[vsrivatsa]

I have come across several threads on Team-BHP that cover tyres being sold online at various e-tailers like Flipkart URL and Snapdeal URL

I did not come across a dedicated thread yet for Tyre Buying Experience with Amazon and hence creating this as a dedicated thread.

MODS: Please move/merge if there already exists a thread

Context
During a recent conversation, fellow BHPian Amyth Prabhakar mentioned that he intends to change all the tyres for his Fluidic Verna. He has got an excellent performance from the stock Bridgestone tyres which have served him well for the 67,000 kms + clocked so far on the ODO.

Given this neat performance of Bridgestone, he was keen to replace Bridgestone with Bridgestone while I recommended that he consider the Michelin Primacy 3STs. The silent tyres from Michelin would be an excellent combination to the super Silent Hyundai Diesel mill. He also wanted to upsize, so the upsized spec of 205/55R16 was finalized.

Based on this the following tires were shortlisted:
1. Michelin Primacy 3ST
2. Bridgestone Turanza T001

Price Research Begins
We started the price research for these new shoes. I called up and checked with Millivisions and got a quote of 8,800 for Michelin and 8,200 for Bridgestone. Amyth visited Tyre Professionals and managed to get a quote around the same as Millivisions after a hard bargain. (Initial price quoted was 9K). During his visit Amyth also happened to meet BHPian Nikhil as well. Tyre Professionals also called out that Bridgestone recent stock is not available in Karnataka easily. Given this detail - it was kind of decided that the tyre would be Michelin mostly.


Briefing on the Michelin Primacy 3 ST



Also the plan was to buy only 4 tires for now and plan the spare tyre later.

Given the high price of these Tyres, I started checking online prices as well. I checked the following 4 websites:
1. Amazon.in - 7898/- per tyre with FREE Amazon Prime Shipping
2. Flipkart.com - 10,000 per tyre
3. Snapdeal.in - Specified Tire was not Available
4. IndustryBuying.com - 8438/- per Tyre



Comparative Listing of Pricing on Amazon

Based on this I began to explore Amazon as the primary option further. I also found Bridgestone Turanza listed for 7,100 + Rs.340 Shipping.
The Michelin Dealer was Premji Tyres and the Bridgestone Dealer on Amazon was Tyre Rack.



Shortlisted Seller


Using the Contact Seller option, I sent emails to both Premji Tyres and Tyre Rack asking them to provide me the manufacturing dates of the tyres they had in stock. Within a couple of hours when I checked the Amazon messages I had promptly received a message from Mark Premji stating that he had in stock tyres from Nov 2017 (Week 45 Year 17). I did not hear back from Tyre Rack that day at all.

Further Premji Tyres was listed a Michelin Authorized Seller on the Michelin website as well and this dealer also offered Free Shipping with Amazon Prime. I also read about the Amazon Great Indian Sale (20th to 24th Jan 2018) where there was an additional 10% Cashback with HDFC Cards.

I spoke to Amyth and updated him of my findings - he also confirmed that he has a HDFC Credit Card. So, we decided that I would place the order as I had a Amazon Prime account and ensure a faster shipping and use his Credit Card so we could get a 10% Cashback. By the time we finalized all this Amazon no more listed Premji Tyres as an option.

I sent another message to Premji Tyres asking them if they had run out of stock. Mark Premji once again promptly replied back stating that he had run out of stock but that they were to receive fresh stock very soon, the same day. Lo and Behold within a couple of hours the tyres were available again on Amazon.

As Premji had recommended that we purchase the tyres as two separate orders to avoid issues with shipping we decided to follow the same approach. Further the Amazon cashback was limited to 1,500 per card. So this helped in that angle as well - so two separate HDFC cards were used to ensure each order provides the maximum cashback of 1,500 per order. At this point, I pinged Amyth over Skype for Business where I had added him as a contact and shared my Desktop after logging onto Amazon.in and adding the two tyres. and gave him control of my screen. He added his card details in the payment and placed the order. For the order based on Credit Card, he chose to break into 12 month EMI which did attract some interest. The other order was full payment using debit card. Below is the details of the final transaction:

1. Order #1: 2 x Michelin Primacy 3 ST @Rs.7898/- per tyre = 15796 (Full Payment)
2. Order #2: 2 x Michelin Primacy 3 ST @Rs.7898/- per tyre = 15796 (EMI of 2733.33 x 6)

Total Paid: 15796 + 16400 = Rs.32196/-
Expected Cashback: 1500 x 2 = Rs.3000/-
Net Paid considering Cashback = 29196/-
Net Paid Per Tire: Rs.7,299/- Per Tire

Tyre Delivery
The Order was placed on 23 Jan 2018. Amazon showed a approximate delivery date of 8-00 PM, 27 Jan 2018. Given Amazon's strong delivery network, the tyres reached ahead of time and were received a more than day in advance on Republic Day in the morning itself. Also given that tracking was being updated regularly, there was no concern with respect to the delivery.


