“Next thing you know…”
Most people assume that big-box stores like Walmart, Costco, and Sam’s Club have the best prices because they sell in bulk.
That’s the impression one woman was under until she realized brick-and-mortar stores might not be the cheapest option in some cases.
In a viral TikTok with more than 464,000 views, content creator Tee (@teeraymond1123) tries to make sure nobody overpays for tires the way she almost did.
Tee explains that she’d shopped around at Walmart, Sam’s Club, and local tire shops, and the lowest quote she could find was $450 at Walmart. Everyone else wanted $700.
Instead, she bought the tires online through Amazon or eBay and had them shipped directly to her door. She says four brand-new tires cost her just $350. Then she took them to a shop for installation, which ran her another $100.
“Y’all don’t let them tire shops and them big stores get y’all,” she says in the video.
However, after all that, the shop tried to tell her they couldn’t install the tires because they weren’t the stock size, she adds. She doesn’t say whether they were ultimately installed.
It turns out that you can save a lot on tires simply by negotiating and shopping around. According to Consumer Reports (CR), the average CR member paid around $212 per tire on their last purchase, and among shoppers who negotiated, 63% walked away with a better price, saving a median of $37 per tire, with more than half saving $100 or more on a full set.
Buying online cuts costs even more. Car Talk found that online tire retailers consistently beat brick-and-mortar stores on price, largely because they don’t carry the overhead costs of a physical location. The trade-off is that you’ll need to arrange installation separately, which typically runs $15–$25 per tire at an independent shop. Even with that factored in, the math usually still works out in your favor.
Consumer Reports also has a few tips pulled from a survey of nearly 48,000 members:
Big box stores like Walmart and Sam’s Club are known for strict policies about only installing tires that match the size listed on a vehicle’s door jamb sticker.
The reason, as explained by the Northern Light, is usually company policy driven by liability concerns. If a customer gets into an accident after a shop installs a non-stock size, that shop could theoretically be liable.
In practice, policies vary widely by chain, location, and even which manager is working that day.
Independent shops are generally far more flexible. Some shops will mount whatever you ask without raising the fitment question at all.
“I got 4 (5-Star rated) tires for $280 on Walmart.com and had them shipped to my local Walmart auto center & paid $25 install fee for each,” one person commented on Tee’s post.
“Priority Tire is great! Used them for 3 years now,” another shared.
A third joked, “Next thing you know, TikTok shop is going to start selling tires.”
Motor1 reached out to Tee for comment via TikTok direct message and comment. We’ll update this if she responds.
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