Main dealer predictability

[markjay]

The way I read the post, the Audi dealer fitted 4 unused winter tyres, however they have been in stock for 8 years and probably not stored very well (suffering from 'tyre rot' - i.e. cracking between thread), which made the experienced tyre fitter initially think that they were second hand tyres (which they were not).

I am guessing that the tyre dealer then sent the tyres back to the manufacturer as a warranty claim, since tyre rot should not be present on 'new' tyres - 'new', because the manufacturer's warranty is valid for x years from purchase date (as demonstrated by the purchase invoice), not from manufacture date (which a consumer wouldn't normally be able to check before buying anyway).

 

[E55BOF]

Tyres have the year, and week of that year, of manufacture on the sidewall.

 

[markjay]

Tyres have the year, and week of that year, of manufacture on the sidewall.

They do, but if you leave your car at the dealer and ask them to fit new tyres, the onus can't be on you to inspect the tyres before they are fitted and check the manufacture date - and also know in advance how long new tyres can be kept in stock before being sold - it would be unreasonable to place such a requirement on the consumer.

Equally, your new car warranty starts from 'date of first registration', and owners are not expected to request the OASIS report to see how long ago the car was actually made, etc.

The manufacturer's warranty always starts from purchase date, not manufacture date (and irrespective of whether the customer could have known the manufacturer date or not).

 

[Headhurts]

Last year my car was in for service and MOT, it is a low mileage 2016 E350 purchased new and garaged at home so I had confidence it would sail through the MOT.

I was surprised to receive a phone call to say it had failed as one of the rear tyres (P-Zero) had an inner bulge and would I like them to fit a new one to replace this, I asked if they would be competitive with local tyre fitters, they said no and a new tyre would cost me from memory £260.

As I was at home for me to arrange a new tyre I would have had to return to the dealership which is around 10 miles from me collect the car take to the tyre fitters have new tyre fitted rebook MOT to get a pass, I could not be bothered so authorised them to fit the tyre.

A couple of days later I booked the car into a local tyre company to have a tyre fitted the opposite side so the tyres were both new, they were a £100 cheaper than group1auto in Norwich.

I believe the tyre was ordered into group1 and fitted by them rather than take into a tyre fitters, it does seem a huge mark up and since this company took over the Mercedes dealership they seem far less willing to dish out the customer service.

Robin

 

[Dickster]

This is obviously not uncommon. My local village garage told me a similar story he’d been told by his tyre supplier. . His tyre supplier received a call for a quote for tyres from a main dealer. During the call when the quote was provided, the main dealer could be heard telling the customer the quote - but he inflated it 100%!

Since then, the tyre supplier now inflates his quote for the main dealer.

Unbelievable.

 

[Peterds]

It looks like from this tread, if you need tyres and what a fair price - use a specialist tyre company.