Delivery Tracking




Amazon Prime Delivery - Tyres being unloaded, N R Colony, BLR




Amazon Prime Delivery - Unloading



The packing was not much, they had put a plastic tape on the tires. But for this there was no additional box packing of any sort. Having seen the large boxes that Amazon uses even for groceries, I felt they could have done better to package the tires. The tires however were delivered in good condition.



The New Tyres




Another View




Additional View




Close up of the Tread Marks - Primacy 3 ST


TDI: Tyre Delivery Inspection
And now it was time for the Tyre Delivery Inspection, the dates on all the tyres were checked and we found the tires to be latest stock.
Two of the Tyres were from 49 17 which means the first week of December 2017.



Two of the Tires showed "49" 17


The remaining two were marked as 45 and 46 which denotes the 2nd Week of November 2017 and 3rd Week of November 2017.



Remaining two were dated "45" and "46"




Remaining two were dated "45" and "46"



I dont believe we could have managed to get more recent tires even locally.

Conclusion
As the tires were delivered on Republic Day, we could not get the tires fitted to the car as yet. Tyre Professionals was closed for Republic Day.
The plan is to get it done today.



Tires are Made in Thailand




Another picture of the side view


Overall, I feel provided one picks a good dealer on Amazon.in, it a viable low cost option to buying from the local store.

Note: Wanted to add the additional note, that post the purchase when I checked Amazon, Tyre Rack had also responded back stating that they had 2016 Bridgestone Turanza Tires available in stock. I do appreciate the honesty of the Amazon dealers!

Even if we had gone to J C Road (which is famous in Bangalore for the Best Prices) I dont believe we could have got anything lower than 8,500 per tyre.
This almost equates to a savings of 1,200/- per tyre and the effort is lesser than travelling to J C Road in Bangalore's traffic.

Further, I also emailed and checked if Amazon.in offers Tire Fitting services at home. They said this is something they are planning in future and not available in Bangalore yet.

They would offer free Fitting, Balancing and Wheel Alignment for free one this feature is introduced as long as the individual has purchased two or more tyres.
Once that is introduced I think, Amazon will become an even more compelling option to buy tires.

If the question is, would I buy again from Amazon.in, the answer is resounding "Yes"

And before closing I would also like to appreciate Mark Premji from Premji TyrePlus, Thane, Maharashtra for keeping his words and sending us the latest stock of Tires at the best prices in India. I believe there is dedicated thread regarding Premji TyrePlus which I saw just now before writing this article. I will share more appreciation on the dedicated thread as well.


Ending Shot - Yes, It was Amazon Delivered!

[hserus]

Good show They're a reputed vendor in Mumbai with decent tbhp reviews. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/mumbai...im-mumbai.html

However - just figure out how much a local shop will charge to balance and install your tyres and how that will affect your computations of the money saved.

[itwasntme]

Super thread, thanks. I need to change 8 tyres (4 X 205/60/16 for Cruze and 4 X 205/55/16 for Octavia) soon.

Coupled with the cashback offers, it sounds amazing. Typically, in my area wheel balancing is 100 bucks per wheel and 300 for alignment. Weights extra. Considering alignment is almost never free, the only extra cost 400 bucks for the balancing.

[Vid6639]

Wow. You sure did your research when buying tyres. I'm just thinking whether the online route is reliable and a few of the cons.

I think where you saved the maximum is the HDFC cashback offer. I checked some other sizes and the prices for 205/60-16 Ecosport tyres are almost same as Tyre professionals. A friend recently got a set of P3ST from them last week.

Also, almost all tyre shops charge 150-250 per tyre for fitting if you get your own tyres plus Wheel alignment and balancing. If you get the tyres from them then fitting is included and WA/WB is also discounted.

What about warranty claims? The guy who you got it from is in Thane. Where do you go for Warranty then?

If not for cashback, the prices in store are equally if not more competitive than Amazon prices is my takeaway from comparing a few sizes.

[libranof1987]

Quite a good experience!

I'd recommend leaving delivery feedback though; the tyres should have been better packaged. This order was fulfilled by Amazon so I believe Amazon should have done a better job at packaging, don't think it was the dealer's responsibility.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Also, almost all tyre shops charge 150-250 per tyre for fitting if you get your own tyres plus Wheel alignment and balancing. If you get the tyres from them then fitting is included and WA/WB is also discounted.

