When Did Tyre Fitting Become So Expensive?

[lazer_mjj]

Pretty much as the title suggests!!! ive been calling around all my local garages today getting quotes for having 4 tyres I brought from the internet. In the past I've just pulled up to the place of my choosing handed £20 cash over to the kid doing the tyres and 30min later Im gone.

Everywhere Ive spoken to are demanding between £50 - £109 (Toyota) to fit and balance 4 new tyres, no tracking involved. I dont even seem to be getting any discount onthe disposal of the tyres as I intended keeping the old ones to use on the GT-Four as track tyres

Have all tyre fitters had to go to university to get their qualifications???

[Parts-King]

It's called making a living

When you turn up to buy a tyre, the cost of fitting it is in the profit being made on the tyre, when you turn up with four tyres bought elsewhere, then the tyre fitter has to make a charge. Hve you seen the costs of tyre machines, insurance, premises, bla bla bla?

Kingo

[lazer_mjj]

Yeah thats all fair enough but these garages have had this equipment years so its long been paid off. Not saying I want it done for free but going off those rates the grease monkey must be on £100 per hr

[Norfolk n Chance]

Really?

I paid £10 a tyre to have mine fitted

[Parts-King]

I'm sorry but what has having the equipment for years got anything to do with it? Equipment needs maintaining, rent,rates,insurance, heat, light, power, wages, oh and a little bit of profit, I don't know what your line of work is but £33 per hour for any business is not sustainable

Kingo

[davethefish]

When you turn up to buy a tyre, the cost of fitting it is in the profit being made on the tyre

Sounds like a cheaper option all of a sudden, buy + fit from the garage.

[lazer_mjj]

Im a cartographer, we do aerial imaging, mapping, surveying and laser scanning. Understand overheads need covering but those are stupid prices, they are along the lines of what our rates are and we have aircraft to maintain

[Parts-King]

Look at it this way, somebody brings an image to your company, they want you to make a map, conduct a survey and give them some free laser scans, all for nothing of course, or they might offer you £20 cash for your service Does it look a good deal for your company?

Kingo

[lazer_mjj]

When you consider ive paid £70 a corner for new tyres, where the tyres been made & designed to last on average 10,000 mile & shipped from Germany to my front door is pretty good imo.

But to then go to the tyre centre where, lets face it they arent the brightest, most eduacted or skilled in their line of work. The car keys are then handed to some chav-yoof/apprentice who then proceeds to take 1000 miles off the life of the clutch with each engagement of it. He removes a few nuts n bolts swaps, the tyre over and is done in a few minutes.

I dont tink ive ever come away from a tyre place where the alloys havent been damaged in any way.

Maybe its just me having a bad day but everything bar my wages seems to be going up without a good reason for it. If the garage turned to me and said we have a new uber machine that wont scratch the wheels, we wont leave grubby hand prints all over the interior of your car and the invoice we provide you with wont look like we wiped our ***** with it Id be happy to pay it

[Parts-King]

Yes your having a bad day!

You never mentioned the quality of the work or the yoof who ragged your car in your original post, that is something you should take up with the tyre shop, there is no excuse for poor workmanship

What I am saying is you buy your tyres elsewhere and want somebody to do it for you for the price of a pack of ciggies and a few pints, you didnt give the tyre shop the opportunity of SUPPLYING the tyres and fitting them for you, how do you expect them to feel?

[Mooly]

I hate to say this... but rather than labelling tyre fitters as uneducated, you should have been doing your homework and costing the fitting into the total price, making sure you could get it done at a price that made the venture worthwhile.

Sadly the high cost of "services" has become the way of things. It may seem an outrageous price... but unless you can do the work yourself, what are you to do ?

I always felt guilty charging customers on behalf of the company I worked for (electronic work) for what seemed like a quick job very often... but then you factor in running 100's+ cars, many premises, staff... it all has to be covered. That's not to say the human touch never came into it... it did... but we were not a charity.

[lazer_mjj]

Not calling all tyre fitters uneduacted but the majority of the ones around here are. I always use garages I trust mainly due to their skill set but most the good places are real mechanics and dont do tyre fitting

[acetip]

Not calling all tyre fitters uneduacted but the majority of the ones around here are. I always use garages I trust mainly due to their skill set but most the good places are real mechanics and dont do tyre fitting

have you tried a smaller independent tyre fitters.i brought a pair of tyres they were low profile,my losal independent garage could not handle them,so went to local independent tyre shop and the fitted, balanced including new valves for £20,mind to be fair that was a year ago.they used protection strips on the rims to stop any damage.

i removed the wheels of the car and took them to them in the wifes car.saved that job for them.

you can get good prices on eBay,but you dont want loose any savings having them fitted.

[Daveyonthemove]

You missed a trick mate!

