Experts advise drivers to check the condition of their tires after every second fuel stop. However, this safety tip does not yet seem to have reached many consumers. A third of vehicle owners do not know what tread depth their tires currently have. This was the result of a survey conducted by the motor vehicle monitoring organization KÜS and the editorial team of "kfz-betrieb". Nine percent of those surveyed should already be planning their next tire purchase because their tires only have tread depths of between two and four millimetres.



"The tires are the only contact our vehicles have with the road and are therefore of eminent importance for road safety. Nevertheless, they are often treated rather neglected," comments Peter Schuler, Federal Managing Director of KÜS. Ten percent of those surveyed stated that they had tires with a tread depth of less than the four millimetre safety limit recommended by KÜS.



"Despite the sometimes terrible test results of cheap tires, 40 percent want to drive a very cheap, unknown tire. It remains to be seen how the balancing act between quality and price will continue to develop. In my opinion, more attention should be paid to the tires on our vehicles more often and more regularly. When buying tires, drivers should not go for ultra-cheap tires, even in times of tight budgets."



Specialist dealers preferred

When asked "Where will you buy your next tires or wheels?", 38% said specialist tire dealers, followed by car dealers of the respective brand (29%) and independent garages (18%). Only seven percent prefer specialist stores such as A.T.U and Pit-Stop when buying tires and four percent prefer the Internet.



A relatively high number of vehicle owners, namely 40 percent, could in principle imagine buying a very inexpensive, unknown tire. In contrast, 60 percent of owners are brand-oriented and tend to reject cheap tires or reject them outright.



Around 14 percent of drivers drive with all-season tires and therefore only need a single set of tires. 28 percent of those surveyed who have to change their tires in spring and at the beginning of winter do this themselves. A quarter go to a manufacturer's workshop to change them, one in five to an independent garage, 17 percent to a specialist tire dealer and five percent to a service chain such as A.T.U.



72 percent of drivers store their summer and winter wheels themselves. The rest use the storage service offered by car dealerships. A good quarter believe that storage at the relevant garage should be free of charge. However, a third of those surveyed had no idea what wheel storage should cost.



Further details such as graphics and the Trend-Tacho archive can be found on the Internet at www.trend-tacho.de. The complete Trend-Tacho study with all the survey results can be ordered for 49 euros (incl. VAT) by e-mail at info@kfz-betrieb.de.