RE: getting tires

["Belt, Stephen D" <stephen.d.belt@intel.com>]

John sez>

> Tell me if this seems fishy to you too.
> Called my local Discount Tire and they quoted me $111 per tire. Total to
> mount and balance them is $128 per tire which comes to $512. I called the
> main place and they quoted me $90 per tire with a total of $24 shipping.
> Then Discount said it's $8.99 to mount and balance the tire. So the total
to
> get it here is $512. If I had them shipped to me it would be $419.96. Now
> that doesn't seem right. Looks like I'll be getting them shipped to me! So
I
> can save $100 just getting them shipped to me. Did I miss something here?
> By the way they are SP8000's at 205/50/15

There is a lot of flexibility at the local store with regard to prices.
Discount prices it tires within line of other retailers in the area, but
the margins are really quite high.  What I do is check the on-line prices
first, then go into the store and ask them to match.  They always do.

One last thing that I'm not sure you've factored in:  Discount has a road 
hazard warranty that always gets tacked on when you buy in the store.  You 
can ask for it to be removed, but its there by default.  Was that also 
included with the on-line quote?  If not that could explain the difference 
right there.

BTW, I buy all of my tires from Discount Tire.  I've always found them to
be very close on price with the online stores, and only minor haggling is
need to close the gap.  Their warranty (though a tad spendy) and service 
is the best in the business.

Steve Belt - Scotts, AZ
1998 Jetta GLX