Hello,
Will be picking up a new Elantra from the Dealership shortly.
Dealer made a big deal about what is apparently free tire replacements,
due to wear only, for the life of the car if one has all maint. and oil
changes, etc. done at the dealership.
Anyone know anything about this ? Legitimate ?
Caveats or hookers ?
Really seems to good to be true.
There is a "Tire Rewards Certificate" to be filled out.
Reading a bit between the lines, it seems this guarantee is from a third
party, but not all that clear.
Anyone know anything about this ?
Thanks,
Bob
My dealer has a similar plan. Might be the same dealer. Dunno. In
any case, when my Sonata's Michelin OEM tires were worn out at 40,000,
the dealer did indeed throw a set of tires on the car. No begging was
needed: just asked them to check the tread depth and they told me it
was time and did the job while I waited.
So I got a set of Kumho KH16 tires at no charge. Now, this is NOT a
top of the line tire but it's okay.
The question is what qualifies as "do all your maintenance here" at
your dealer. Some may be more rule-happy about this than others.
For example, suppose you get a flat hundreds of miles from home, or a
headlight burns out. Are you allowed to get that fixed where you are
or do you have to bring the car back to the dealer to get it fixed
just so you can keep the tire plan you may not use for years? I
like my dealer but not that much!
In my case, I have had several flats on my car over the year. It
happens. And when it does, I get that fixed where I am. It was a
concern to me about whether that would void this plan, but honestly a
I can't live my life worrying about free tires years from now. When
they went to replace the tires, the interesting part was that they
didn't ask me if I'd had any work done anywhere else. Most of my
maintenance has actually been at the dealer. But I didn't volunteer
the flat fixes I had to get done, or the bulbs I have replaced, or
oil changes done elsewhere.
I will also add this: I ran over a giant bolt thing a few weeks ago
and blew out one of those relatively new Kumhos. The tire was not
repairable. My local very trusted tire shop charged me close to $120
to replace that one Kumho with a new one, so that put the value of a
set of four "tires for life" at about $500 a set. Your dealer may
use another tire as a replacement, but the point is, there IS a
certain value in this sort of offer. You need to decide if you think
the dealer will honor it (because it's worthless if they won't), and
whether that value is worth going back to the dealer all/most of the
time.
Monetarily, you would probably be better off getting the maintenance
done elsewhere or DIY and putting aside some cash for when the tires
need to be replaced a few years from now.
Enjoy your new Elantra!
