$399 CDN sounds like a fair price if it doesn't include cosmetic damage. For my dealer, there were different levels of protection. I got the "road hazard" level, which basically included every possible type of damage to wheels and tires.

 

This guy speaks the truth. Also, these cars come with absolutely horrible OEM tires that have no business being the stock tire. If in the rare case you had to use the rim/tire insurance, and in the even rarer case the dealer approved your claim, they would put on the same crappy OEM tires. Rim repair can be done quite easily but as others have said, its been noted that paint matching the repaired wheel to the others has been hit or miss for many.

 

The best part is when they try to sell you on the package, the salesperson almost always has a story about how they "just blew out all four wheels/rims". Tell me I'm lying! This has been my experience 100% of the time I've been offered the insurance. I can't think of many situations where this would even happen other than you tried to escape from the Federal Reserve and ran over road spikes. But guess what, road debris isn't covered either! In fact, not a whole lot is covered at all. Really, read the fine print, it's scary.

Also, fun fact, after rebuffing the salesperson repeatedly on my Lexus, they finally caved and took $200 off the package. At that point, I still wasn't interested (and they knew it), so I lowballed them ever further, to a price that I thought was fair. They got so desperate that when I brought up the fine print (about "holding air"), they said if that happens to "come talk to them" and that they'd take care of it. I damn near fell out of my chair and spit coffee out of my nose. I imagine the underwriter would laugh me out of the room if I said it's ok to replace the wheels over a slight bend just because my salesperson said so.

They weren't interested in my fair-value offer.

I don't mean to sound insulting to anyone that has purchased the insurance. Just so you know, I only learned all this the hard way, on another vehicle. I wasn't interested then, either, but I was younger and less resistant to their mercenary sales tactics.

It's good to have peace of mind, and if it makes you happy, go for it. I just pray that in the event you actually need to use the insurance, you aren't completely stonewalled. Dealers love to repair road rash. It hardly costs them anything.

Just wait until you decide you'd like a new rim....

Like all things in life, YMMV.

 

I know i previously replied having the protection plan, but now that people are saying that they had to negotiate it....

just make it part of the deal when buying the car, i gave them a horrible time by saying that i was torn between my Lexus and an Acura TLX. I toyed quite a while so they just gave in and gave me the protection, protex, and tints for free even though they can charge ridiculous amounts for it.
(I would’ve done tints and protex outside of the dealer at a lower cost anyways, but giving it for free? Sure)

 

Haha good negotiating!

 

I got the curb rash on my rims repaired this weekend. The color match was pretty much spot on. Maybe not worth the $900 I paid for the insurance itself, but I drive 150 miles a day so I can see myself using the insurance often.

 

But you may have to replace all four, on an AWD car.

 

Not necessarily. If you have relatively low wear it should be ok. I had a nail in my front right tire at roughly 7,000 miles, and I only replaced the one. I didn't experience any issues.

However, if your tires are more worn, it might be a problem.

 

I'd have to double check, but I think they reserve the right to prorate what they'll pay for replacement.

Let's say you even have to replace all four and the underwriter approves the claim, no questions asked, then sure, in hindsight having the insurance was a good idea. Statistically speaking, however, there's a far better chance you won't be so unlucky as to need total replacement.

Another caveat, though I'm not 100% sure, is that I don't think they cover road debris, so you'd have to run over the world's largest pothole for this sort of damage to happen.

Bottom line, if you've put 10k miles on your tires, eg, and one needs replacement, it seems unlikely they're just going to slap four brand new ones on free of charge.

 

Depends on the package you got. I hit a huge pothole and they covered it no questions asked. But depends on the dealer. Like you said some aren't willing to play ball

 

Language in most policies cover "road hazards" so debris and the like would be covered. I've worked with several t&w companies both on the consumer and dealer side and have had very little issue getting claims through.

 

Right, but... my point was, for AWD, you don't ALWAYS have to replace all four. It's a good idea but can be avoided if the tread depth difference is small.

 

Right, obv. potholes are covered. That's what I said.

FYI, it's the underwriter that has to "play ball", aka take a loss.

 

My previous policy did not. I've not seen the verbiage for Lexus, but I did confirm that if the tire holds air, you are SOL, so it makes the policy not very competitive when compared to just pocketing the money as reserves for if I ever blow out several tires.

In all my life, that's never happened.

For sure, if you are the type to rub the curb during parallel parking, however, it will probably pay for itself. In my youth I was a valet, so it's not really a problem for me.

I honestly have far more complaints for when rims/tires start to degrade and result in more NVH at highway speeds (shimmying, eg), which is obv. not covered.

Back to my original point, a majority of drivers are going to lose money on the policy. That's by design, not my opinion. Take Apple Care, for example, when the iPhone was newer. The no-questions-asked-replacement policy used to be a steal. Apple was hemorrhaging money on it for sure. Nowadays, the cost is substantially higher, they're stricter about water damage (as in it's not covered anymore), and it's downright expensive to get the phone replaced. Considering how easy it is to purchase and replace your own screen, iPhone insurance simply isn't worth it anymore.

There are a few exceptions, but I general go by the policy of "always say no" to the offer of insurance. Emphasis on "offer", which is different from the types of insurance we tend to independently seek out.

It's funny, because when they pitched the plan to me, the salesperson said it costs something like $1300 just for one wheel/tire combo. Yes, you read that correctly, over $5k + tax to replace all four, or a little over 10% of the cost of my entire vehicle. I damn near fell out of my chair and knew immediately I was being taken for a sucker. Here's the original thread.

 

I recently noticed that one of my tires was leaking air slowly. Inspected the tire and sure enough I found a screw in the tire. I have a tire protection plan purchased through the Lexus dealer and was hoping they can replace the tire. I also noticed there is a little cut around the bead of the same tire. Looks like pry bar slipping during the mounting process when they did CPO. Based on this I should be able to get a new replacement tire right?