22/12/2010: Will car tyres prices ever come down?

You don’t need to be much of a financial expert to worry about car tyres prices do you? With economies stagnating, mortgages disappearing and the prospects looking generally bleak, you might think that it’s a given that car tyres prices will keep on rising. Inflation? Tyres? Gettit? OK it isn’t that funny. Well it’s all a bit uncertain really, because the high price of rubber, which eats into tyre manufacturer’s profits, seems set to drive up car tyres prices again in the near future.

The usual suspects are to blame of course. Car tyres prices are likely to be affected again because heavy rains in South East Asian rubber growing regions have disrupted the tapping of rubber so supplies of the essential raw material are coming under pressure (oops!). Nobody seems to think that this is going to get any better for the next two years at least and it’s all made worse because demand is increasing in the strong emerging economies pushing up car tyres prices even further.

At the same time of course, car tyres prices are subject to the normal commercial pressures and the fact that more and more far Eastern manufacturers are trying to shift stock in Western markets might actually have the effect of bringing car tyres prices down, I wouldn’t hold your breath if I were you though, because the entire industry took a bad kicking during the recession and many managers will be looking to maximize profits rather than reduce car tyres prices.

So if rubber is in short supply and if car tyres prices are uncertain, what can the average motorist do to help find the best value for money under the circumstances? Well you could look after your existing tyres a good deal better for a start. Car tyres prices don’t affect you until you have to buy some, so driving more carefully on your existing ones will certainly help. Correctly inflated tyres are far safer and will last much longer which will reduce your risk of accidents and save on fuel costs.

On top of that, when the time finally does come to look at car tyres prices again, remember you have a choice – and that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to buy the cheapest set of tyres that you can lay your hands on. In fact if you look around carefully, you will find that the car tyres prices for your particular budget range may well include a heavily discounted premium tyre that will last longer and be better value for money. So look carefully when looking at car tyres prices.