Necessity of a spare?

lanerd wrote:
With today's internet availability, calling around to find the right size replacement tire, is fairly easy. Once you find the tire, then call your ERS and tell them where the tire is and its price. The ERS contractor will get the tire and bring it to you to mount on your rim.

No need to rely on the ERS contractor to find the right tire and charge you an arm and a leg for it.

Ron

It is very easy where you have internet access and your cell phone works. I have been in many places in the western US where the OnStar in my truck didn't work or barely worked. Let alone internet access. Sure if you always travel major interstates in the eastern US within a reasonable distance of major cities you probably will be able to get someone out who has an exact replacement and won't gouge you. Out here in the west once you get out of the major cities you quickly lose internet coverage. Add to that cell service is iffy at best. Oh, and I have had a blowout in a rural area but at least I still had some internet service. Bummer is ERS couldn't find anyone willing to come that far out. Eventually I was able to give ERS the number of a shop that was willing to come out. After some back and forth ERS finally agreed to pay them to come out. The real issue is we were 100 miles from the nearest town at the bottom of a mountain pass in a chain up area. The service provider was going to have to drive many miles past us just to get to the nearest exit to turn back around. The service provider wanted to charge for all of that mileage and time. Good Sam didn't want to pay that much. Bottom line is since no one else was willing to come out eventually they agreed. We waited a long time on the side of the road but did eventually get going.