Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - If you're in the market for new tires, now is the time to buy -- because come January, you can expect to pay quite a bit extra.
Even the most affordable set of new tires will cost you about $50 more, and you can expect to pay at least $80 more for brand name wheels.
A new tariff on overseas tires is forcing wholesalers to pass the cost on to retailers, and to all of us.
David Long's tire inventory at Heritage Tire Sales in Syracuse comes from all over, but it's the ones from China that are costing him more these days. That's because the federal government has imposed a new tariff on tires from China.
“Thirty-five percent is an extraordinarily big tariff, and ultimately what it is going to do is it is going to be passed on to consumers,” says Long.
It's not just tires overseas; prices for domestic wheels like Goodyear and Michelin are also going up.
“They figure if China prices are going up and they are going to be close to ours, we can take our tire price back up to create that difference in price,” Long says.
To prepare, Long said he's tried to stock up on as many tires as he can from China, but he says this supply won't last for long.
“It's rapidly running out, because distributors and other dealers are running out of tires and we are also getting new calls from dealers asking 'hey, do you have anything at the old price,' but if we do, we are shorting our dealers if we sell too much of it,” says Long.
It's a balance that Long says is hard to find, especially when everyone is looking to get the best price they can.
Long says winter tires will not see a price increase this year because they are already in stock; you'll notice the prices jump as new shipments arrive.
