PSA: Check ALL The Tires On A Rental Car

Kinja'd!!! "bobbe17" (rob-runte)
02/27/2017 at 19:12 • Filed to: None

Kinja'd!!!6 Kinja'd!!! 7

This is probably preaching to the choir here on Oppo, but just a friendly reminder.

Kinja'd!!!

I went on a week’s vacation to Colorado Springs, Breckenridge, then back to Denver with my wife. Last year we rented a Silver Car A4 and it was a great experience so we did it again this year. When we got the car, I walked along the driver’s side and just noted that they were all-seasons and had decent tread. While loading up the trunk I glanced at the rear passenger’s and saw it too was an all-season with decent tread on it. We then proceeded to drive to Colorado Springs without incident.

We made it out to the Breckenridge area a few days later and stayed at a house about 20 minutes south of town. The first few days were warm and clear so we were only driving a little packed snow in the neighborhood and the rest of the roads were good. One morning I was taking an icy/snowy corner very slow and still almost put it into a snow bank. I figured I just wasn’t being careful enough and that the all-seasons just weren’t that great.

The final day we were out there, we got a few inches of snow. The handling was awful. So when we got back that night I took a closer look at the tires and noticed that only the driver’s side had Pirelli P7 all-seasons.

The passenger rear had a Winrun R330 on it. Some Googling revealed these are cheap Chinese tires with varying reviews.

The passenger front had a Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 tire on it. This is a cheap summer tire. They sent us into the mountains with three different tires, one of which was a summer tire. We and they are extremely lucky that I didn’t put it into a snow bank or worse.

I did make a complaint to the guy when we returned the car, and they gave us $50 back. I’m not sure how I feel about Silver Car any more. It’s one thing that they missed that the tires were mismatched, but I’m also bothered that they’re trying to be a premium alternative and they’re sticking the cheapest tires they can find on the cars.


DISCUSSION (7)


Kinja'd!!! McMike > bobbe17
02/27/2017 at 19:46

Kinja'd!!!7

Kinja'd!!!


Kinja'd!!! bobbe17 > McMike
02/27/2017 at 19:59

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That’s perfect


Kinja'd!!! gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > bobbe17
02/27/2017 at 23:09

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There is a chance that a previous renter was ungentle with tires and replaced them in such a way as to avoid incurring excessive personal costs or a real or imagined penalty from the renting agency. But yes, it’s unacceptable for any rental car in a wintery area to not be equipped with winter tires.


Kinja'd!!! pip bip - choose Corrour > McMike
02/28/2017 at 07:25

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make it a Skoda, front first and i know exactly what it’s like


Kinja'd!!! ateamfan42 > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
02/28/2017 at 08:37

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But yes, it’s unacceptable for any rental car in a wintery area to not be equipped with winter tires.

Unacceptable, yet standard practice. I guess it is acceptable to customers that think tires are just black circles that keep the wheels from touching the ground.


Kinja'd!!! gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > ateamfan42
02/28/2017 at 08:42

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It’s a tragedy people can’t make that short jump from “keeps the wheels off the ground” to “only thing holding the car on the road”.


Kinja'd!!! Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > bobbe17
03/12/2017 at 14:25

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Every rental car always has crap tires on it. I am almost always fearful to look at the tires. I am just glad most of my rentals are in Socal where it precipitates like twice a year and you just dont drive those days!