Is anyone else experiencing this?

So, I just got my 16K service done. $500. Not too bad, about average I guess. Needed a new rear tire in the process, so I told the shop owner I would order one on line and have it to him in a few days. I spied a Conti Road Attack somewhere for $110. When he heard my plan, he refused to do it. He says that he AND virtually all shops in the area ONLY allow you to purhcase THIER tires for them to put on. He charged significantly more for his tire ($159).

Is anyone else experiencing this?

I was sorta pissed /sort of understood. His reasoning was drivien by the old "Mom-and-Pop-shops are being driven into the ground by the internet prices" schpeeel. Roger, Got it. I always do my best to help out the little guys. However, I also just paid him 500 bucks for the dreaded 16K valve inspection/adjustment, etc!! He already made a Sh%t-ton of money off me! If I was going in solely for the tire change (which I am WAY too busy to do on my own), I would not have been as annoyed. Anyway, just wondering if all the other places out there have similar policies, which would meant that the internet tires are for US to put them on, or for the shops to buy cheap and then mark up for us.

In any event, I am thrilled to have her back! The weather is gorgeous and I have a new tire to break in! :smile: Hwy 42 here I come!

 

Most of the bigger shops in my area are the same. The custom shops were the exception. I have been looking around for a replacement for my back tire(Dunlop D220) and nobody carries these in stock. They all had the more sportier tires and I didn't want to mix the types. So I found one of the local shops within 30 mins would order for 139.00 I didn't think this was to bad considering that the best price I saw online was 129.00 not counting S&H.

Matt

 

What I've seen here is a little different. If you bring in the tire, then they will charge you to mount it. However, if you buy the tire from them, they will waive the mounting fee.

You can order the tires online to save money and tax, but then you pay for shipping and mounting. If you buy through the dealer or shop, then you save the mounting fees.

For my last set of tires, I asked the shop to order BT45s rather than what they had in stock, that way they were mounted for free and I got the tires I wanted. So basically, I ended up breaking even.

 

Some years ago I had a Japanese bike salvage and repair biz. My practice was to mount and balance tires that were bought through my shop free with the wheels off the bike.

If you brought in tires purchased elsewhere I charged $30.00 per tire with the wheels off the bike.

If you brought the bike in I charged flat-rate time to R&R wheels in either case.


Rex

 

We won't mount used tires you bring in, at all. No excuses.
We will mount and balance new tires you bring in. wheel on or off bike. Fees are flat rate to mount/balance, t/m to r and r wheels.
We don't charge to mount/balance tires we sell as that cost is built into the price of the tire.

 

Its just a way to get more money from ya. My Honda/Kawa stealership charges around $40 each if still on bike and I think $25 each if you bring just the wheel and tires.

I had mine half way done so he only charged $12.50 each. :biggrin:

 

The dealership where i bought my front Metzeler (South Sound Honda in Olympia) won't mount a tire unless you buy it from them. The shop where i had it put on (Cycle Barn in Lynnwood) will. Also SSH charges for m/b for the tires they sell. Had them change the rear last summer and i didn't get a deal on the tire either. Cycle Barn charged me $30 to m/b the front but i got a really good deal on it ($90) so it worked out.

 

I had a shop in Cincinnati that would mount tire purchased on the net, they closed. I have not been able to find another. One guy told me it was an insurance liability.? If he touched it he could be sued. Sounds like huey to me.

 

I use to work at a dealer and we would mount any new tire on rims or on the bike. I did not care if you had the tire( bought on line ) or from us. I did not do used tires as that is a liability. I would get that from many why do dealers say cant mount that tire..I would like you to buy the tire from us but realized some times you can get much cheaper on the net..I rather get your bussiness then see it walk away..Ah but I no longer work there and told from past co-worker they will not honor what I set up any longer. I look for a indepented shop and work with them. Oh and make sure they have balanced a VFR before as many shops have no way of doing the rear wheel. Seen this too offen.
Chris

 

In CA and other states, there is a place called cycle gear. they will mount new tires for you no matter where you got them from. If you buy from them you can get road hazard warranty- first 50% of tread life is a new tire, then pro-rated after that. it's a pretty good deal considering the type of bikes we ride and the distances we go....

