LIVING HERE
Wal-Mart’s auto shop has joined the litany of tire shops across the nation that pull the ‘four-wheel’ drive scam at every opportunity.
The Geneva Shore Report first wrote about this scam last year, when F&F Tire in Delavan pulled it or attempted to pull it. It works like this; a person takes a four-wheel-drive vehicle, of any make or model, into a service center with a bad tire, the vehicle is taken in, an estimate for the new tire, and work is handed back and the customer leaves.
The telephone rings and it’s one of these operations on the line. The person at the facility gives the customer the bad news. “We are sorry but because your vehicle is four-wheel (or all-wheel) drive we can only replace all four tires or none of them because we would be responsible if all four tires are not the exact same size (the three existing tires are ever so slightly smaller because of wear) and the four-wheel-drive mechanism was destroyed.”
The customer is stuck either paying four times what was expected or picking up the vehicle with its single bad tire (oh, the tire shop does not cover liability for putting the customer back on the road with a bad tire, which is kind of strange). Many customers get all four tires, which leads to the second part of the scam. The customer is charged a fee for each tire taken from his or her vehicle. That charge, from ten to twenty dollars per tire, is for getting rid of the old tire.
How are those old tires ‘gotten rid of?’ The good ones are sold to used tire resale outfits and the bad one is sent to the garbage dump. So, these operations are making a ton on getting rid of old tires that don’t need to be gotten rid of and then making money on the new tires, as well as on the sale of still good tires sold to the reseller. Modern four-wheel-drive systems are in no danger whatever from tire-size differential caused by the tiniest amount of difference in tire circumference due solely to wear. That many supposedly reputable tire shops across the nation are all in on this scam is not as surprising as it is sad.
Don’t fall for this one, and don’t argue. You’ll just get banned from the shop or store you’ve been used to dealing with. Quietly take your vehicle and leave, at least be satisfied that you didn’t get taken.
Construction on Highway 50 begins this week and will continue through fall. Governor Evers signed a $6.7 million contract to resurface Highway 50,
starting at Grand Geneva Way in Walworth County to County Road O in Kenosha County. Project improvements include resurfacing eight miles of WIS 50 between Lake Geneva and Wheatland, pavement reconstruction from 376th Avenue to 381st Avenue, new turn-lane construction at the 381st Avenue entrance into the subdivision, traffic signal maintenance at County Road P intersection, and new guardrail, signage, and pavement marking within the corridor. During construction, one lane of traffic will remain open in each direction within areas where work is taking place. Short-term overnight closures of County Road P at WIS 50 will be required when resurfacing the intersection but side roads and driveway access will remain open during construction. Construction is scheduled for completion by this fall. This timing schedule is dependent on favorable weather conditions and construction progress.
