's also useful to take the online price to a place like NTB that price matches. A lot cheaper.

Stu

Just out of curiosity, I ran the numbers. About $175 cheaper, including shipping, mounting, balancing, disposal.

When the Subie dealer I work with quoted me over $400 more for the same thing (No I take that back -- for a CHEAPER pair of snow tires) I could get from Tire Rack in the way of snow tires last fall, of COURSE I got the Tire Rack tires instead. When I took the Subie in for service in the winter, not one word was said about it. What do "I" care whether the Subie dealer might be offended. To tell you the truth "I" was offended at the rip off prices I was being quoted by them. They even had the cajones to tell me that they were getting the tires from Tire Rack -- where I could go on my own and get a quote and see exactly how much they were pumping up the price. The fee I paid at the local tire store to put the tires on the car was all of $20. The dealer was indeed trying to rip me off big time. I am the customer -- I don't give a rat's butt if they like it or not. They should be nice to me, since I can take my business elsewhere.

June

No, it doesn't. I found better prices -- even after shipping and handling -- then I found anywhere around here, and this is a very large metropolitan area.

June

Why are you going to the dealer to change tires?

Did the Subaru quote include wheels? That may account for some of the difference.

Yes, and so did the Tire Rack quote -- the same cheap winter wheels and the same cheap wheel covers.

June

A couple...

First, contact TireRack for the name of an installer in your area. They'll even drop ship to some of their installers.

Second, don't expect any special treatment from ANYONE when you buy your parts elsewhere and then ask them to install them unless you've asked their policies first. Some people don't mind at all. Others have the price of parts worked into their business model and feel they have no time to waste on someone who will talk to them about what's the best thing to buy, then goes and gets it cheaper on the Internet from someone who has no time invested in your "education," so they may be less than friendly. It's becoming a common problem in MANY industries, not just automotive. Might be something to think about the first time you get a flat or need warranty service. My tire dealer has performed far more "free" service for me over the years than what I'd have saved at TireRack, but YMMV.

Best of luck,

Rick

There is a number of other things I'm having done at the same time.

That never works for me. If I give a shop (dealer or otherwise) a bunch of things to do, they always forget to do something. Just about any garage or gas station should be able to balance and mount tires while you wait.

-R.

I guess they won't have a problem because I didn't waste one moment of their time with these tires.

Also, TireRack.com has invested quite a bit of time to my "education". They have more useful information there than I'll ever get out of the dealer. Who do you think sets all that up? Web Angels?

As for their business model, they're making money off of me. They are the only people that ever touch this car and like I said before, I'm not walking in there toting oil and filters and windshield wipers, etc. Furthermore, if the stock tires didn't suck, I would never have bothered with changing them. So perhaps they need to reevaluate their business model.

Illogical, Captain. What am I going to do? Make separate appointments for each service? I don't have time for that.

The selection and research was more important to me. However, the closest price locally for just the tires was $40 more. Sales tax cancels out some of the shipping costs.

I used the Tire Rack's preferred installer list, but the installer in my area was a jerk. The dealer would only install the tires if I had them drop shipped to the dealer directly. I explained that this was impossible since the tires had already been shipped to my home. The Tire Rack's preferred dealer refused to install them because of this shipping "problem". This was despite the fact that the tires still had the shipping tape on them with Tire Rack's mailing label and I had the invoice.

No, I didn't try to barge in on a busy day. I called ahead for an appointment and they refused to give me one. How was I supposed to know that I had to have the tires shipped directly to the installer before I bought them? This is not the Tire Rack's idiotic policy. This was a Dobbs store in the St. Louis area.

I called around and found a dealer that was not on the Tire Rack's list but was nevertheless happy to install my tires for a reasonable price ($80 for mounting, balancing and stems on aluminum rims, including old tire disposal).

If you look around, you'll find someone who is happy to install your tires.

Tire Rack has a brick-and-mortar, a BIGGGGGG brick'n'mortar, in South Bend, Indiana. Hell, it's roughly the size of a small town.

If you live withing driving distance, you can motor right on in and have your new shoes put on while you wait. Did that for the Kumhos on my RS.

Paul

I don't care if they are offended, actually. I was just curious what I could expect from them.

This is a pretty clear sign that they must get a kick back on drop shipped tires.

What I like about the internet dealers is that I get to see reviews from other folks who have bought that particular tire.

When I buy tires locally, I always have felt that the shop was trying to sell me from what they had on hand, or what they were trying to get rid of.

What I want is the tire that other pe> I presume tirerack is an internet dealer. What's with that? I suppose