Tire scam in Utah
I want to warn people of an apparent scam to replace tires at the garage in the flying J plaza at Scipio Utah.
I pulled into the Flying J to fuel up my Ford 550. I was pulling my fifth wheel. As I was maneuvering in through the back of Flying J I passed the on-site tire shop when a young man flagged me down in the back parking lot. He informed me that my trailer tire was bad and needed to be replaced. I told him thank you and that I would look at it. He then stated that the tire had a bulge he had noticed when I passed by. He offered to show me the damage so I agreed then parked the vehicle. I followed him to the alleged damaged tire that he had earlier said was bulged. I figured it must have been pretty obvious damage since I never stopped my vehicle as I pulled into Flying J, so any assessment he made had to be on a moving tire.
As we approached the tires on the trailer I tried to the see the damage that this young man claimed to have spotted but I could see nothing obvious on the parked trailer, so I asked him “where was the bulged tire” that he had referred to? He quickly ran his hand over the circumference of the tire where the tread was and said “do you feel that”. I then did the same thing with my hand and responded that “it feels fine to me.” He then pointed to some outside tread wear (under inflated) and said that it looked like I had impending tire separation. He also showed some minor checking on the outside of the tire. At this point my suspicion must have been obvious, so he said go check with George over at the tire shop if you want a second opinion. It all seemed very scripted to me; nonetheless, I did check with George at the tire shop. As soon as I pulled in front of the tire shop George headed directly for the allegedly bad tire as I told him while I approached him that a man told me that I had a bad tire. I was not walking toward any tire I was walking toward him as he was walking toward the tire. I have a total of 10 tires on my truck and trailer. I never told George which tire it was; nonetheless, George knew it was the trailer and he headed for the particular tire that the young man had claimed was damaged.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt and allowed him to tell me that the tire needed to be replaced and so did all the other tires on my trailer because they had impending tread separation issues. I had driven these tires for over 2000 miles in the last week with no apparent issues. George took me back to look at his tires because I was willing to replace them if the price was reasonable because of the minor checking even though the tread was very deep. George went through a sales pitch for the different tires that he had in stock then I asked for the price. He said “well let’s see” then took me over to his desk where he had a self-printed price list of his stock tires. He tried to sell me his 235/85R 16’s for 535.00 per tire. I gasped and said no . Then he offered another set for 485.00 dollars per tire I insisted again that such a price was unreasonable he finally tried to sell me his lowest price set for 385.00 per tire. I refused then left.
I then drove 30+ miles to Nephi Utah and had the Big O tire store replace all of the tires for 169.00 each just in case there was any truth to what George and his apparent side kick had said about the impending doom of my tires. However, before I agreed to have Big O replace my tires I asked them to just replace spare I had on board and then to inflate my other tires to the proper pressure. The Big O tire agent did so without telling me that he saw anything wrong with my tires, so I then asked him for an opinion on the health of my tires. He stated that they were older but that the tread looked fine and he noticed the minor checking. You all can take from this what you want but I am just trying to forewarn you of what I see as a scam. The town of Scipio isn’t far from Beaver Utah where another thread on this forum addresses a similar scam so maybe George is learning from his neighbor.
I pulled into the Flying J to fuel up my Ford 550. I was pulling my fifth wheel. As I was maneuvering in through the back of Flying J I passed the on-site tire shop when a young man flagged me down in the back parking lot. He informed me that my trailer tire was bad and needed to be replaced. I told him thank you and that I would look at it. He then stated that the tire had a bulge he had noticed when I passed by. He offered to show me the damage so I agreed then parked the vehicle. I followed him to the alleged damaged tire that he had earlier said was bulged. I figured it must have been pretty obvious damage since I never stopped my vehicle as I pulled into Flying J, so any assessment he made had to be on a moving tire.
As we approached the tires on the trailer I tried to the see the damage that this young man claimed to have spotted but I could see nothing obvious on the parked trailer, so I asked him “where was the bulged tire” that he had referred to? He quickly ran his hand over the circumference of the tire where the tread was and said “do you feel that”. I then did the same thing with my hand and responded that “it feels fine to me.” He then pointed to some outside tread wear (under inflated) and said that it looked like I had impending tire separation. He also showed some minor checking on the outside of the tire. At this point my suspicion must have been obvious, so he said go check with George over at the tire shop if you want a second opinion. It all seemed very scripted to me; nonetheless, I did check with George at the tire shop. As soon as I pulled in front of the tire shop George headed directly for the allegedly bad tire as I told him while I approached him that a man told me that I had a bad tire. I was not walking toward any tire I was walking toward him as he was walking toward the tire. I have a total of 10 tires on my truck and trailer. I never told George which tire it was; nonetheless, George knew it was the trailer and he headed for the particular tire that the young man had claimed was damaged.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt and allowed him to tell me that the tire needed to be replaced and so did all the other tires on my trailer because they had impending tread separation issues. I had driven these tires for over 2000 miles in the last week with no apparent issues. George took me back to look at his tires because I was willing to replace them if the price was reasonable because of the minor checking even though the tread was very deep. George went through a sales pitch for the different tires that he had in stock then I asked for the price. He said “well let’s see” then took me over to his desk where he had a self-printed price list of his stock tires. He tried to sell me his 235/85R 16’s for 535.00 per tire. I gasped and said no . Then he offered another set for 485.00 dollars per tire I insisted again that such a price was unreasonable he finally tried to sell me his lowest price set for 385.00 per tire. I refused then left.
I then drove 30+ miles to Nephi Utah and had the Big O tire store replace all of the tires for 169.00 each just in case there was any truth to what George and his apparent side kick had said about the impending doom of my tires. However, before I agreed to have Big O replace my tires I asked them to just replace spare I had on board and then to inflate my other tires to the proper pressure. The Big O tire agent did so without telling me that he saw anything wrong with my tires, so I then asked him for an opinion on the health of my tires. He stated that they were older but that the tread looked fine and he noticed the minor checking. You all can take from this what you want but I am just trying to forewarn you of what I see as a scam. The town of Scipio isn’t far from Beaver Utah where another thread on this forum addresses a similar scam so maybe George is learning from his neighbor.
