It's that dreaded time: your tires are shot and you're looking at shelling out hundreds of dollars to replace them. The problem is, your bank account is hurting and you need to make your dollar stretch a bit further. Enter the used tire market. Believe it or not, many people replace their tires well before they are worn out, leaving a fantastic opportunity for us cheap skates of the world. I actually took this route 9 months ago and am still driving on my same set of tires. Instead of paying close to $200 for a full new set of tires, I ended up paying $35 for a few used ones. Granted, they take a bit more TLC, but they are still running. You will run into air seeping out of your tires a bit quicker than new tires, but keeping a $20 air compressor (which can be bought at the big department stores) is more than adequate to fix this problem. So even with buying a new air compressor, I saved over $100. I understand that this may not be the best option for the long haul, as I will have to buy another used set sooner. However, I don't really know how much longer my car is going to hold up, so it would be a shame to buy a new set of tires for a car that I'm planning to sell in the near future or that may see its last mile soon. So for those of you who need a short term fix, buy used and you could save hundreds!
