[JWagner]

I must live a sheltered life, as I had never heard of renting tires for a car. I know that heavy off-road equipment tires are frequently leased. This looks like a pretty bad deal for the consumer.

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-rent-a-tire-20130609,0,2490443,full.story

 

[Derek69SS]

That's the first I've heard of it for "ordinary" tires, but there have been rental places for quite a few years now specializing in 24s, 26s, etc for those who gotta have that "donk" look but don't quite have the rap star or drug dealer budget to go with the image they're trying to portray.

 

[chuckd71]

Stupid people stay poor. If they have $55/ month to pay for the next year and a half, why weren't they saving a third of that over the last year and a half. Then they could just buy tires. These sob stories about people with 8 kids and minimum wage jobs is getting old. Several hundred million smart phones, countless flat screens and 145 million PS3s and Xbox 360s sold yet somehow people don't have money to spare for tires and health insurance? Sure.

 

[Turbine]

I did hear about a racing class the other day, where you go to the track and rent tires for the day. Some kind of effort they make to keep the budgets resonable for everyone invloved.

 

[Andy69]

That's a good option for Miata drivers. They need r comps to beat me an those are expensive


Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

 

[Derek69SS]

At least you're humble about it Andy. l

 

[jackie schmidt]

These places are scatterred all over East Houston. They are no different than any other place that allows people to buy things that they could not afford in the first place.

No different than these furniture rental stores, where you can buy a room full of $2000 furniture for $10,000

These places compete heads up with the pay day loan and title loan companies for the dollars of those who want the world but can only afford a handful of dirt.

 

[novaderrik]

i don't see what the big deal is.. the big NASCAR teams have been renting tires since forever... technically, they "buy" them for $300something each, but they have to give them all back at the end of the weekend and only get credit for tires that never actually get used. as soon as they get screwed to the car, they don't get any money back- even if they just get put on to push the car back to the garage after a crash or something..

 

[Andy's Auto Repair]

Wow! I have fronted a few sets of tires to a few charities and deserving people, but to get $275 for a $66 tire? I am in the wrong buisness.

 

[BACK FROM THE DEAD]

Wow it's actually pretty sad to think that anyone would be that desperate, that youy would actually "rent" tires and pay 4 times the price for them.
Ethically I think it's completely F'ed that places do this. I'd never heard of it either.

 

[rkd]

Wow, I have a couple sets of old TRX's I will rent. They are rare, so $500/month, rims extra.

 

[SS427Rick]

A young guy I work with just bought $7K worth of ugly 20" rims and tires for his BMW and put them on his line of credit. I guess that's kind of like renting them.

 

[jackie schmidt]

A good friend of mine used to own the largest Used Car Lot on Harrisburg in Houston. He always told me he did not make his living selling used cars, he made his living selling used cars, repossessing the cars, and then selling them back to the poor ole boy who had no other choice.

These "rent to own" places are in the exact same game.

I warn the young men who work for me that if they need something, come to me, do not fall into this trap. Most of these deals are akin to jumping into a hole with a shovel, and wondering why you can't get out.

 

[novaderrik]

it's easy to sit back and say "these people are stupid for falling for these scams", but you look at the world in a totally different way when you are at the bottom of the economic ladder. yeah, they could work their way up if they'd just go without some things, but being dirt poor is a day to day mindset without much in the way of long term planning. if you can get new tires or a couch and a flat screen tv for only $20 out of every paycheck for the next 18 months, you do it. this is a business model that was perfected by Fingerhut 30 years ago.. this is the kind of stuff that a large portion of the population relies on so they can have at least some nice stuff in their lives. i'd never personally fall into these kinds of traps- the most i've ever paid for a piece of furniture was the $40 i gave the Salvation Army for my couch and i'm more than content to put good used tires on my cars if i'm short on cash- but i won't judge the people that make these places profitable.

now i suppose there will be a whole bunch of people saying how they were dirt poor and they worked hard and saved their way out of it- well, good for you. you aren't wired like most people.

 

[Andy's Auto Repair]

it's easy to sit back and say "these people are stupid for falling for these scams", but you look at the world in a totally different way when you are at the bottom of the economic ladder. yeah, they could work their way up if they'd just go without some things, but being dirt poor is a day to day mindset without much in the way of long term planning. if you can get new tires or a couch and a flat screen tv for only $20 out of every paycheck for the next 18 months, you do it. this is a business model that was perfected by Fingerhut 30 years ago.. this is the kind of stuff that a large portion of the population relies on so they can have at least some nice stuff in their lives. i'd never personally fall into these kinds of traps- the most i've ever paid for a piece of furniture was the $40 i gave the Salvation Army for my couch and i'm more than content to put good used tires on my cars if i'm short on cash- but i won't judge the people that make these places profitable.

now i suppose there will be a whole bunch of people saying how they were dirt poor and they worked hard and saved their way out of it- well, good for you. you aren't wired like most people.

Derrick, you are missing the point. It is not about being poor. It is about predatory lending practices. The Federal government changed the laws of credit card interest a couple of years ago capping at 30%. These tire lenders are getting 5x that IF you are paying on time, and if your late, you are on blocks,

Don't judge the player, but you have to hate the game.

 

[grandsport]

Damn,I will look into renting some tires for my Corvette!At $800 per tire on the rear my burnouts have been limited!Gotta give the guy credit for thinking of this business,really now are you guys jealous?I guess the places you work at do not make a profit from other people or businesses?When I used to sell cars I would always ask the customer if the company they work for made a profit.100% of the time I got a yes.Then I would ask is it fair for me to profit off of you?never had a customer walk on that one .I have always got the impression here that the majority of the members hate to see anyone profit but I would love to see the tax returns of the majority here.lol profit?Get real all you guys make money from someone!A tire rental biz?Where in the hell do I sign?

Edit:Thanks for this post !The wife wants me to talk to my business advisor,this is an awesome idea!

 

[novaderrik]

Derrick, you are missing the point. It is not about being poor. It is about predatory lending practices. The Federal government changed the laws of credit card interest a couple of years ago capping at 30%. These tire lenders are getting 5x that IF you are paying on time, and if your late, you are on blocks,

Don't judge the player, but you have to hate the game.

it's not predatory- everyone goes into it voluntarily. they target a high risk group with a high default rate so they charge accordingly.

 

[grandsport]

it's not predatory- everyone goes into it voluntarily. they target a high risk group with a high default rate so they charge accordingly.

Well put.It is basically a needed service along with the tv and appliance rentals,sub prime home loans and sub prime auto loans.

 

[Derek69SS]

Anyone dumb enough to rent tires for 3-4X their cost wasn't going to keep that money for long anyway... someone might as well get it from them before they wasted it on something even more stupid.

 

[Highway Star]

I wonder how many of these places take ebt.