Hi, I bought my new G Sport, loving every minute of it. The car salesman mentioned I should get the tire protection package (This is at Sewell Infiniti at Dallas), for $400, my tires and spoke are protected from any flat tires/damages to the spokes for 4 years. If I drive over a nail and get a flat tire, they'll replace the tire with the same premium sports tire free of charge. Is this a good deal? I was told by my friend that the cost of replacing a tire is more than 400..... and I should buy it, and in 3 years, just, umm.. accidentally driver over some ..nails....scattered on the road...

But in al seirousness, what do you think about this package? Thanks!

 

obligatory stop in the office of the F&I guy. He spoke a lot about extended warranties, paint protection, wheel and tire protection, and so on. I just kept smiling, told him 'no thanks' to all that stuff at the end, then bought the car and drove off.

All those protection packages just seemed like gravy for the dealer, and very possibly a hassle to actually make a claim against if I were to purchase any of the plans anyway.

 

Yep. I usually don't buy stuff like this, and was in the process of blowing him off when he mentioned this. A new rear wheel is $700; a new rear tire is about $230, fronts are something like $200. My price was $359 for five years, any road damage results in free replacement (non-pro-rated, IIRC), so it was a pretty easy choice - for that much, it's cheap insurance over five years.

 

Bought it for ours, paid $500. ONLY because 1 month after wife and I purchased our Cayenne S we developed a nasty bubble in th side wall and were told we had hit a road hazzard and forked over almost $300 for new tire. Wife is primary driver on the G and she drives...well a bit on the wild side. It may be money well spent if not it's a $125 per year insuarnce gamble. Passed on extended warranty because we typically dump cars at about 5 years and usually with less than 10 k per year on them. Just sold/traded an 02 Mercedes bought new in Sept of 01 with 49k on it and still have an 03 Vette bought new on May of 03 that has 18k on it. The Cayenne bought in August of 03 with 16k on it has 38k on it.

 

I never buy extended or aftermarket warranties of any kind (including cars, appliances, etc.). My theory is that the money I save over my lifetime by not buying warranties will far outway the occasional repair expenditure. To me it is like gambling in Vegas. Any person can occasionally have a big day and win big but over time, it is the house (i.e. the car dealer) that comes out on top the majority of the time.

Between my wife and I, we have had 5 previous cars (all driven to or close to 100k miles) and never had a blowout or flat that could not be repaired at Discount Tire for $15. Sure, it could happen tomorrow but $2,800 ($400 X 7 cars including the current ones) in saved warranty money will buy a lot of replacement tires.

Please keep in mind this is just my view. Many of my friends buy all types of warranties because it gives them peace of mind. To each his own, I just feel like these are the big areas where a dealer can make a lot extra money.

One other thing, be sure to review the fine print before you decide to buy. I just bought a Lexus for my wife from Sewell Lexus and the tire/wheel warranty they offered me included repairing the wheel/tire if possible before replacement. I do not remember if there was a proration clause but you should check to be sure. These types of things completely change the cost/benefit analysis of the warranty.

 

Very useful.. i got a nail last week and it was at the sidewall and i got a new tires no question asked. beautiful

 

This wasn't offered to me when I bought my car in Austin in December. I would not have bought it if it were because I'm like Jameyb and figure I'll come out ahead in the long run by never buying the special insurances offered on almost everything these days.

Anyway, I did get a cut in my rear tire a few weeks ago that was unrepairable. The dealer didn't even have the tire, so I'm not sure how it would have worked if I had bought extra coverage. After calling around, I pulled the rear wheel off myself and put it in the back of my Odyssey and was in-and-out of Discount tire in about 20 minutes.

Regardless of my "taking the risks myself" inclination, unless the dealer has a way to get me back on the road as quickly as 3rd-party tire places, it wouldn't be worth it anyway.

 

we got it for ours. i think it was around 500 too. i got it more for the protection of the oem 19's. i'm sure they're not pretty cheap. if you hit a bad pot hole at night (and there's some good ones around here) that the low profile tires can't hold their ground on, and it's bye-bye rim. one accident alone would more than pay for itself. and my wife drives a grand cherokee with beefier tires so when she gets in the G, she tends to drive like she's still in the jeep. that puts my mind at ease too.

 

get it,
ive already replaced a whole tire and got another one patched. so its paid for its self by now.

 

Just checked prices on www.tirerack.com 's site, the Bridgestone 19" that come with the factory wheels sell for $225 for fronts and $245 for rears. I doubt those prices would be available locally in a hurry...such as a deraler. Add tax and labor and your almost at $300.00. If I understand the "additional warranty " it also covers the wheels too if damaged as a result of road hazzard or blow out. I don't have a clue what they would cost.

This optional purchase is a classic Dirty Harry situation..
Do you feel lucky?

 

good point. Thanks for all your inputs. I'll prolly go ahead and get it when I get my car washed next week. There aren't as many potholes here in Dallas, but if I ever decide to leave the city vicinity, the road condition gets pretty bad.

 

its ok if you plan on keeping the OEM's

I did not take the offer

 

OH... i forgot to add.. i got it free because i know the finance manager.

 

I did not because -

1. I will run snow tires 5 months out of the year, and in the peak of pothole season.
2. I plan to put a/s on the 18 in. rims when I burn off the stock rubber (hopefully Toyo makes Proxes 4 in 225/50R18 by then)
3. Got the clear bra instead.

 

Grubbs offered the same with dent removal and windshield replacement ( $799). I declined it. State Farm offers me the windshield and I haven't had a ruined wheel on a car yet in 40 years. Knock on wood though.