What you need to do to get a tire failure replaced under Warranty

Along with this Blog I try and monitor a number of various RV forums. Some of you may have seen my posts. There have been a number of times when a topic comes up and I make a reply that I think would be a good topic for my blog but it is on a short side. I have decided that just because an answer to a question is not 600 words long, that should not stop me from sharing the answer so over the next few weeks I plan on posting a number of items where I provided an answer or comment on questions posed by other RV owners. As they say the Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

"John & Mary" wrote about the difficulty they had in getting a failed tire replaced. They were surprised that the tire company wanted to know the DOT serial, purchase date and to actually have the tire made available for inspection before a new tire would be provided. They said "When the tire company asked for the tire to be returned we were surprised. We dunno about everyone else, but we didn't keep the tires & didn't know until several months later what was required to file a report"

My response:

You are correct Mary, you can't get a tire replaced without providing a few items to the tire company. That's why I have advocated that everyone record the full DOT of each tire in the "Book of important RV Info" that we all keep, so if we ever have a tire problem and the DOT serial is destroyed we will have the information needed to file a complaint report to both NHTSA and to the tire company. We also need to keep the documents that show the date of purchase of the tire (if they were not new on the RV).

As far as keeping the tires, I understand that many RVs don't have space to store a tire but after reading this story where John & Mary were complaining that the tire company wanted the failed tire before it would issue a refund or compensation, I feel that people need to have a basic understand of their responsibilities in the event of a tire failure and wanting to make a claim so they can take the steps needed to increase their chance of getting a replacement tire when appropriate.

I have to wonder why people think that when the failed product and its serial number and some proof or purchase is required by every other company when requesting compensation or replacement, be it a toaster or refrigerator, that for some reason tire companies would be the only company to not ask for the failed product and Proof of Purchase..

Now if you don't have space to store the tire, then I would suggest that you need to contact the manufacturer at the number given in the warranty book you received when you bought the RV or tires and before you leave the tire service shop doing your changeover, you confirm what the tire company requires. You can then decide if the potential for a refund or adjustment is worth the effort and cost involved.

I do have space for a spare tire in my RV. That was a requirement when I was shopping for a new RV. I also run a brand of tires that has thousands of stores & dealers around the USA, another requirement when selecting a tire brand. So I am confident that I can always get to a store and would be able to process the paperwork needed to file a warranty claim as well as leave the tire at the store so a company engineer can inspect it or have the tire shipped back to the appropriate location if needed.