About Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Car Tyre Retailers Award
Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Car Tyre Retailers Award reveals the tyre retailer chain that delivers the best consumer satisfaction to its customers.
We ask Kiwi motorists to rate their satisfaction with their choice of tyre retailer chain by Overall Satisfaction, as well as important criteria such as Customer Service, Product Range, and Value for Money.
Numbers crunched by Canstar's researchers:
- 810 Customers Surveyed
- 5 Brands Assessed
- 4 Brands Shortlisted
- 1 Award Winner
The best car tyre retailers in NZ
1. Hyper Drive
Sitting atop our awards table Hyper Drive achieves its No.1 position thanks to a near perfect set of ratings from its customers. Hyper Drive earns a top 5-Star rating in every category apart from Customer Service, for which it has a great 4 Star rating.
It's worth noting that Hyper Drive earns more 5-Star ratings than the other three featured tyre retailers combined.
Hyper Drive is a Kiwi business that sells car tyres, wheels, batteries and a wide range of other car accessories. Hyper Drive is a predominantly online retailer that partners with a chain of over 250 independently owned fitting businesses across the country.
Purchase your new tyres online and either have them fitted at one of Hyper Drive's partner garages near you, or opt for Hyper Drive's mobile tyre service to fit your new tyres at a destination of your choice.
Hyper Drive's best-price guarantee promises to beat any better price you can find on an identical or comparable item by 10% (Ts&Cs apply).
2. Advantage Tyre Solutions
Midway through 2023, Beaurepaires and Advantage the Tyre Professionals merged, rebranding under the name Advantage Tyre Solutions. Kiwi-owned Advantage operates over 50 retail stores nationally.
Along with a wide range of tyre brands, Advantage also retails car batteries, oils and offers service packages focused on wheels, batteries, oil, wheel alignment and wheel balancing.
3. Bridgestone
Japanese company Bridgestone is the world's largest tyre manufacturer. In New Zealand it operates over 160 stores that sell Bridgestone's range of tyre brands, including Bridgestone, Firestone, Supercat and Dayon. Bridgestone’s tyre stores also sell batteries plus oil and other service packages.
4. Tony's Tyre & Auto Care
Tony's Tyre & Auto Care is a Kiwi brand that has been in operation for four decades. The brand has 40 stores nationwide and has mobile tyre- and battery-fitting vans servicing the Auckland and Wellington regions.
Tony's stores stock a wide range of tyre and battery brands, and select locations offer car servicing, repairs and WoF inspections.
Choosing the right car tyre retailer for you
Across all of Canstar Blue's research, two factors always stand out when we ask Kiwis what's important to them as consumers: Customer Service and Value for Money.
Value for Money is always important, especially when rating specific products, but Customer Service usually rates more highly when the consumers in our surveys are rating wider service providers.
And purchasing tyres is about more than just rubber. Consumers expect a high level of service when it comes to fitting their tyres.
This is reflected in what our survey respondents say when asked to rate what drives their tyre retailer satisfaction.
Just under half (45%) say Customer Service is most important, while just under a third (30%) claim Value for Money is their No.1 concern.
Here's the full rundown of what Kiwi drivers say are the main things they consider when rating their tyre retailer choices:
- Customer Service: 45%
- Value for Money: 30%
- Quality of Tyres: 15%
- Time Taken: 17%
- Product Range: 11%
Key car tyre considerations
Buying new tyres? Here are four key things to consider once your new rubber is on your rims:
Tyre pressure
The No.1 cause of premature tyre wear is under-inflation. Just a small drop below ideal tyre pressure can accelerate wear rates dramatically. So it's advisable to check the pressure in your tyres every couple of weeks. And don’t forget the spare. The correct pressure for your car's tyres can usually be found on a tyre placard inside the front door frame.
Slippery when new
Brand new tyres have small rubber hair-like strands on their surface called vent spews, which help eliminate air bubbles from the tread during manufacturing. However, when tyres are still new, the vent spews can reduce grip, especially if you're driving hard into a corner.
New tyres are also coated in compounds to prevent them sticking to their moulds, which is why they can feel slightly slippery.
Together vent spews and mould-release compounds can initially affect the grip of brand-new tyres. Therefore, it's a good idea to drive conservatively on brand new tyres for their first 100km, until normal road abrasion eliminates both factors from the driving equation.
Tread
A tyre's tread is designed to improve grip in wet conditions by eliminating water from between the tyre and the road.
When new, tyres offer about 8mm of tread. However, by the time they're worn down to 1.5mm, they're not pumping water away efficiently. So, realistically, for safety's sake, it's time to replace a tyre when its tread is down to 2mm.
Front left alert
A car's front left tyre works the hardest, because:
- Most cars are front-heavy
- Most cars are front-wheel drive
- Front wheels steer
- We drive on the left, and the front left tyre scrubs harder at every left turn, because of the tight radius
Therefore it's a good idea to rotate your car tyres regularly, to ensure even wear.
