I've worked at various car dealerships since high school. I have access to buy tires through the parts departments at "cost". I never have though. It's always been cheaper for me to walk into Discount Tire and just buy them like everybody else does.
Not necessarily. Yes, it's possible that they cost less there, but that doesn't mean that's your lowest price anywhere.
In general, the online tire retailers have some of the best prices around. These include:
1. The
Tire Rack (most brands except Toyo, Falken, and some Hankook)
2.
Discount Tire Direct (most brands except Toyo). Their online prices are very often better than their in-store prices; however, in the stores they will often match online prices. ("Discount Tire" includes their retail stores; "Discount Tire Direct" is their mail-order arm.) Also when comparing prices with other retailers, DTD offers free shipping, whereas most places charge $10-20 per tire extra. They sometimes have additional deals, $25-50 off on any set of tires, usually offered for only a few days at a time.
3.
Vulcan Tire
4.
Onlinetires.com (they carry Toyo)
5.
tires-easy.com (they carry the Kumho SPT in sizes the Tire Rack never has)
6.
edgeracing.com (they carry Toyo)
When you buy tires on the internet, you can have them mounted and balanced anywhere you want. Places charge anywhere from $10 to $30 per tire for mounting/balancing.
As for dealers, I told my dealer what the Tire Rack was charging, and they replied that the Tire Rack price was less than the dealer's
cost.