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Tire and Wheel Insurance

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I’m new to the forum and just learning how to get around. Here’s a question...
My cousin just bought a new Infinity and was offered tire and wheel insurance at time of purchase, for a reasonable sum. I just bought a model 3 and this was never mentioned. In fact I have had a lot of cars and never heard about this. Is this something I should contact Tesla about?
I’d like to get it.
 
Tire and wheel insurance is a great way for dealers to pad the bottom line of their sales. Generally, a customer is told the tires on their new car cannot be repaired (plugged) if they are punctured, and this is almost always the position of the manufacturers as well due to liability mitigation. However, the fact is punctured tires are plugged all the time and continue their normal lifespan. Obviously, if a tire's sidewall is damaged, then it cannot be repaired, and in this scenario tire insurance might be worthwhile. Like all insurance, it's a bet. Will you need it? Will repairs or a tire replacement paid by you cost less than tire insurance over the life of the tire?

Same with wheels. The most common wheel damage are rim gouges and scraps. These are fairly easily repaired by mobile wheel repair specialists. If you're not in a place where these repair people are common, then perhaps wheel insurance is worthwhile.

Rims used with extreme low profile tires are most susceptible to damage that could require replacement. To my knowledge, Tesla tires and rims aren't so extremely low profile that they would be highly susceptible to damage, but if you own a P3 with 20" wheels, and if you drive in an area with poor, pothole riddled streets, then tire and wheel insurance might be something to consider.

In general, it's my opinion that tire and wheel insurance is not a good value...and Tesla doesn't offer this insurance at the time of sale, although you might be able to add it to your auto insurance policy.
 
Tesla offered a wheel and tire warranty in 2012-13. Then they stopped. No explanation was given. If I had to guess why, it was because they were growing too fast to maintain that option and were very understaffed at the time. Whatever the reason it was a short lived option.
 
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This happened to me a week ago. It cost about $1,700 total for the flatbed tow, rental car, gasoline, new rim and TPMS sensor. Discount Tire replaced the tire for free under their road hazard warranty. It caused a 4 day delay in our trip because it happened on a Friday in a remote area. We ended up cancelling the whole trip. Getting a tire was no problem but I could not get a rim until the following Monday. I'm considering carrying a spare rim but don't like the space it would take.
 
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This happened to me a week ago. It cost about $1,700 total for the flatbed tow, rental car, gasoline, new rim and TPMS sensor. Discount Tire replaced the tire for free under their road hazard warranty. It caused a 4 day delay in our trip because it happened on a Friday in a remote area. We ended up cancelling the whole trip. Getting a tire was no problem but I could not get a rim until the following Monday. I'm considering carrying a spare rim but don't like the space it would take.

Ouch! Sorry to hear that.

I thought the Tesla roadside rangers carried spare wheels for loaning? Was this not offered?
 
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This happened to me a week ago. It cost about $1,700 total for the flatbed tow, rental car, gasoline, new rim and TPMS sensor. Discount Tire replaced the tire for free under their road hazard warranty. It caused a 4 day delay in our trip because it happened on a Friday in a remote area. We ended up cancelling the whole trip. Getting a tire was no problem but I could not get a rim until the following Monday. I'm considering carrying a spare rim but don't like the space it would take.
I keep a spare wheel and tire (its a BMW 7 series 245/45/19 wheel that happens to fit my model S) in my garage. If something like this happens to one of my wheels, I will call my wife to bring this spare wheel to me. I also keep a jack and lug wrench in my car so I can swap the wheels. For a long family road trip, which I rarely take, I put this spare wheel in the trunk of my car.
 
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Some of us have a Tesla spare at home, but don't carry it around.

AzEd, have you considered filing a claim with your city or state for the repair? I know someone here that filed a claim that was turned down, so he took the city to small claims court. He won and city paid for two wheels and two tires.
 
Tire and wheel insurance is a great way for dealers to pad the bottom line of their sales. Generally, a customer is told the tires on their new car cannot be repaired (plugged) if they are punctured, and this is almost always the position of the manufacturers as well due to liability mitigation. However, the fact is punctured tires are plugged all the time and continue their normal lifespan. Obviously, if a tire's sidewall is damaged, then it cannot be repaired, and in this scenario tire insurance might be worthwhile. Like all insurance, it's a bet. Will you need it? Will repairs or a tire replacement paid by you cost less than tire insurance over the life of the tire?

Same with wheels. The most common wheel damage are rim gouges and scraps. These are fairly easily repaired by mobile wheel repair specialists. If you're not in a place where these repair people are common, then perhaps wheel insurance is worthwhile.

