For the second time in my long ownership of my Toyota Tacoma, I’m going to need to buy tires. (Had I just bought a new truck, this wouldn’t be an issue) :) Tires for my truck range somewhere around $100 per tire. I absolutely HATE paying $400 for rubber, but at the same time, I do like to drive on decent tires.
Last time I needed new tires, I started looking around and was able to find brand new wheels and tires from a Toyota Tundra. These new wheels and tires were much nicer than the original wheels and tires and made my truck look newer than it really was. After buying them, I sold the old wheels and tires in the classifieds and was able to get 50% of my money back. All told, I spent less on the wheels and tires than I would have on new tires alone.
Well, I’ve managed to do it again. This time the deal is even sweeter. I was able to get brand new wheels and tires and should be able to sell my old ones for the same price so I’ll get a newer style wheel and brand new tires for free. How?
Well, there is a small percentage of people that buy new cars and trucks and immediately then shell out another $1000-$2000 or more on new wheels and tires because they want a different style. You’ve seen them all driving around. Most of these people just stack the original wheels and tires in their garage until they can’t stand tripping over them any longer. Then they have a strong motivation to actually list them for sale, usually at a low price. I always like to check Ebay and Craigslist to see what people are selling similiar wheels and tires for and then I offer somewhere around 75% of the asking price. Amazingly it has worked. I think the motivation to get the large wheels and tires out of their garage, and the cash in my hand combine to make an “irresistable” desire to sell to me.
Anyway, I guess this was the long-winded way to say, I bought new tires for my truck.
P.s. if I do this again, I’m probably going to go with Costco. I’ve been hearing this from several other bloggers – Costco has great prices on tires and excellent customer service.
good tactic!
So, do you find these wheels for sale in your local classifieds? I’m assuming you don’t buy online and pay shipping on four tires.
Yes. Online classifieds mostly. I usually try to use my local craigslist.org. Little Nickel want ads also sometimes have them.
Hmm… that’s pretty slick. People buy old tires? I’ve been just giving them to the shop!
People will buy them if they come with the wheels. Most people just want the wheels to “upgrade” what they have on their car now. Lots of cars and trucks come with those cheap steel wheels (base models) and people like to upgrade some times if it’s cheap.
Hazzard