Tyre fitting companies not wanting to fit your tyres?

[gazza285]

speedyguy said:

I suppose if you don't like the business model of people who don't want to do the tyre swap you could do it yourself
(Remove tongue from cheek )

It's not that hard, I used to swap part worns from the scrapyard onto my rims back when I was poor.

[williamp]

InitialDave said:

Strange, my branch of National have always been happy enough to remove/fit tyres I bring to them.

I bet you need a new exhast everytime, though....

[vanordinaire]

You've all got me feeling really guilty. Our local garage swaps winter tyres on 4 cars for us every year, never charges for puncture repairs, does minor stuff like sidelight bulbs at MOT, all free of charge.
They do our MOTs, and we buy our tyres and exhausts from them but other than that they don't get much business from us as I do most repairs and servicing myself. I've asked the owner to charge me for this stuff but he just shrugs and says he does fine as it is. The guys get a wee bung for the drinks fund at Christmas and seem happy at that.

[robinessex]

Sourcing tyres of the net often isn't worth it, as the fitting charge kills the cheap price you get. I had a local guy put my 2 new tyres on and balance for £15. When I offered cash, he said put it in the guys tea pot fund.

[Buster73]

vanordinaire said:

You've all got me feeling really guilty. Our local garage swaps winter tyres on 4 cars for us every year, never charges for puncture repairs, does minor stuff like sidelight bulbs at MOT, all free of charge.
They do our MOTs, and we buy our tyres and exhausts from them but other than that they don't get much business from us as I do most repairs and servicing myself. I've asked the owner to charge me for this stuff but he just shrugs and says he does fine as it is. The guys get a wee bung for the drinks fund at Christmas and seem happy at that.

They are buying your loyalty , some of the posters on here chasing the cheapest deal could learn a lot from this post.

[Dog Star]

Coldfuse said:

Daston said:

never had an issue with our local place (not a chain), £20 for 4 tyres.

I would bite off his arm for that price....

It's what I pay. I suspect the higher prices are in the south-east.

Same observation from myself - big chains won't do them, small "one man band" places will. Some quote me rubbish about insurance risk, don't know history of tyre blah blah - obviously utter tripe as they'll happily fix a puncture.

I did however have one clown quote me 20 quid a tyre to change them - despite his puncture repair price showing as 9 quid. They'r just pissed off you didn't buy your tyres off them.

[loose cannon]

Goodyear eagle f1 assy 2 235/40/18 national tyres price £143.90 each fitted
Tyreleader yesterday charging £98.90 deliverd for the same tyre !

[steveo3002]

id say try the back street non chain places , if they can pocket the cash chances are they will do it vs the big chains have too many rules and boss man looking down your neck

[sjb1970]

My Brighton back street garage charges £12.50 per wheel to change and balance, cash goes in whoever's pocket does the job I suspect.... not in the least bothered they have to rip the camskill labels off them either !

[Sump]

I got sick of visiting tyre centres. Purchased my own machine and balancer for a grand.

[smithyithy]

Most of the little independent places in my area will fit for £5/tyre.

The chains will charge £10-15/tyre.

[xjay1337]

I use one specific place for tyres and have done for years.
However they have started not fitting customer supplied tyres. From their point they make some money on the tyre as well.
i can see it from both ways.

I'm not sure if they've changed their policy on it though.

[Krikkit]

Standard rate around here seems to be £10/wheel fitted and balanced, sometimes get a bit of a discount if you buy tyres as well, but not much.

[66mpg]

I fitted winter tyres to my rims myself because I worked at a firm that had the equipment in the workshop. When it was time to revert to summer tyres I had changed jobs so had no access to the gear. I had bought a set of new rims so that future swaps would be as easy as changing wheels. I had no trouble getting the tyres mounted on the new rims at a local tyre depot, £8 each inc. balance and new valve. It probably helped that I was not in a hurry. Dropped the tyres and rims off and collected them next day meaning they could do the job when it suited them.

[Wombat3]

I always understood its not a great idea to keep mounting/dismounting tyres because the bead can get stretched/damaged so the fewer times you do it the better.

So better to get some spare rims for the winters & fit them once at which point the cost of fitting (spread over 3 or 4 years) is pretty incidental.

[Slow]

I get 4 done for £20-£30 depending where, further away one is cheaper but only use if I'm getting 8+ wheels sorted.

[Al U]

I pay £15 PER tyre to get mine changed. It's expensive, but the place have decent technicians, decent ramps and don't fk up the wheels when they change the tyres.

The guy in the shop always asks me how much I paid for the tyres and he is usually about £40 more expensive. So even with the high price I pay to get them fitted, I save £40 for the hassle of getting them delivered and putting them in the car before going to the garage.

[droopsnoot]

loose cannon said:

Goodyear eagle f1 assy 2 235/40/18 national tyres price £143.90 each fitted
Tyreleader yesterday charging £98.90 deliverd for the same tyre !

Yes, I found the same - National are pretty much the most expensive place. A mate has an AA membership and told me he gets 40% off retail price of tyres at National, except their retail price is ridiculous. I've just put the same as you (though 225/40/18) on, National price was £130 against a £200-odd retail price. Eventually bought them at F1 Autocentre, £110 each if you walk in off the street, or £84 each if you pre-order on line, all in.

I asked a local HiQ about fitting tyres if I buy them online, they said they charge £1/inch to fit, so £18 a corner for me. Added to that I could probably get one tyre in the car so have to factor in four trips to get them there. Buying the tyres from Camskil (if you can find your way through the terrible web site) saved me about £5 a tyre, nowhere near enough to get them fitted around here.

[SirSquidalot]

I had my new wheels and tyres fitted and balanced by a local F1 Autocentre. They had no issue with it. Even helped me load the wheels back into the car and wrapped them in bubble wrap!

[JQ]

Can those people stating they get their tyres changed for £5 a corner please publish the name and location of these places.

Whilst most will likely not be close to me I'm sure someone on here will benefit, plus the tyre places get extra custom, so a win-win. I've never been able to get a quote of less than £15 a corner so I'd really like to know where the cheap place are.

Cheers