Depends on where you are, but it's not as good as the Discount Tire certificates, which is what I will do.

 

I usually do certificates from Discount Tire. I'm kind of expecting to burn through at least my first pair fast, so I don't know if it's worth it.

For rim protection, it's kind of like an extended warranty. It's more of a convenience, you curb your wheel, take it into the dealership where they have contracted with someone local to do them. From my experience, it probably won't be the best repair around. If you were to do a little research, you could probably find someone to do a better job and just pay as you damage them. I guess if you curb wheels a lot it would be good to have unlimited repairs.

 

I would highly advise against it. I don't think it's a good plan in general and that's before you get into the loopholes/hassles of actually trying to use it if you need it.

 

I personally go for the tire protection, but we live in an area with lots of new home construction so getting flats is routine out here. I've always come out ahead with the plan in prior cars.

 

As a general rule if something is "highly recommended" by the dealer / finance manager, then it's a HIGH profit item for the dealer. Great fo them, not so much for you.

 

Yeah, ge generally, ignore anything the finance manager tells you. Get out of there without the extras. You can typically add them afterwards if you need to.

 

No.

Dealer programs like that are typically pure profit for them, and often difficult to get even the most obvious benefit from.
Just say "No" to everything the finance person offers.

 

Cost of a wheel + tire new is about $1500 per wheel, I priced checked the 868M this morning as an example. So if you are paying for a warranty that was more than that AND it comes with a lot of stipulations, the math tells you to just buy the new set outright. It's highly unlikely that you will damage more than 1 wheel/tire during that warranty period (unless you drive rough roads and are wreckless or just generally unlucky ).

From a math perspective, the tire + wheel warranty does not work out in our favor which is why it gets pushed extremely aggressively. It's like the subprime mortgage of the warrantee world...those who know, say no...those who don't: pay.

Hope this helps you make your decision.

 

As a follow up, I just had my first nail incident this weekend. Went to Wheel Works, they plugged it for $30.17. I don't know what the tire + wheel warrantee costs these days, but I'm pretty certain I can do a ton of patches or replace the tire and still come out ahead just paying out of pocket.

 

Honestly most of these insurance products are a bad deal if you can afford anything that might go wrong without any pain. Only exception is where you know you are much higher risk than the general population, but the insurer doesn't.

Now, plans where you prepay for something you will definitely use are in a different category.

 

Honestly most of these insurance products are a bad deal if you can afford anything that might go wrong without any pain. Only exception is where you know you are much higher risk than the general population, but the insurer doesn't.

Now, plans where you prepay for something you will definitely use are in a different category.

Yea, that would be the wheels on my last car. 20" with low profile tires, the rims stuck out further than the sidewall like they do on Tesla's with 20" rims. It was also a car that was a bit bigger than what I had driven in the past. I can't count how many times I curbed them. I got them repaired two times, I think it was ~$100 to get repaired. The next time I got them painted in gunmetal grey and after that when I curbed them I would just spot paint them. They looked like total dog crap when I got rid of the car. If I had rim protection, I would have come out ahead.

I agree, most of the time in situations like this you won't come out ahead.

 

Just say NO

 

I bought one for $1,440 last Thursday when I purchased my car. There are no Discount Tire locations in Maryland. Most of the information the finance manager provided me with about the package was wrong. I'm probably canceling it withing 30 days

 

What were the claims?

 

yeah, cancel it right away. For 1440, you could replace all 4 tires. Like, how often have you ever had to do that on a car?

 

We bought it for my wife's Acura MDX. Thought we would never use it and had buyers remorse after paying for it. Then (one of us) scraped the wheel badly on a curb. Took it to the dealer and they fixed it up. The wheel looked like new, I couldn't even tell where they did it. It honestly looked like it was a new wheel, which I know it wasn't. After that, I at least have to consider it here assuming it is similar coverage. I am less worried about the tire and more about the wheel itself. I guess it depends on the cost for the i4 and the cost of a new wheel.

 

Are there third-party versions of the wheel coverage? I will do the Discount Tire certificates for the tires since they aren't pro-rated, but it would be nice to have wheel coverage.

 

The question is - how much did the insurance cost vs. how much would have been to replace the wheel without insurance? Best case it’s a wash, so you’re paying for a 5th wheel up front. Depending on the price you could be paying for a 6th wheel, etc. If you average out how many wheels you need to replace over a lifetime, you’ll most likely come ahead without insurance.

 

I think it depends on the roads you drive on. My dad in a 3 year lease commuting daily with a MB E350 from central NJ to NYC went through 23 tires and 18 rims. Luckily he got the tire and rim protection. I got it on several of my BMW leases and thankfully never used it. Still got it on our iX and i4. Hope I never have to use It.

 

I got it as I'm a sucker for all of those. I already used the rim protection, hit a curb 😢 was hassle free to use it and the wheel really looks brand new. They did a terrific job.

 

That's the one I'm thinking about... I tend to try to get very close to curbs in parking lots to avoid door dings... and end up curbing my wheels...!

 

Learn to plug your own flats. Tire damage or sidewall issues is another matter, but your run of the mill nail in the tire, you can fix easily by yourself. I do it all the time on our cars, just make some initial investments in a jack and tire repair kit and learn to repair it. I've probably repaired 5 flats since I learned how to do it and never once has the plug failed. Wheel damage of course is also another matter, just try to not to curb your wheels or run over a big rock haha!