I found an online tyre seller that offers the tyres i want for the best price, and has free fitting at one of their centres. It pays to do your research properly

http://www.tyre-shopper.co.uk/

[acetip]

You missed a trick mate!

I found an online tyre seller that offers the tyres i want for the best price, and has free fitting at one of their centres. It pays to do your research properly

http://www.tyre-shopper.co.uk/

thats if they have a depot near you.

the remark about doing research properly,i thing was a little harsh.

[Daveyonthemove]

The nearest one to me is 12 miles away, BUT it is still cheaper to drive 12 miles for free fitting than it is for some of the quoted prices from the OP's Local dealer.

As for the comment about research, it wasn't meant offensively.

[acetip]

The nearest one to me is 12 miles away, BUT it is still cheaper to drive 12 miles for free fitting than it is for some of the quoted prices from the OP's Local dealer.

As for the comment about research, it wasn't meant offensively.

the pair of tyres i brought brand new, conti sport 225 were a third cheaper in price.plus the £20 fiiting.

none of the retail groups were nothing like as cheap.non of the retail trade are that great a difference.

and if you have to travel for them it may well be not worth it.

but then, each to his own.

[Daveyonthemove]

Bridgestone S001 are £102.50 each on that site with free fitting.

On mytyres.com they are £119.30 each fitted

The saving is worth the journey when it only costs 14p per mile, plus its close enough to town for me to walk in and do some shopping.

[Cyker]

I just paid £225 all-in for 4 tyres (Conti EcoContact3's! ), fitted and balanced. Seems a bit crazy that you're getting quotes for near half that just to fit them!

I had 4 tyres swapped from one set of rims to another about a year ago and that only cost me something like £40!

That was with an independent garage tho'...

£40-50 for all 4 wheels is about right, but the £109 quote is just ridiculous.

[bruce e]

You missed a trick mate!

I found an online tyre seller that offers the tyres i want for the best price, and has free fitting at one of their centres. It pays to do your research properly

http://www.tyre-shopper.co.uk/

thats if they have a depot near you.

the remark about doing research properly,i thing was a little harsh.

Mind you his comments re the tyre fitters was not very complimentary either.

Ps: Ive a pot of paint & a paint brush I wonder if I can get someone to paint my house for £20?

[lazer_mjj]

No my comment about the tyre fitters wasnt very complimentary but it was pretty accurate.

Got the tyres fitted last night at cheapest place local to me, the kid jacked the car up on 4 trolly jacks then realised he hadnt got the tyres out the car so two of them struggled to open the door and get the tyres off the rear seat as the jack handle was in the way. Common sense should have kicked in and lowered that corner of the car and removed the jack.

[Daveyonthemove]

You mention common sense for the local kids fitting your tyres, but if someone was jacking my car up in the air on 4 trolley jacks, my own common sense would have kicked in, and i would have stopped them and taken my car to a REAL tyre fitter, and paid the extra.

You seem very quick to judge other peoples skills, but you don't seem too bright yourself... just an observation!

[Rumbly]

I once had a car badly damaged by tyre fitters ... they jacked the front up with a trolley jack under a chassis member. I didn't actually find out till a few years later when it failed an MOT on the now rusty chassis. Looking at the damage it was obvious it had been jacked up at that point, it was bent and all the underseal had cracked off. Nobody but me had worked on the car in between so I know it was them but way to late do do anything about it. It is just possible the Peugeot dealer I bought it from new could have done it during routine servicing in the first 3 years but I doubt it.

Years ago I smashed an alloy wheel on a rock lying on the road, it was a weird aftermarket alloy and impossible to replace, so I decided to buy a set of steel wheels advertised localy for a very decent price. Had a real job finding anybody willing to swap the tyres onto the steel rims, several places just flat said no, go away, some wanted so much I'd have been better to buy new tyres, but eventually found a small garage willing to do it for a fair price. Since then I get all my MOT's done there, buy all my tyres there for me and the Mrs, get them to service my car and the Mrs' car, get them to do anything I need done, and reccommend them to anybody looking for anything they do, they ended up servicing/repairing the company cars where I worked. Just had 2 Avon ZZ3 fitted there, 225/45/17 for £90 each, which I think is a fair price.

If you find a decent place that does good work at a fair price USE THEM! (even if it does sometimes cost £1.50 more than you could get it somewhere else) and recommend them to others.

[Rumbly]

You mention common sense for the local kids fitting your tyres, but if someone was jacking my car up in the air on 4 trolley jacks, my own common sense would have kicked in, and i would have stopped them and taken my car to a REAL tyre fitter, and paid the extra.

I'd agree with that for sure, and add, dropping one corner of a car already up on 4 trolly jacks would seem like a pretty risky strategy IMO.

[bruce e]

Common sense should have kicked in and lowered that corner of the car and removed the jack.

I think the phrase "....hole....stop digging..." comes to mind!