Posted on 06/08/2013 10:48:09 PM PDT by Jyotishi
Chains such as Rent-a-Wheel and Rimco are seeing business boom. Many consumers pay double or triple the cost of buying and face aggressive repossession policies.
When the tires on their Dodge Caravan had worn so thin that the steel belts were showing through, Don and Florence Cherry couldn't afford to buy a new set.
So they decided to rent instead.
The Rich Square, N.C., couple last September agreed to pay Rent-N-Roll $54.60 a month for 18 months in exchange for four basic Hankook tires. Over the life of the deal, that works out to $982, almost triple what the radials would have cost at Wal-Mart.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
****But no one said Capitalism had a soul, conscience or morals.****
Who says that following current trends have anything to do with that?
Keeping up with the more affluent is a chase that invigorates many, morality in this highly communicative world will be a detriment if the tide has turned in the miscreants favor. All tides that favor miscreants are short lived...
Try a junk yard and get rims with tires on them. I think I see another “reality” show coming next season.
If they can’t afford tires, how can they afford car insurance? Oh wait, they probably don’t have any.
Exactly, . . .Capitalism is not a values system. . .It will only function properly in a free society. A free society can only emerge on the foundation of a virtuous people. Thus, Capitalism requires a virtuous people under the laws of liberty.
If they could afford the 54+ bucks a month for rent, why didn’t they do it the way I did when I was young, buy one tire each month until you have all 4. Would be cheap tires but it would have saved them lots of money. After they had the 4 tires they could keep putting that 54 or so dollars in the bank for when the next financial emergency came along.
I have gone to junkyards for rims for cars.....still find ones in good condition for 15 bucks. And...may have to do so again with my latest car as I got another dinged by a chuckhole
Rent a Wheel? More like “I got yo money sucka”
I ain’t buying that anyone can buy 4 new tires and get them mounted and balanced for $350, even from Wallymart world
>>I really don’t believe this is so much about tires, as it is about ghetto rims.
I work in the red zone in my town and there are at least three wheel and tire rental stores there. They don’t have anything under 20’s on display outside and the cars in the parking lot are exactly what you describe: the $500 POS cars with $2k worth of tires on them (and a $5000 paint job on several of them).
Hell Obama caused the price of rubber to increase by over 30 % by the threat of Cap N Trade alone. I learned this speaking to the owner of a well known tire store chain awhile back...
A lot of wrecking yards will have tire places nearby.
And you can get xlent deals on batteries, the mfg date is usually on a sticker on the battery, and the wrecking yards have enuff of them to choke a goat.
It’s not unusual to get a hundred dollar battery for 20 bucks.
Hell they probably spend 4 times that on weed and alcohol a month, maybe more...
I got 4 tires mounted and balanced at Walmart for slightly less actually. Not huge tires mind you, 195/60-15, but yeah, its possible.
This article is totally untrue. Not even demowits are that stupid.
>> In my twenties, the junk yard was the tire store.
My guess is, now you’re solvent, and living comfortably, if not well off.
I hope I’m right.
Thrifty habits are formed early!
Unfortunately many are in that position. I have been a credit card member for over 10 years and when my wife's cancer returned we needed to use them. We always pay on time and would carry a balance for a few months. As we were trying to get back on our feet and paying on time they jacked the rate to 29%. We then started doing the shift to the no interest rate cards as balance transfers. I called the CC company and they said there was nothing they could do to a loyal member. No matter how good you try some crook is always looking to screw you.
“I ain’t buying that anyone can buy 4 new tires and get them mounted and balanced for $350”
You can, but you have to shop round. I picked up four Michelin tires for my honey’s compact for $295 at an online tire store. Michelin threw in a $75 debit card to make the deal sweeter. That paid for the mounting. Much cheaper than Wallyworld.
Three of my families cars have full sets of used tires on them. Mine have been on for a year and still have half the tread life on them. $35 each for Continental tires.
You can't fix stupid. When did they start thinking about replacing their tires? What else did they buy during the period that they should have been thinking "tires"?
That business finds a way to offer more choices (including bad ones) should be a surpise.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that tires weren't the first consumable that the Cherrys rented or paid high interest rates for, instead of planning to buy outright.
This is a story about people who can't handle their money, not about rental tires.
Tthat was my very first thought. It's not Rev. Wright's "rich, white peeeeeople" who are seeing their hours cut back to 25/week to avoid Obamacare premiums. It's disproportionately falling on the young and minorities who were Obama voters. (Two 25-hour employees hired instead of one 40-hour employee is a big reason that the official unemployment rate is as low as it is. Even at minimum wage, that 15 hours would represent one new tire every week. But they'd have free birth control -- that is, if they had full time jobs with health insurance!)
I also agree with the auto recycler/junkyard approach to tires on a budget. It's not like a Dodge Caravan uses an uncommon tire size, and it costs the auto recycler money to dispose of the used tires.
Some stretching in the original article -- I replaced the tires on the Corolla company car with Michelins at Costco and it cost me about $500 on sale. I doubt you could buy a new set of tires with mounting balancing and taxes for a minivan for less than $400.
Renting tires? I think I’d prefer dumpster diving behind the local Firestone or NTB store. There’s lots of junk tires out there that still have 5000-10000 miles of treadwear left on them.
They probably can’t sell them due to liability issues, but if they’re in the dumpster, they’re fair game IMHO.
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