Having been lucky enough to drive over a nail this week, and my front tyres having worn down a lot anyway, I bit the bullet and ordered two new tyres today. However, I thought I'd be shafted at Kwik Fit - so I decided to harness the power of the Internet and get some new tyres online. Such novelty!
After looking in all the nooks and crannies, I found a few useful sites:
For reviews, statistics and comparisons of tyres, I found three useful sites:
TyreReview (http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Goodyear/DuraGrip.htm)
Tyres-Online (http://www.tyres-online.co.uk/tyretest/goodyear.asp#1)
BlackCircles (http://www.blackcircles.com/order/tyres/search)
And a couple of reputable-looking brokers:
etyres (quote for GoodYear DuraGrips: £161.80 inc VAT)
TyreFitDirect (quote for GoodYear DuraGrips: £152.82 inc VAT)
I decided to give etyres a go. Unfortunately, given the less popular dimensions of my tyre (185/55/R14/80H), etyres could only promise me fitting with a two-week lead time, as they'd have to order the tyres I wanted specially (I was after GoodYear DuraGrips). As I had a flat tyre, was running on the spare and had to drive down the motorway the day afterwards, I wussed out and went to my local Kwik Fit - where they knocked about £60 off a pair of Michelin Energy Savers, which I was happy with.
Including fitting and balance, two tyres came to £180, which isn't amazing... but isn't bad for a walk-up price with half an hour's notice, and was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would cost. Certainly it would've been nice to pay less, but when you have no other options, what do you do? To their credit, I didn't have to wait long and my tyres were fitted quickly, so no complaints there. Apparently Kwik Fit also do rotating promotions on various kinds of tyres; when I went in, they (ironically) had a sliding discount promotion on GoodYears for February. Sod's law though, they didn't have the DuraGrips in my tyre size! so I plumped for Michelins (they did have cheaper tyres, but I wanted some premium rubber this time around after a few recent close shaves in rush hour traffic).
The moral of the story? If you need tyres fitting really quickly, don't solely rely on the online brokers and on-site mechanic companies being able to supply your tyres at very short notice. However, if you want to save some money, you can haggle with your local garage... or plan ahead and book with an online broker (like etyres or TyreFitDirect), get your tyres changed at your home or workplace and save a few bob. Don't let my bad experience put you off - I'm also keen to know if you've used any online tyre services, so if you've had good or bad experiences (including etyres or TyreFitDirect) then please leave a comment.
I have used Kwik Fit in the past - but like you get the feeling that you get switched into whatever brand they have in stock (probably the ones that they make the most money!)
I have tried to use E-tyres in the past but their call centre were unable to accurately confirm if they would stick to the agreed time (key of you are agreeing an appointment)
Blackcircles were a real eye opener. Not only did they have great prices - they have a great choice of local garages. they arrange it all for you and it has worked really smoothly the two times I have used them. And it feels good giving my local garage some business.
Onthe duragrip tyres that you needed
Blackcircles £71.80 - fitting available within 2 days
Kwik Fit don't sell - strange
E-tyres £79.50 - as per you post 14 days lead tim would put me off
Tyrshopper - £74.50 - although this is a front for National Tyres so you may be switched brands like Kwik Fit
If you need tyres in a hurry for a puncture - then you are going to be at the mercy of the dealer / depot that you drive in to, although the Kwik price on the Michelin's seemed fairly decenet - just a shame that they try and rip you off by charging you an extra £60 on the list price in the first place.
With Kwik Fit it seems almost like you're at their mercy if it's a busy franchise
I've had a couple of repairable punctures in the past - the first time I rolled up, the guy graciously fixed it for free. The next time, it cost me £18.50. 
Funnily enough, after I blogged this article, I had an email from the Head of Operations and Trading at BlackCircles - he was genuinely interested to hear my opinions and any feedback I might have regarding the web site and its service, which is a great thing to see. Clearly they actually care about how well their service works for customers, so I'll have to reconsider them when I next need new tyres.
The whole point of this exercise in the first place was to try and give a local tyre place some business (fed up with giving my money to nationwide organisations / international companies), it's nice to know you're helping your regional economy.
Thanks for the post. Yeah, I agree that you can always haggle with the local garages for the tires. Most likely the garage owners will comply. Like I always do with Clapham shops. I always haggle to save some money. thanks for sharing this post. But It's worth trying to buy tires online.
I used a Mobile service called Hometyre, the guy fitted my tyres in my works carpark, all I had to do was give him the car keys and point him in the direction of the locking wheel nut.
The tyres were cheaper than the quote I had from kwik fit, and I didn't have to hang around at a garage. All in all I was pleased with the service.
Interesting, I didn't come across Hometyre so never considered them. Do they franchise the work out to local garages or is it a national company?