Nice to be back in the saddle. Took a brief break. Had to put some hay in the barn, as they say, but we're back to regular service for the foreseeable future.
Now, where were we? Oh yeah...
Do you crack a slight smile when you hear the words “classifieds” and “tires” in the same sentence, as in: “Hey, check out the ‘new’ tires I just bought from the classifieds”? That knowing smirk indicating that you know how this story ends?
Seems this guy in Salt Lake City bought a set of “almost brand new” Pirelli Scorpions from a classified ad. Heck of a deal, too, cause he got the tires for $160!
Then he took them to his local Discount Tire store to have them mounted and installed. No go there; the techs refused to put the tires on…because they were 15 years old! That’s right, the DOT code clearly says the tires were produced in 1996. Too dangerous, the Discount Tire team rightfully said, the tires could fail and hurt someone.
The infuriated buyer claims to have gone back to the seller demanding a refund, then changed his mind when he considered that tires would be sold and could put another person in danger.
The seller, for his part, claims there is nothing wrong with the tires and that he would put them on his own vehicle. In a classy move, the seller offered a full refund on the tires….because, he told KSL-TV, he can sell the tires for twice what he charged the first buyer.
Smirking again, aren’t you?
BTW: Discount Tire did the buyer a huge favor and swapped out his golden oldies for a new set of rubber.
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Did you know that auto repair shops do so much more than just fix cars? Heck yeah! According to the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association, a full 88% of them also “recycle” tires, according to a recent back-patting news release.
Most people, according to the AAIA, just don’t know about “the widespread environmental thinking and practices” that go on in auto repair shops. “Repair shops recycle used engine oil and oil filters, batteries, parts cleaning solvents, scrap metal, plastics, cardboard and paper, dunnage and wood pallets,” AAIA claimed, and have done so “for decades.” Wow, thank goodness for all of those environmental regulations!
What the AAIA also fails to mention in its self-congratulatory news release is that it has very little direct contact with the tire industry, and that when it comes to scrap tire collection and disposal, auto repair shops fall under the same laws and regulations as full-fledged tire dealers. The comparatively few tires these “auto service shops” handle (compared to a tire dealer) represent a very small portion of the 230 million new replacement passenger and light truck/SUV tires sold in 2010, and the hundreds of millions of scrap tires that were processed through to disposal sites last year. A large portion of those scrap tires – nearly 90% today – are either used a fuel for power plants and cement kilns or are converted into useful goods such as playground fill, garden mulch, handbags or athletic field fill.
Oh, and by our humble estimation, “tire dealers” are also “auto repair shops,” so that 88% figure is not surprising…but it might be a little light. Federal and state regs mandate 100% participation, so we find it hard to believe 12% of tire dealers are not doing their jobs properly.
Unless, of course, the AAIA is only addressing the estimated 110,000 small businesses that specifically identify themselves as “auto repair shops,” that is. If that’s the case, there are a bunch of “auto repair shops” not following federal and state tire disposal regs. Shame, shame, shame!
And not to pick nits, but there is a big difference between “recycling” (that is, the act of making something useful out of something useless) and “proper disposal.” Not too many “auto repair shops” – or “tire dealers” for that matter – engage in the former, but they all better be performing the latter.