Tire Rack question...

Does anyone know if the preferred installers listed on Tire Rack's website is given any kind of compensation from Tire Rack for their service? I just had some tires shipped to one the preferred installers here and had them mounted and while they were just as friendly and cheerfull as could be, I couldn't help but feel guilty for doing this. They never once commented negatively about it, but I still had that guilty feeling. They charged $66.00 to mount and balance 4 tires on my wheels that I brought in off of the car. This included tape weights etc... It is kind of like buying your steak at WalMart and then carring it to Outback and asking them to cook it for you! They have a tremedous liability for such a small labor charge that I would never consider doing it if I was in their shoes. All it would take is for the bead breaker to slip or the wheel clamp to slip and ruin a wheel to make for a disaster for them. Just wondering......... Tony

I agree, I wouldn't do it (provide the service), but then I wouldn't own a service center at all. They do seem to engage in a lot of small ticket high risk activities. I've seen enough videos of cars falling off rotary lifts during oil changes to assume these guys have their liability insurance paid up. And I have done a few "bring your own" oil changes over the years, where I am effectively renting lift time for 10 or 20 bucks, with them permitting me to do my own work. Scary right? But I would get over the guilt, They've made the decision to do the work for that price, and you've taken your business to them on that basis.

How long does it take a skilled operator to mount four tires on a GSP9700? Assuming no remounts, half an hour maybe? Those machines are amazing. Lots of those installers are local gas stations with a couple of bays. So they've got a) the machine payment and b) the salary of a guy who would otherwise be changing the oil on a beater Taurus for $24.99. I think they do OK. $66 is a great price if it includes road force balancing. I pay more like $80-100, depending on how many times he has to remount and adjust them.

I am sure I paid close to $200 - I will check.... but the thing those shops get is YOU as a customer and if they treat you right, you will come back for additional work (ie alignments and stuff) so I think they do alright with the deal, plus for them it ALL SERVICE which = ALL PROFIT ! (well less all the normal business things)

This is why I have a good relationship with the manager at my local Discount tire that takes good care of me. He will ALWAYS match (or beat) the Tire Rack price. The only time I do what you feel guilty about is when I order my race tires and have them drop shipped to my race shop where they install them. The profit margin is non existent for the race shop since they don't sell tires.

These services are loss leaders... My father owns an auto shop and as Ivangene mentioned once you are satisfied with these smaller services you'll come back as a customer for others. It's the equivalent of a free sample but of course you're paying a "nominal" fee for it.

I had the same question so I asked my installer. His perspective was that he prefers the Tire Rack model. His point is that he has very low profit margin on the tires (because the market, Tire Rack or not, is very competitive), AND he has relatively high inventory carrying costs. With a specialty tire (like the one that we're going to want), the Tire Rack deal save him the trouble of having to order it from his distributor, have it shipped, etc. Basically, TR takes away the low margin half of the business and leaves him with the higher-margin labor charges, so he's pretty happy about it.

While I was shopping for tires, the local tire shop actually told me I should get it from TireRack since they were cheaper. He then told me to ship it there and they will install it. I was a little hesitant but the whole job was painless.

it's a change of business model. the small installer in fact happy with tirerack way, they don't carry any inventory, they dont waste time dealing with customers on tire selection. they do the install and they make their money. without tirerack, those business will only flow to p-car dealer.