Amazon Wants to Sell You Car Tires With the Help of Sears
Amazon has partnered up with Sears to begin selling tires and have them installed on customer’s cars at the department store chain’s various automotive service centers.
Sears has already begun selling its in-house budget brand DieHard through Amazon as part of the deal (which is really not a reassuring name for an object you trust your life with, if you ask us). Any customer who orders tires off of Amazon can then bring their car to one of the 47 Sears Auto Centers in major US metropolitan areas for them to be installed. These cities include Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Eventually, the service will expand to all 400 Sears Auto Centers across the US.
SEE ALSO: Amazon Can Now Deliver Packages to Your Car
When a customer buys the tires off of Amazon, they will be given the option to have them delivered to a local Sears Auto Center and asked to provide three different appointment times they may be able to make. Sears will then match the desired appointment times with their own availability and email the customer a confirmation prior to the appointment. A standard installation fee will have to be paid to Sears, Amazon told CNBC in a statement, but this fee also includes balancing and an under-the-hood check.
Last year, Sears began selling its Kenmore line of appliances through Amazon. The online retailer also currently carries DieHard-branded car batteries and a DieHard power washer.
Sears is scrambling for ways to boost revenue after years of declining sales and waning consumer interest in brick and mortar retail outlets. The store’s stock surged as much as 24 percent following the Amazon announcement.
If you’re shopping for new tires, be sure to do your research at TireReviewsandMore.com
[Source: CNBC]
Sam McEachern holds a diploma in journalism from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, and has been covering the automotive industry for over 5 years. He conducts reviews and writes AutoGuide's news content. He's a die-hard motorsports fan with a passion for performance cars of all sorts.
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I wouldn't trust Sear's with any of my automotive needs. Last time I was there, it was for an oil change, but the sales manager tried to sell me tires for my car that had new tires installed 1 month prior to my visit. He told me my tires were too worn and I needed to change them immediately. He also tried to get me to do an alignment for $200 and showed me a "chart" for how badly my wheels were out of alignment. But the chart was for a wrong vehicle. I called BS and left the shop, only to find trashes in my car from the mechanic that serviced my car. Not to mention crumbs from his lunch which he enjoyed in my car. Tried other Sear's location and got pretty much the same or similar service (or the lack of service). As for my "bad" alignment, took my car to local trust tire shop and had them check it out. They printed a correct chart to show that everything was well aligned. If you care about your vehicle don't take it to Sears. You can get better service asking a random stranger on the street than at Sears.