Quote:
Originally Posted by TheGriz
Hello folks,
Recently there was a lot of banter on a thread regarding use of the Carlisle Radial Trail HD Trailer Tire - ST225/75R15 E/10 bought at WalMart for $67. My thread is not intended to re-open that debate. I will only say that I'm in the camp that the WalMart tires are likely taken from the same stack as would my local tire dealer. 
Thanks to the forum as an exceptional resource, I accept that this tire is highly respected, and the price at WalMart is unbeatable. So I did my research.
My local WalMart doesn't have an Auto Service Dept. So I called my local Tire and Repair Shop that I have had all my vehicles serviced at for the last 20+ years. I asked him to quote me a price...$110 installed! I know the manager quite well from doing business with him for so long, and they usually have a price match guarantee . So I told him the Wally World price, and he was shocked saying that is cheaper than his cost.
His follow up then without me even prompting him, was to order them from Wally World and he would install them at no charge. He just asked that I tip the kid doing the installation.
No doubt I will be replacing the factory "Trailer Kings" (bought with TT this past Sept 2017) with the Carlisles very shortly before my trip south next month which is estimated to be a 3000 mile round trip!
Loyalty has its privileges!!!
Regards,
Mike |
I had always bought my tires from my local tire guy. Owned the shop for decades, very knowledgeable and helpful. A couple of sets ago I decided I would just check around to see what was going on and he was high but went with him any way. This last set of Michelins I went to him again.
While he was talking to a customer I browsed through a catalog from a vendor for tires and found the tires I was looking for and noted the price. When I talked to him about the new Michelins he looked on the computer and told me $348 each. I told him that seemed high so he called his distributor and they confirmed their price. I told him the catalog on the table showed the same tire for $100 less. He just said "that's not our price".
I then checked at DT. Same tire was about $300 each but they would drop it to $250 each if I bought their insurance package....for $193 so it was a wash....BUT, when it was said and done they priced the tires at $200 ea. plus the insurance - a real deal.
All that to say that the price your local dealer quotes is probably based on whatever his distributor is charging him which is why he can't match WM. I called my guy back and told him I was going with DT because of the huge difference in price and that he should look for another distributor - don't know if he has or not.