Rims used with extreme low profile tires are most susceptible to damage that could require replacement. To my knowledge, Tesla tires and rims aren't so extremely low profile that they would be highly susceptible to damage, but if you own a P3 with 20" wheels, and if you drive in an area with poor, pothole riddled streets, then tire and wheel insurance might be something to consider.

In general, it's my opinion that tire and wheel insurance is not a good value...and Tesla doesn't offer this insurance at the time of sale, although you might be able to add it to your auto insurance policy.
from what i have remembered from my last car purchases...yes, the salesman says can't be repaired, but in my case they were referring to RUN FLAT tires....in my prosche i can count on 1-2 flats a yr!! but in cars other than the low profile i have not had that flat experience. I was disappointed the run Flats are not on the Teslas/ oh well!!
 
from what i have remembered from my last car purchases...yes, the salesman says can't be repaired, but in my case they were referring to RUN FLAT tires....in my prosche i can count on 1-2 flats a yr!! but in cars other than the low profile i have not had that flat experience. I was disappointed the run Flats are not on the Teslas/ oh well!!
I have owned Porsche’s equipped with run flat tires and presently with non-run flat tires. In all cases, the finance managers tried to sell me tire insurance telling me the tires could not be repaired. I had a run flat tire puncture repaired and drove the tire until the wear bars indicated it was time for replacement. I asked my local tire shop manager about my present “non-repairable” non-run flat tires and he told me he repairs punctures on them all the time.
 
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I keep a spare wheel and tire (its a BMW 7 series 245/45/19 wheel that happens to fit my model S) in my garage. If something like this happens to one of my wheels, I will call my wife to bring this spare wheel to me. I also keep a jack and lug wrench in my car so I can swap the wheels. For a long family road trip, which I rarely take, I put this spare wheel in the trunk of my car.
Some of us have a Tesla spare at home, but don't carry it around.

AzEd, have you considered filing a claim with your city or state for the repair? I know someone here that filed a claim that was turned down, so he took the city to small claims court. He won and city paid for two wheels and two tires.

The bent rim happened about 140 miles from home in the White Mountains (AZ-277 north of Heber). Discount Tire searched for a compatible wheel but found nothing available in the local area. I have considered filing a claim with the state highway department.
 
I thought the Tesla roadside rangers carried spare wheels for loaning? Was this not offered?

We had very spotty cell phone reception in that area. I called Tesla but the call kept dropping out. We flagged down a sheriffs deputy who radioed for a flatbed tow truck. At that time, I thought I only needed a new tire and we could get back on our road trip to Indiana. I had no idea that the rim was bent until Discount Tire removed the wheel. When I saw the extent of the damage, I was worried about bent or broken suspension components and decided that I didn't want to drive it until a Tesla Service Center checked it out. That's when we decided to cancel the trip. We went home on Saturday to get my car trailer and trailered it back to Phoenix on Sunday. The suspension checked out fine and everything got fixed on Monday but by then it was too late to continue our trip.

Tesla roadside assistance did call me back late Friday to find out why I had called earlier when the cell service was dropping out and asked if I needed anything now. By that time, I had made the decision to take it back to Phoenix.
 
Collision insurance does cover it, but it shows as an "at fault" accident and could jack up your renewal rate. So far I've had to pay for a patch on one tire, which was a huge hassle to find someone to do it, and I've had to buy another after it blew on a pothole. I got my replacement from Tire Rack online and got the included road hazard on that one. Here's hoping that the newest tread draws all nails and screws to it like a magnet. :)

Highly recommended to go to Discount/America's Tire right now and buy an extended tire warranty. These things are not cheap!
 
Collision insurance does cover it, but it shows as an "at fault" accident and could jack up your renewal rate.

Interesting. Bummer.

Highly recommended to go to Discount/America's Tire right now and buy an extended tire warranty. These things are not cheap!

Definitely. America's Tire generally patches tires for free - even if you didn't buy the tire from them. Also, they will always give you 4 tire certificates for the price of 3 if you ask for it. I finally started buying the tire certificates ("insurance") from them and it has paid off.

Soon as my P3D+ is delivered I'll be stopping by Americas Tire to buy the tire certificates.
 
Just visited my local America's Tire (AKA Discount Tire) to buy tire warranties on a set of new referral award 21" staggered Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires (wife's S70D) installed a few days ago (I took the silver Arachnid rims and had them powder coated). When I bought my 2018 P3D+ I did the same thing. For the Michelins (PSS or Pilot 4S) I paid about $250 for each 4 tire warranty. Cheaper than 1 new tire. And I have never 'lost' $$ on one of their tire warranties. YMMV.