Joined Nov 2005
L10: Grand Master
Forum Thread
Tire mounting
September 24, 2012 at
09:05 AM
in
Autos
I got in on the DTD deal a couple weeks ago as my car will need new tires by the winter. So now I have 4 tires sitting in my garage waiting to be installed.
I'm looking for a place to mount/balance them and to my surprise, a couple shops have refused. Their excuse is "if we tear it, then we owe you a new tire" .... Uh OK. I understand that some shops could refuse on principle (e.g. they want you to buy the tires from them for profit), but work is work - if it takes a tech 1 hour to mount and balance 4 tires and you pay him $20 and charge $100 - that's $80 in your pocket. I'm also looking for a 4 wheel alignment, which is pure profit. I can understand perhaps turning down this business when your shop is packed (better to sell tires at a profit, too), but why do it when you're not busy?
Has anyone seen this excuse before?
I'm looking for a place to mount/balance them and to my surprise, a couple shops have refused. Their excuse is "if we tear it, then we owe you a new tire" .... Uh OK. I understand that some shops could refuse on principle (e.g. they want you to buy the tires from them for profit), but work is work - if it takes a tech 1 hour to mount and balance 4 tires and you pay him $20 and charge $100 - that's $80 in your pocket. I'm also looking for a 4 wheel alignment, which is pure profit. I can understand perhaps turning down this business when your shop is packed (better to sell tires at a profit, too), but why do it when you're not busy?
Has anyone seen this excuse before?
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as noted earlier, i have had my tires shipped to me the last three times i've had them replaced on my car and once for my wife's. every time, we've taken them to a local installer (Wal-Mart, a tire shop, and a dealership), and they have put them on with nary a comment. in addition, i've called several other mechanics/tire shops to get quotes, and every one acted as if installing customer-supplied tires was business as usual.
also, i'll use your plumber example: we purchased a new home last year, and we wanted two changes: a wet bar added and the shower in the master bath expanded. we included everything in the contract, and the builder had his guys take care of the labor, but we picked out and brought in the shower head, faucets, and other hardware (with an allowance). a leaking faucet can cause tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage, but the plumber used the ones we picked out with no issue.
i've also run into a few car mechanics who will install customer-supplied parts as long as they approve of it. AKA, if you walk in with a part new in box, they'll put it in, some for a small surcharge on top of the labor. of course, if you have a crappy replacement part, they might refuse to put it in.
the issues you bring up with installing customer-supplied parts are valid, but pretending that such a practice is refused by the majority of tradesmen just isn't true in my experience. as Dr. J said: this is the internet age, and it's the norm for people to walk in with their own parts in a variety of trades.
as noted earlier, i have had my tires shipped to me the last three times i've had them replaced on my car and once for my wife's. every time, we've taken them to a local installer (Wal-Mart, a tire shop, and a dealership), and they have put them on with nary a comment. in addition, i've called several other mechanics/tire shops to get quotes, and every one acted as if installing customer-supplied tires was business as usual.
also, i'll use your plumber example: we purchased a new home last year, and we wanted two changes: a wet bar added and the shower in the master bath expanded. we included everything in the contract, and the builder had his guys take care of the labor, but we picked out and brought in the shower head, faucets, and other hardware (with an allowance). a leaking faucet can cause tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage, but the plumber used the ones we picked out with no issue.
i've also run into a few car mechanics who will install customer-supplied parts as long as they approve of it. AKA, if you walk in with a part new in box, they'll put it in, some for a small surcharge on top of the labor. of course, if you have a crappy replacement part, they might refuse to put it in.
the issues you bring up with installing customer-supplied parts are valid, but pretending that such a practice is refused by the majority of tradesmen just isn't true in my experience. as Dr. J said: this is the internet age, and it's the norm for people to walk in with their own parts in a variety of trades.
majority only means more than half; what percentage to you mean by "most" that is less than 50%?
Poster above me gets the idea from where he took online tires and what they relayed to him
Town Fair is the one that gave me lip - as I said they USED to be my default tire place, but now with this BS they can go fark themselves.
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majority only means more than half; what percentage to you mean by "most" that is less than 50%?
Sorry, we live in the suburbs
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