| Tire Advertising - Fact vs. Fiction | |
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Sometimes it's hard to tell
fact from fiction. While most companies in the automotive business
are reputable, some choose questionable offers to gain a customers
attention. As one might suspect, many of these offers
turn out to be more fiction than fact. At Hogan Tire, a 3rd
generation family owned and operated business, we believe that any
special or sale must be straight forward and offer the customer a true
value. It's how Hogan keeps you rolling... |
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| Fiction? | Fact |
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The $12 tire
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Yes, You can buy the tire advertised for
$12. But, as you may have guessed the odds of that particular tire
fitting your car are very small. If fact, the most popular $12
tire that you will see advertised is a size P155/80R13 which represents
less than .2% of the replacement market. That means the
odds of that tire fitting your car are 500 to 1. |
| Free Mounting or Installation |
Some competitors advertise free
installation/mounting with every tire purchase. You might assume
that this includes the complete process of installing your new tires.
In fact, it does not. The offer may only refer to the mounting
process. In all probability you will be charged for balancing, new
valve stems or a disposal fee for your old tires at a substantial extra
charge. Hogan Tire, like most tire
tire dealers, does not charge a fee for the mounting of the tire onto
your wheel. Our normal installation charge is a package price per
tire that includes everything you need to install your new tires and
safely dispose of your old tires. Up-front and honest with no
surprise fees. It's how Hogan keeps you rolling. |
| Free front wheel alignment |
While it may be true that you can get a free
"front wheel alignment", you might be better off
doing nothing. A front wheel alignment does not reference the rear
wheels. Results can lead to a crooked steering wheel, "dog
tracking", or a pull to one side. Front wheel alignments are not
recommended by Hogan Tire. In all likelihood you would be sold what
your vehicle really
needs at an additional charge. 75% of today's cars require a
4-wheel alignment. Hogan Tire offers a 4-wheel
alignment for $49.95 (normally
$69.95) with any tire purchase. |
| Free snow tire changeovers |
Those that use snow tires with a single set
of wheels would assume that this means the complete process of
re-installing your snow tires or summer tires on your wheels. In
fact, it usually does not. The offer may only refer to the
mounting process. If you would like your tires balanced, and you
will need to do that, there is a substantial extra charge.
Hogan Tire offers our customers special
discounted changeover prices and will swap over tires mounted on a
separate set of wheels for free. |
| Advertise major brands, sell private label |
You've seen large ads with name brand tires listed
everywhere. You might
be surprised to know that the majority of sales for many of these
companies consist of
private label or non-brand name tires. Watch out for someone
trying to talk you into a "better" tire, that you've never heard of, for
less money. Hogan Tire stocks a wide selection of brand name and
associate brand tires. Associate brand tires are made by a major
manufacturer, to their specifications, and are not owned by a third party
as a private brand tire would be. This is not to imply that a
private brand tire is never as good as name brand tire. It could
be. There is just no way to be sure. |
| The $69 brake job |
This is a case of "you get what you pay
for". A $69 brake job would most likely include installing a set
of brake pads only. Other important parts of a complete brake job,
such as resurfacing the brake rotors or installing new brake hardware,
would not be included. The fact is, most customers buying a $69
brake job end up paying much more for all the extra's that are required,
but not included. |
| "FREE" loaner cars | We all know that there is a cost to have and maintain loaner cars. Companies that supply "FREE" loaner cars have to incorporate those costs into the prices that they charge for products and services. At Hogan Tire we do not maintain our own fleet of loaner cars to keep our prices low. We have arrangements with several rental car companies to provide cars to those customers that can't be without transportation. Hogan Tire pays part of the cost of this service and the customer is billed at $19.99/day. Even with a rental charge, most customers find that their total invoice is less than it would have been with the "FREE" loaner car. Customers that do not need alternate transportation save even more. |