 

Back in the day when shops did mount & balance as an inclusive part of a tire purchase I never had a problem paying extra for a tire because you where getting extra. Now, it seems like they all want to charge you extra for the tire & charge you for mounting & balancing. In my book they would be better off raising the price of the tire more & making it inclusive again. But then I suppose you have to take into consideration chain vs shaft drive. May be I'm old fashioned I just like to be kissed before I get screwed.

 

Yep seems to be their way, or no way. I Have a dealer here thou that will put it on. I look at it both ways, either they do it and get props for it or they don't and I give bad press. not that I don't understand. if the shops where closer in price then yea I'd buy em from them. but as it stands I'm saving big bucks for other things, so screw em if that's the way they want to be so be it. I have it figured out..

 

Up here the stealers oops I mean dealers will either refuse to mount tires they did not sell you - they may charge you twice the normal mounting fee or only mount tires if you bring them off the bike. I know one shop near me that tried to charge $80.00 to mount a front tire and $125.00 for the rear since my exhaust would need to be removed. Go figure - these shops do not realize that I will never use them for anything. I do use the local guys when they are reasonable. Sometimes I go to swap shows and rallys and get stuff. The markup is ridiculous and Mom & Pop shops need to know how to be in business. Some of the small shops that are not run very well want the customer to pay for all business expenses - yeah right. The more the dealers charge the more I will be motivated to do stuff for myself and partner up with other friends to do work on our bikes. As an example, why is it every year in my area the Mom & Pop shops do not have something as simple as rain gear and gloves in larger sizes - every year we tell them what we want but they want to wait and order it when someone comes to the store. I can order stuff myself and most of the time get a better price. The Mom & Pops stores stick with a Vendor that charges crazy prices and they do not care because it is not costing them anything. If this means we will have no Mom & Pops shops in my area then good ridance - the space can be used for something else.

 

Most local stores don't buy enough tires to get the high volume discounts, so the tires cost them more, wholesale, than they cost you to buy them retail from one of the big mail order houses. They could just order from the same place you do, and get the prices you get, but then Parts Unlimited would cut them off and they wouldn't be able to get other items. And they don't do enough volume to buy all that stuff straight from the factories; they're dependent on the distributors to sell them everything they resell to you.

Want to know what they wouldn't be able to sell, if they gave up their relationship with Parts Unlimited? Go out there and look at the Parts Unlimited catalog - it's pretty much every non-OEM item they sell.

Meanwhile the big mail order tire stores do a huge volume, so Parts Unlimited gives them a much better price on the tires, which gets passed along to you.

Just because I know why they do it, doesn't mean I'm willing to pay it - I order my tires through the mail as well. I can mount them myself, and there are also small shops that are actually making their living off their service departments, who don't sell tires at all, who will mount them for a reasonable price. But I don't get all upset about it, because this Parts Unlimited thing is not the dealer's fault, it's just part of the environment they work in.

I'd be more willing to pay it and help them out, if they ever had ANYTHING useful in stock. Unfortunately I seem to be a very freaky customer. Who buys that stuff they keep in stock? My guess is that sensible riders who actually USE the stuff they buy, are also able to plan ahead and order the things they need. Meanwhile no one would ever order 100 different FOX racing stickers or beanie helmets with skulls on them, but if they're in stock the store can sell them to people with poor impulse control.

If I'm going to have to order and wait I can do that from the comfort of my computer chair at home, and let the UPS guy bring it directly to me instead of to them.

 

Just another perspective on this....I work at a larger tire shop (Tirecraft) as a tech and while 99% of our business is automotive we are also the only tire shop in my city that will even mess with bike tires other then the dealers of course. But then again it helps that the majority of the wheels on bikes are like car wheels it makes it easier for us to simply use the car equipment to mount them. One tech usually deals with dirtbike tires while i usually deal with most of the streetbike tires. However all of us are trained in changing the bike tires no matter what they are. Unfortunitly we do not have the equipment needed to balance them...something im kinda wary about when it comes time for my F2 conversion.

 

Sounds like a complete asshole, I would never go back to that shop. I don't trust anyone but me with the removal/installation of the wheels on my bikes and always buy tires on the 'net. The last tires I had put on the "mechanic" put the front on backwards, even though the arrows on the wheel and tire were clear (at least to me). No way do I trust nimrods like this to torque to spec when my life's on the line. There are 3 places within 20 miles of me that all charge $25/tire mounted and balanced - I go to whoever has the time to do it while I wait.