Spare Tires No Longer Come ‘Standard’ In All New Cars

Did you know that about half of car makers now don't include a spare tire with the purchase of a new car? Not even one of those lame little dummy tires!) I know everyone is looking for places to skim and skimp and save a few bucks, but really?! If I drop between 10 and 50-thousand dollars on a new car, there had better be some sort of spare tire in it!

According to The Denver Channel, a spare tire is now considered an "add-on" for nearly half of all new cars. (Meaning dealers might have the tires, but they'd charge you extra for them.)

Car manufacturers say they made the change to help with fuel efficiency and reduce the weight of the vehicle, but many buyers are unhappy with the change.

To me that seems like a cop-out of an excuse. If a 30-pound spare tire is going to have that big on an affect my fuel-economy, than maybe the car engineers have some work to do before they promise such high mileage in a vehicle.

I will concede that a lot of people don't ever touch their spares, a disturbingly high number of people don't even know how to change a spare tire, but that doesn't mean their shouldn't be a spare in the car! What about those times when you can't for assistance, or you're out in an area where phones don't work?

To me this just feels like we, the consumers, are getting nickeled and dimed out of our cash.

What do you think?

I wonder how much extra a dealership actually charges for a spare tire nowadays.

[The Denver Channel]