+1

Also, you can chose the vintage of the tyres. Could be sheer luck that he got such a fresh batch.

What about warranty claims? The guy who you got it from is in Thane. Where do you go for Warranty then?

Would he have to raise a concern with Michelin and then work through a Michelin outlet in the city?

[Sankar]

For tyres buying locally is what I would prefer, for reasons Vidyut stated above. And if unfortunately the one of the tyres comes damaged the replacement may be a hassle. I am saying this after I had a negative experience on amazon where even with proof they were very very reluctant to replace the goods sold.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

What about warranty claims? The guy who you got it from is in Thane. Where do you go for Warranty then?
.

As far as I know, Michelin operates a centralised helpline to register newly purchased tyres. I believe they register based on the unique tyre codes on each tyre coupled with the GST invoice. Should be done ASAP

[tud]

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

If the question is, would I buy again from Amazon.in, the answer is resounding "Yes"

Congrats on your friend's purchase. Have you read this document on Michelin India's warranty page. They have listed a set of unauthorized purchase avenues and "Amazon . in" tops the list.

http://media.michelinman.com/content...y-michelin.pdf

The Credit and Debit card offer online is a good one if Michelin provides a valid warranty. Otherwise there is no value addition compared to buying from a reputed tyre strore in the city. In Chennai, the major tyre stores include fitting, WA and WB in the cost of the tyre and they are almost always equal to online price. So essentially fitting, WA and WB are free as long as the tires are purchased from them.

[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

I believe they register based on the unique tyre codes on each tyre coupled with the GST invoice.

Originally Posted by tud

The Credit and Debit card offer online is a good one if Michelin provides a valid warranty.

We have shared the Details with Mark Premji from Tyre Plus, The seller on Amazon. He said he would register the details online and we would receive an SMS regarding the warranty activation for the tires purchased. Will update once the SMS is received.

The link tud shared is a grey area. Michelin considers Amazon.in as a unauthorized seller for its tires. However, the guy who is using Amazon as a front end is a Michelin Authorized Seller. My interpretation of the situation here is that Amazon.in here is purely a transporter of the goods sold by Premji Tyre Plus, an authorized Michelin Dealer.

In case of an issue, we can possibly claim that we bought the tires during a trip to Thane


Premji Tyre Plus

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Super thread, thanks. I need to change 8 tyres (4 X 205/60/16 for Cruze and 4 X 205/55/16 for Octavia) soon.

Coupled with the cashback offers, it sounds amazing. Typically, in my area wheel balancing is 100 bucks per wheel and 300 for alignment. Weights extra. Considering alignment is almost never free, the only extra cost 400 bucks for the balancing.

Like some of the others called out, not all tires are cheaper than local market at Amazon. I would recommend checking the price at Millivisions on Krumbigal Rd and a few shops on JC Road like Sree Balaji Tyres (URL)

You would need to validate on a case to case basis. Where they offer it at a lower price, follow the guidelines:

1. Mailing the seller and checking the date of manufacture prior to placing the order.

2. Validate if the Seller is Authorized by the specific tire brand

3. Validate if the pricing makes up some amount which would go for wheel balancing and fitting and there is gain that you feel is worth the risk.

[tud]

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

In case of an issue, we can possibly claim that we bought the tires during a trip to Thane

Will you be able to obtain a receipt of purchase from Tyre Plus physical store? In case Michelin asks for a proof of purchase during a claim process.

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

We have shared the Details with Mark Premji from Tyre Plus, The seller on Amazon. He said he would register the details online and we would receive an SMS regarding the warranty activation for the tires purchased. Will update once the SMS is received.

It is good if he can do that. Sharing the SMS I received from Michelin. Hope you receive the same.

Dear Customer, we welcome you to the Michelin family. Thanks for purchasing Michelin tyre from "SIREMULL HIRACHAND'S TYRE STO.Your Digital Warranty no. "MASKED" for Michelin "PRIMACY 3 ST""4" tyre(s) has been activated. Please visit www.michelin.in for Warranty T&C. If you wish to unsubscribe from any further communication from Michelin, please call us on our toll free number 18001036424 and we will help you with the needful. Regards, Michelin India

[Leoshashi]

Tyre warranties are a sham anyways, specially with companies like Michelin and Bridgestone. Unless there is an unconditional warranty in place(like Goodyear, Apollo and Ceat), tyre warranty is practically non existent.

Also since these tyres were fulfilled by Amazon Prime, I won't bother much about in-transit damages.

So this doesn't seem like a bad deal to me.

