CAA mobile tire program gets drivers ready for winter
Fonthill resident Patrick Tierney didn’t have to lift a finger or drive to a dealership or garage to get his 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid ready for winter.
He used CAA Niagara’s Mobile Tire Service, a two-year-old program that brings a technician to a person’s driveway to install winter tires ahead of the snow and ice. They will remove them once the weather begins to warm, too.
With each tire weighing approximately 60 pounds and the service costing $49.99 plus HST, Tierney said, he has registered with the program since it started. He figures it has saved him a lot of work and unnecessary pain.
“I’ve had a bad back for 40 years and I don’t want to do it anymore,” he said in his Willson Crossing driveway Friday.
He said an hour of driving back and forth to a mechanic, plus the gas money as well as having to wait for the work to be done, doesn’t appeal to him.
“I’ve got better things to do than wait,” he said.
CAA Niagara associate director of emergency road service Dave Moreno said the program has grown to about 1,600 appointments this season, and there are six trucks are available to make visits around Niagara.
It also raises awareness about seasonal road safety, he said.
“It helps us highlight the importance of winter tires. A lot of people don’t understand the difference,” said Moreno, adding it also provides a chance for CAA to get people prepared for the winter, which might lighten CAA’s workload later when a storm hits.
Monday’s blast that hit Niagara brought snow of up to 30 centimetres in some spots. Since then, approximately 2,000 calls were received by CAA Niagara — 600 on Tuesday and about 400 each day since, said Moreno.