Yesterday was kind of a cloudy, cool and breezy day, so rather than work on the motorhome physically, I worked on an associated item…getting price quotes on new tires and found the results most interesting.
The tires on our motorhome are approaching 6 years old with 33,000 miles. General consensus indicates tires should be replaced every 5-7 years. Goodyear (our brand) recommends every 5 years.
I’m expecting we will replace the tires within the next 3 months and during that time the motorhome is expected to be between its current location at Mary’s home in central California and the Canadian Border.
So yesterday I got on Google Earth to Locate Goodyear tire dealers in California, Oregon and Washington. I told them all the same thing. I’m looking for 6 Goodyear G670 RV Tires, size 225/R70 19.5F. I want an out-the-door price which includes the tires, balancing, installation and sales tax. Here’s the wide variety (low to high) of prices I got for the identical product…
$2,250…$2,386…$2,424…$2,589…$2,601…$2,995,..$3,223…$3,268
A TOTAL DIFFERENCE OF $1,018 FOR THE IDENTICAL PRODUCT/SERVICE!
So I consider the about 3 hours I spent on this process to be worth ($1,018 divided by 3) $339 per hour. My conclusion…IT PAYS TO SHOP AROUND!
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
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