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Kal Tire
Categories: Automotive Tires Automotive Auto Repair Tires, Auto Repair [Edit]
8130 Ontario StVancouver, BC V5X 3E3
Neighbourhoods: Marpole, Sunset
(604) 322-4060
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 7:30 am - 6 pm
Sat 8 am - 5 pm
Roanna Z. said: "A lot of highway driving has preserved our clutch but buying time does not change the facts that parts wear out and cars are not self-healing. We had to face the music so we brought our Honda in again to Walt at Lee's. No one wants…" read more »
6 reviews for Kal Tire
6 reviews in English
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Review from fred e.
West Vancouver, BC
4/13/2011
Had nails in three of my tires if you could believe that.
As fortune may have it, all tires were repairable. Great job Kal-Tire!
Your staff and front desk did a wonderful job in repairs and had it all done in less than half an hour -
Review from Kat S.
5/27/2011
I would love to give this place 5 stars, but I have had a couple flubs from this location. They really tried their best to fix the situations though, so for that I give them credit.
First of all - they don't take appointments. Despite what they may lead you to believe on the phone, they don't give a crap what time you say you would like to come in. Just bring in your car and be prepared to leave it for a fair amount of time. And if you are getting all 4 tires changed out it's going to take a long time.
The plus side is - they have a courtesy shuttle. So you can drop your car off in the morning and they will take you the rest of the way to work. What went wrong? Well, this info was never relayed to me during my first visit to this shop, and there was clearly misinformation given over the phone, which left me sitting at the shop watching a bunch of other cars get serviced, while mine waited, and waited, and waited. Hours later I was finally able to leave. Also, if you book a pickup from your office, be prepared to wait, since their drivers sometimes get stuck at the other end of town. Fortunately, the manager came and got me after a half hour.
What is good about this shop is their warranty on their tires. They have pretty decent prices to start with (for Canada, can't compare with cross-boarder) and high quality tires. My Nokians have been really great, and despite destroying one tire after a bad flat, I managed to get it replaced for just a small fraction of the original cost.
Also, getting my tires swapped out was only $95, which included a quick inspection of the car.
The staff are quite friendly and eager to please. Just make sure they did everything you asked them to do before you leave. -
Review from Chris L.
Vancouver, BC
2/18/2011
I brought my car in to get an enormous nail out of a tire- there must be some karmic retribution for people who leave these things on the roads where others can get them stuck in their tires, I can't remember how many times this has happened over the years...
Polite service, offering a free general inspection without any upselling. After the inspection the mechanic just pointed out that some fluids needed replacement which he said would be free at the dealer if I had a service package with them. To my pleasant surprise the tire repair was 'no charge for you today my friend!'
Thanks guys! -
Review from Vancouver T.
Vancouver, BC
5/15/2011
I'm glad I did my research on yelp before choosing a tire shop. I had similar experience with the fellow reviewers and it was great. My back tire had a slow leak and I took it to the shop on a saturday afternoon.
The guy at the counter told me to drop the car and come back in 45 minutes. by the time I got back, the technican was in the middle of fixing the leak.
at the end, when I was ready to pay for the service, the counter ask if I've purchase the tires from them. I said no, and he menioned that all tires purchase at Kal would receieve free patch up services. This time, he waived the fee! what a great surprise.
If there is one thing I would recommend improving is that having the counter person explain what happen to the tire would be ideal. I had an idea that it was due to a nail but would be nice to confirm that. As well, spend a little more time going through the paperwork (what they did, what they found out, if there is anything I need to do to follow up)
thanks Kal tire for the great customer service, I will be back. -
Review from Marc D.
Vancouver, BC
12/6/2008
Ok, I grew up being suspicious of any shops related to anything auto. I don't need to start in on used car dealers. The stereotypes come from someplace. New car dealers are just fancier versions that are mostly out to protect their interests and not yours, but do so while giving you free stale coffee and packaged cookies. Repair shops are the worst - upselling on a regular basis. Tire dealers are usually no better. But my dealings with Kal Tire at this location have changed my views. There is hope in the auto world! (Perhaps not if you look at the auto industry bailouts down South though.)
This is a new location that opened within the past year. It has all of the same selection as other Kal Tire stores. Other Kal Tire stores I've visited have had very friendly service as well. But this one is over the top. They are really customer service oriented, have a nice selection, and since they are new are very open to negotiating better prices.
I recently had to replace the tires on my car and shopped around pretty carefully. I quickly decided to avoid Canadian Tire, OK, and Fountain based on reading reviews, stories from friends, looking over their product selection, and a few visits with less than stellar service. I was getting pretty burned out on the whole process and started to think maybe I'll just run the tires down for a few more months (yes, bad service and the feeling of people trying to rip me off made me want to just put it off - shame on me.).
I had heard that Kal Tire is really a different experience. I was suspicious. But a few years ago I had rolled into one when I got a flat and they had repaired it for free even though I wasn't a customer - which was a smart marketing move because I remembered it and came back.
Now for the actual purchase I checked them out and was really impressed. To top it off they also stocked Nokian Tyres, which are hard to find - and a wonderful choice in the rainy weather of Vancouver.
As I called around to the different Kal Tire stores to ask pricing this store stuck out as being super friendly, non-pushy, and the most flexible on pricing. I came down and got the new tires at the promised price and was happily back on the road in 30 minutes.
I was worried when they offered a "free safety inspection" which is mechanic talk for, "Let us find something to tell you is wrong with your car so we can sell you something else you don't need." But they did the check and they didn't try to do the usual upsells, or telling you your oil is bad, etc. They just went through the entire check and said everything looked fine. Huh? An auto shop that tells you that you don't need anything else?!?!?!?! Wow. They even had that same free stale coffee the fancy dealers have - and stale popcorn to boot! (Ok, so the foodie in me doesn't like the offerings - but it is a nice gesture.) I was really happy to see they had stools setup so I could watch them working on my car as well. I hate when these shops take your car off into never never garage land only to return to tell you something is wrong with it (while they were really just sitting around drinking stale coffee and killing time while coming up with a story). Watching the mechanics they were working hard, efficiently, and seemed like a really good team atmosphere. They seemed happy with their job!
Top that off with Kal Tire's standard care which is included free of charge with tire purchases. This includes free road hazard protection where they repair flats free of charge for the life of the tire. If the tire needs to be replaced they pro-rate it based on the rated life and only make you pay the difference. They also throw in free rotations as often as you like, and lifetime balancing on the original assembly. Huh? Free things without buying extra warranty coverage that is ridiculously priced? Wow. They even encourage you to come back after you drive for about a week to hand tighten the lug nuts and make sure everything is ok with the new tires. No upsells on that visit either. They just quickly looked at everything, gave a few twists and sent me on my way in about 5 minutes (no waiting?!?!?!). Wow.
They have a customer for life.Listed in: Cars
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Review from Bob H.
Vancouver, BC
12/16/2010
I had a sinking feeling when one of my run flat snow tires developed a slow leak. They're so expensive and I didn't want to shell out just before Christmas. I took it into the Kal Tire at Ontario & Marine with no appointment. They said leave it with them for an hour or so and they'd see what they could do. An hour later they called to say it was ready to go. When I asked how much, they said "Don't worry about it, just think of us when you buy your next set of tires'! You bet I will. Thanks guys!
