Just curious.


I took my wife's ride in yesterday to repair a slow leak in one of her Michelin LTXs. The guy at the counter said it's getting about time to replace them, and I agreed, as they're not dead yet but do have 95K on them. The salesman and I talked about a new set, and he showed me the screen price for new ones. I said something to the effect of, "that's not out of line, but how much can you come off of that? I've seen these on TireRack for $12 per tire less. Can you at least match their price?" I knew full and well that TireRack would have actually been more expensive once shipping was added, but he wasn't interested in dealing with me. He just blew me off and I waited for my flat to be fixed.


Now, here comes a complete 180. The guy that actually fixed the flat walks in to the lobby and calls my name to tell me that they're finished with my car. In passing he mentions that it's getting about time for a new set. I mention that I've talked to a salesman, and that I'm a loyal Discount Tire customer, but they do not have the most competitive price on these tires, and I'm not ready to buy a set until we can come to terms on price. He introduces himself as a manager, and now this guy is suddenly in his element. He said that since there's x/32 left on three of the tires we can pro-rate $50 each for 3 of them AND he'll match TireRack's price. I was floored. He offered more than I was asking.


So, in short here are the two deals on a set of Michelin LTX M/S2s in 245-70-16 that list for $193 per tire in Discout's system:

Salesman - $1019 installed
Manager - $807 installed
Both prices include lifetime balancing and road hazard warranty.


What gives? It seems to me that one guy was more motivated than the other.

DUH!!!

I know it's appearant that one of them was showing me more love, but I didn't say toolbox salesmen.

Umm how was the salesman getting over $200 more? You saw what they said in the system at $193/per.

Also .. that seems expensive for tires, or has inflation really gotten that out of hand? I know I havent bought new tires since like 1999, but man .. $200 per tire wow.

Back when I had my old S10 pickup, I used to be able to replace all 4 tires for right around $200, total. It was a pretty big shock the first time I replaced tires on my current car, it cost about $1100...

I'm more amazed by the 95k mile service life and still have tread left. Then again I've gotten used to tires that are done in 18-25k.

[This message has been edited by madd_ag_05 (edited 8/11/2011 6:23a).]

Randy,
thats about going rate for michelins in that size for retail.

If he were in houston, I could have done that size for around 750 out the door.

Yeah guys, that's the going rate if you can't talk them into some type of deal.


Tire - $193
Install - $16
Lifetime Balancing - $18
Road Hazard - $25
Tax - $20ish

=$1000+ for a set of four.


And I'm also amazed that we got 95K out of these. They're on a Grand Cherokee, and the first 60K were put on when we lived in Dallas and she had a 40 mile commute in traffic.

That's why they're awesome

Bought two run flats from them (no road hazard), then the week, one of the two I didn't replace was flat. The salesmen said if I bought one more tire, he would give me road hazard on all four, and replace the tire with the flat, saying it was covered.

saved me quite a bit.

265/70/17 Nitto Terra Grapplers-

Quoted at $1040 out the door. Paid $850 out the door WITH road hazard on all 4.

Discount Tire.

We had two LTXs slashed. I loaded the two tires up in my mom's Camry and headed over to Discount. Manager meets me at the door and we walk over to the Camry. He says my road hazard warranty would not cover the vandalism, but if I bought one he'd give me another one. I appreciated that.

No commission..Manager is only one who has the actual COST of tire to store. Managers get a bonus, but it based on profit, not individual sales. They have a crap load of goals they are expected to meet and sometime depending on several different things they make deals that they actually lose money on to make goals. My SIL is a manager for Discount and one time I was in bad need of a tire and went to a store other than his, I knew the manager there and talked to him and he sold me two tires for less than my SIL would have sold them to me. I told SIL about the deal, he called the other manager worrying that he had taken a hit on the tires and he told my SIL that he was short on sales and needed the two tires I bought to get him even and keep him out of trouble with his goal.
They make a buttload of money. My SIL is young but he hustles and made over $200K last year. It is pressure cooker as far as working there and meeting all the goals and requirments. They make good money, but they have to work for it. They are even rated by wait time,cleanliness,mistakes and such. Not sure I could do it. Management is all in your business, but they get you to drink the koolaid and all promotions are from within the company.

[This message has been edited by SD_71 (edited 8/12/2011 2:15a).]

I've never had any problem with Discount Tire. Bought new Michelins on my 2009 Silverado about a year ago, and then shortly after had a sidewall puncture. Only replaced one tire (tread wear was minimal on the others) and I wasn't gonna buy the road hazard on the new tire (didn't have it on the original 4), but he told me if I bought it for this one he'd give me the other 3 for free (that I had just bought from them).

But will they fill my tires with Nitrogen?

$200k in 1 year? Managing a Discount Tire?

Jon,

I think we went to school for the wrong thing!

( it's Boswell)

What up dude....

Yea I'm not sure how that is even possible

I don't think the road hazard is lifetime, but 3 years max. Which sucks when you buy a good tire.

I'm looking for a place that doesn't cap their road hazard. So far, Sams is the only one I've seen that doesn't have any info on length of time. Anyone else?

NTB honored a road hazard warranty for ~100k miles on my last truck, and that was about 4 years worth of driving.

Did not SEE his paystub, but that is what cam out in a conversation with them about changing stores. It is not a salary, that in it's self is pretty average, it the bonus which is out of this world. You have a lot of points you have to hit, a lot of things that are kinda crazy, then the craziest part is the higher your profit the higher your percentage cut of your bonus. Like 50k profit you get 10%, 100k profit you get 15%, 150k profit you get 20%. It is crazy and he is in the middle of the pack, there are quite a few that make double what he does.