Buy Tires or Trade in

So My wife and I are expecting in August. And we are planning on replacing her Honda Civic coupe with something a little more family friendly.

Our plan was to replace the Honda in May/June time frame but it seems her tires are almost bald, and somewhat dangerous to drive in the rain.

Tires are probably about 400 bucks installed for the cheapest set, I mean I could make it happen, just dont see speding 400 on a car im going to trade in 3 months from now. Do dealers really care about tires?

What would you do? Trade in now, or Replace tires and stick to May/June trade in?

Couldn't hurt to hit up a few dealers to see if you can make a deal now. Don't tell them about the tires.... let them approach you if its an issue.

agree with Matt

If you cant make a deal now, find used tires. Weather is too unpredictable to gamble.
Sorry honey, I just could not see buying tires now.

Well... if you buy new tires now, you will lose that investment in the trade-in. Most likely will not be compensated for brand new tires on a vehicle you trade in. On the flip-side... it is dangerous to have your expecting wife drive around on bald tires. It's kind of a damned-if you do, damned if you don't... I would definitely trade in and see what the options are now. They are still going to have to replace those tires to make the vehicle legal to sell.


Get a Patriot :D

Hey.... want to buy a Liberty??? (Selling my wife's)

Then you can sell the vehicle private party and get more for it than you would trading... which would more than compensate for throwing some basic tires on it now. Win-win. :)

I agree with a few of the already mentioned ideas. Dealerships will try to make you think your screwing them,and that your trade in is worth less. I have family who have worked at dealers for yrs...it definetly should NOT affect your trade-in value. Also cico had a good idea,get some used tires now and stick to your original plan.

awesome insight all, keep it coming. I think we are going to check out some dealers this weekend and see what we can see.

If not, I will search CL and find some that will get us through the spring.

Just trade it in now while car buying is a little slow might get a better deal. I don't see you gaining anything by waiting till mid summer the new models aren't out yet. You buy now you can probably find a 2011 left over and get a better deal since all the dealers have there 2012's in inventory right now. Or put tires on and wait till October or December to buy a car. I went threw the same thing in December do my wife's 90k service and put new tires on or get a new car. I decided to get a new car oh and she was approaching 100k miles and once you bust that number you get a lot less for your trade.


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When we traded our Hyundai in on a new '10 Nissan, the dealer told us that two tires needed replacing on the Hyundai. Yeah, whatever. I thought to myself " it also has 190K miles ". They are going to give you as little as possible on your trade and I would venture to say that you wouldn't get your $400 investment back from them. Either trade it now as-is or get some used tires on it to ride for a few months. Dont ride with the bald tires. If they are bad enough that it is concerning you with the trade then they are bad enough to be replaced.

I would look at trading in. If you are going to do it in a couple months anyway you might as well do it now than sink more money into it. If you are going to try and sell it yourself or if you think that you will have to keep it for a couple months than get some used tires that will make it safe again. I couldn't imagine the nightmare of something happening because I didn't take care of my wife's car especially when a baby is involved.

Safety first on this one.

Indeed. We are going to check out some places this week and this weekend.

http://www.theultimatejeep.com/showt...6279#post26279

I say trade now. If dealers give you grief, do like cico7 suggested and get a used set.