You can now buy tires at Amazon and get them installed at Sears
One more thing you can add (relatively) worry-free to your Amazon shopping cart.
Confession: I shop for practically everything online. I'm an Amazon Prime junkie in particular. But I've never even tried to buy tires online, because I wouldn't know what to do next.
Amazon and Sears now have an answer for that. Buy tires on Amazon -- any brand -- and you'll now get the option to install them at a Sears Auto Center.
The feature's already live; check out my screenshot.
After you select the number of tires you want, just look for the Get Professional Tire Installation section and press the Select a service option button. (That's how it works on a desktop browser, anyhow.)
An Amazon rep tells CNET that this is what happens afterward: "Customers schedule an appointment for installation during checkout, the tires arrive to the service provider and customers shows up at the time of their appointment to have them installed." Sounds pretty straightforward.
To start, Ship-To-Store will only work at 47 Sears Auto Centers scattered across Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco and Washington, but Sears says the program will expand to all the 400+ Sears Auto Centers across the country.
Note that you'll still have to pay to get your tires installed. So maybe "taking them to a tire install shop" was the answer to my original question. But this way, you won't have to transport four cumbersome tires from your house to your installer, and you can pay for everything on the spot.
