New Tyre Saga...

So I've had tyres delivered before because my mechanic hasn't stocked
the ones I wanted and he's been happy to put them on.

I've spent hundreds now all up on this plus previous bikes with him.

I get some Pilot Road 2's for $40 cheaper than what he quotes delivered.

Mechanic: "I don't like getting tyres delivered. I usually charge $40 for fitting
but I'm charging $80 because I have these in stock."

Making the tyres cost the same anyway!

Would you pay the extra $40 for the same amount of work? Is he justified?

 

I'd take your business elsewhere. Thats disgusting. I appreciate countries are different, but over here (England) pretty much any tyre fitting garage will fit a tyre to a rim. Fitted and balanced for £5-15. He should be grateful of the business not trying to get rid of it.

 

Get some tire spoons and do the work yourself. It's not hard once you get the technique down, I don't get why so many people shell out 40 bucks for what equates to 15 mins worth of work. And it's not even hard work, most decent shops will have a machine that does the work for them. Imagine picking up your wheel, flip it over a few times then pay yourself 40 bucks. That's essentially the extent of your mechanic's physical labor.

My tire changing setup has probably paid for itself 3x over by now.

 

If you had bought the tyres from him would he have fitted them for free?

 

THe guy is being a tool. If his prices are so uncompetitive, it's because he's being stingy about something. Probably trying to sell Pilot 2s at full MSRP when they're 8 years out of date and everyone is selling them off at massive discount.

Find a new shop.

 

The Tasmanian Devil runs a bike shop?

 

No still $40

 

Most of the shops here in PA charge less to mount if you buy from them. And don't try to have a Harley shop mount a tire for you. They wont touch anything but Harley. Really ticks me off sometimes. Recently I ordered tires from the internet and took them to a local shop and he did them for $40 ea. A week later I got new sprockets and chain. I installed the sprockets myself but had to take it to the same shop and they installed the chain for $40. Funny thing is it's a Yamaha dealer and they would not work on a Honda just a couple years ago (conflict of interest?). Anyway, he said times are hard and a lot of shops will work on other brands just to make ends meet.

 

The "mechanic" in Tasmania may not be the SOB as portrayed. Were the wheels off the bike? Were the old tires off the wheels? Did the installation of the "new" tires include balancing? What was the difference in price for the tires from the "mechanics" shop from another shop (if available) or from another source perhaps on line?

What was the actual age of the new tires? Was a disposal fee for the old tires included?

Lots of these sad stories are not so sad when the blanks are filled in. Filling in the blanks raises the anecdotal to the factual many times.

 

Did you give him a chance to match the online price? If not, he's probably peeved about that.

 

No I didn't give him that chance.
To me the only justifaction he would have is if extra work is involved. I can't see how that's the case here.

I believe his profit margin would he higher on his stock. So he's charged double to get that back.

Given our history I believe he should have let it go this once and let me know that I'd get charged double in the future.

 

I think Billy is hitting it

 

no

no

yes

Mechanics tyres were $450 + Fitting and balancing $40

Another source, online tyres were $405 + Fitting and balancing $80

unknown

unknown

 

I think you're being taken for a ride.
I'm in Sydney, and nobody charges you for fitting and balancing if you buy tyres from them and take the wheels off the bike.
I just got new Metzeller Z8's for mine from my local, and it cost me $470 fitted, and they are dearer tyres then the PR2's.
I can understand locals getting pissed off about people buying from OS, but sometimes the price difference is too high.
I'm happy to support local bike shops when they are reasonable with their pricing, I don't mind paying a bit extra to get a relationship with a good shop.
It works both ways though, they also have to help you out from time to time.
I just went to a Honda dealer to get price on a new spare stator for my 5th gen, and they quoted me $550 and 4 weeks to get it. F**#k that.
I'll get that from the US faster and cheaper.
I only buy tyres localy, as the savings are not worth the bad blood or the running around.

 

OZ, Blue is living on an island they don't have a lot of competion down there, you want somebody to pull your wheels off and do all the work then you pay if you don't want to do it, simples, same would happen down here. Had a similar experience when I wanted a stator for my CB750, went to Red Wing Honda, thought I would help the local guys, he looked up the computer and started to say five hundred and, I stopped him and said don't bother I can get one from OBB for $125 delivered and I walked out, not long after that they closed their doors, you can rip people some of the time but now with internet we can see what is out there in the rest of the world

 

Kudos to Growler for the responses consisting of yes and no and simple dollar figures.

Locale anywhere is important. Greed is everywhere.

IMO, Growler got screwed.

It could be worse if he rode that "other" bike..

 

Not until July 15 here in Ogeron..

 

I don't think he has been screwed, we are talking $80 to remove both wheels from a bike, remove 2 tires and fit and balance 2 tires that have been supplied and get rid of the old tires, he has no profit margin to work with as he would if he had supplied the tires. Personally I wouldn't have the front to rock up to a tire place and ask them to fit tires I was supplying, different if they were difficult tires to get but these are on the shelf and for christ sake we are talking about $40 here

 

Where the F*%$k is Ogeron?

 

The shop owner took the business advantage when Growler showed up with his set of online tires and doubled the price. This is not a great way to keep a customer. We still don't know the age of the tires the shop owner was trying to move or how long Growler has been a customer.

Very similar situations everywhere. There is a brick and mortar shop in Seattle that sells tires. Many in stock and if what is wanted is not in stock the shop will have them there in short order. Buying deep the shop owner gets discounts we do not enjoy. There is also the financing. Usually in the form of a 30-60-90 day payout or the best way in immediate payment. Standard business with honest houses. Prices out the door are a bit more than on line unless there happens to be a special on shipping from an online source. Bottom line? Life in the big city.

Two locales: One little pretty much HD oriented shop in my Oregon hood. Caveat Emptor Maximus!! Bring your KY Jelly in large tubes.