Haggling price of winter tires?

zukered · #1 (**permalink**) 09-28-2008, 12:33 PM

Being a complete newbie when it comes to parts and services, is it possible to haggle down the price of the winter tires and installation service from the Honda dealership, or is price negotiation exclusively for car purchases?

I was thinking of bringing in quotes from Canadian Tire/Walmart/Costco. I don't expect Honda to match it, but I'd hope to get at least $50 off the $760 Cdn that Honda charges.

For comparison, the Michelin X-ICE (Honda says they'd use these) and 14" steel rims sell would come to $630 at Canadian Tire.

kenchan · #2 (**permalink**) 09-29-2008, 01:15 PM

tirerack has a winter package for like $440 or something. 14" on black steelies. i might do that if the snow gets real bad this year.

zukered · #3 (**permalink**) 09-30-2008, 10:50 PM

Thanks for the tip, but while the basic price is fine, all the costs to ship to Canada add almost $300 to the price, so it's just a few dollars off from the dealer price, which includes installation...

rushlow · #4 (**permalink**) 10-14-2008, 01:21 AM

I got a set of winter tires installed at Kal Tire last winter for 488.02 all together.

Firebat666 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-14-2008, 12:29 PM

if you want a good deal on snow tires, buy them in the spring! they will be trying to get rid of over stock, i dont know how much snow you get, but last winter i had no issues driving with a few inches on the ground, the hardest thing was getting going from a dead stop.... but other than that it was solid

E = Mc2 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-15-2008, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zukered

Being a complete newbie when it comes to parts and services, is it possible to haggle down the price of the winter tires and installation service from the Honda dealership, or is price negotiation exclusively for car purchases?

I can't see as where it would hurt to try. The amounts you quoted seem horrendously high. Is there any particular reason you want to get it done at/by the dealership instead of one of the other places you named?

I see what you mean about the pricing of the tirerack set. $163 USD shipping does add considerably to the price ($700 CAD total), but all you'd have to do is put them on the car. They come balanced and ready for installation. I'm fortunate down here South of the poutine curtain in that my shipping cost would only be $78 USD to my front door.

Which reminds me: I need to get upstairs and rotate my tires again. We hit the 10000 mile mark this week while on vacation. Good luck!

kenchan · #7 (**permalink**) 10-15-2008, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firebat666

but last winter i had no issues driving with a few inches on the ground, the hardest thing was getting going from a dead stop.... but other than that it was solid

which snow tires do you have? kinda defeats the purpose if you're
having problems like a/s tires would?

zukered · #8 (**permalink**) 10-17-2008, 06:02 PM

Well, I finally called around the dealerships in town and was a bit surprised that they offered different winter tires; I'd have thought they'd standardize on just one or two brands.

The cost for the Michelin X-Ice was $120 for each tire, 51.36 for each (14" OEM) rim, and $70 installation/labour. Michelin also has a $50 rebate until November 30, too.

With the sudden tanking of the Canadian dollar relative to the US, getting them from Tire Rack is suddenly even less attractive than before