Regards,
Shashi

[Sankar]

Car tyres are non returnable as per amazon india's return policy. I wouldn't buy any non returnable item from amazon unless I dont have any other choice, burnt once never again.

[Dr_MNC_SK]

Regarding tyres the cheapest for us here in this part is going over to Phunteoshilng Bhutan as tyres are really cheap there. And we are allowed to bring back atleast 4-5 tyres per person. So once last year I was passing by and i changed two JK Elanzo Supra 245/75/16 at 5000 a piece. Since i needed 3 more later I ordered from paytm. Got for 5500 a piece after cashbacks and all. Retail price here is >6500 a piece i guess. Sadly amazon doesn't deliver to my place.

[SRM]

Takes me back to September, 2015 when I had ordered 4 tyres of Good Year Assurance for my SX4 on Snapdeal. The entire transaction was smooth with quick delivery and they even had tie-ups with local stores at that time for tyre installation and wheel alignment. The way it worked was once the tyres were delivered at your place, you had to call Snapdeal to book an appointment for installation. Based on your location they would give you options of existing stores, you choose one, then they get you and the store owner on a conference call to finalize the appointment date and time. You go with the tyres and your car on the agreed time and get it done!

Had saved good amount of money overall on the 4 tyres. Don't remember exactly, but even the amount charged for installation and alignment was quite low compared to regular shop rates.

The overall experience was very good, with no hiccups and wallet was happy as well

[vsrivatsa]

Updates on Warranty

The SMS related to Michelin Digital Warranty has been successfully received:



This is good news - although I must say we were quite confident of this as I saw some posts on another Team-BHP thread where devrajman had bought Michelin tires from Snapdeal.com : URL and received the Digital Warranty.

Please always do check price ONLINE. I bought P3ST at price of XM2, Thanks to SNAPDEAL!
When i got the tyre, i called up the vendor who had supplied VAT billed, asked him to enter Michelin warranty at this store and he did it. So that is covered too.
FYI, I bought 6 months back for Rs 22496/- for 4pcs 195/65R15 and today Rs. 23,345

Response from Michelin
I called up Michelin Helpline and promptly received a callback from them. Michelin folks clearly called out the same as what is available online on their website and stated that Amazon.in is not an authorized seller for their products. The person on the line also acknowledged that he is aware of online sites selling Michelin tires at a lower cost but warranty would not be applicable. I asked him the question what if a Michelin Authorized Dealer sells on Amazon.in. He only repeated the same statement that Tires bought directly from Amazon.in will not come with Warranty. ( )


Response from Amazon.in
Here is the response I received from Amazon.in when I asked them for their input on selling Michelin Tires despite being an unauthorized seller:

Thanks for helping us with the snapshots. I really appreciate your efforts in this.

To help you further, in this concern I'd like to inform you that we directly do not deal with Michelin India. However, some of our sellers sell their products on Amazon.in as we are retailer.

Please don't worry as the products you purchase from Michelin India comes with warranty.

However, if they still denies for the warranty contact us back with the service denial letter and we'll help in you in the best possible manner.

Rest assured we are always here to do make things easier for you and prevent you from bearing any loss.

We look forward to a very warm and fruitful association with you

Response from Seller
I also asked the same question to the Seller and he clarified the same stating Warranty cannot be denied by Michelin. In fact, he called out the same point called out earlier by BHPian itwasntme that it is centralized and we can avail warranty facility at any Michelin Authorized outlet all over India.


However, it maybe harder to convince another dealer to file a claim for you but certainly doable. Here is quoting a thread on Warranty: URL

With online sales, this motivation to replace the tyre isnt there. So, chances are you wont be able to get it replaced easily (assuming that the company would have given a replacement anyway. Typically 95% of tyre claims are rejected by the companies).

This is exactly what BHPian LeoShashi called out as well.

But doable though...
Here is a proof point of sorts of one dealer obliging a warranty claim for another in the same city URL

One of my Primacy 3ST's has developed a bulge on the side wall. The tyre is only 1.5 years old with 20K reading. Took it to the nearby Michelin dealer-SLNP Pit stop in Yelahanka to get it inspected. The first impressions were quite negative. They asked me to reach out to the dealer ( Tire empire) I bought the tire from , but I explained that they are on the other end of the city. After some convincing they agreed to remove the tire and inspect. I was told that there will be a cut inside and that could be the reason for bulge but luckily there was no cuts /visible damages inside the wall. It took 15 mins for them to enter the details and upload photos to the Michelin site. Got a message from Michelin stating my complaint is registered. Hopefully it will get resolved soon.

However, in conclusion, it appears that warranty is mainly a feel good factor and one has to be possibly lucky for it to work whether tires are purchased online or not.