Every Major Tire Service Company, Ranked Worst To Best

You can find major tire brands at many big-name tire service companies, but just because the tires are great doesn't mean the service will be. Unfortunately, the majority of reviews for tire service companies are overwhelmingly negative, which seems to reinforce the idea that the angriest customers are the ones who leave reviews.

Yet most of us still have to choose a service center. After all, going to a tire chain is preferable to making mistakes while changing your tires at home, not to mention it takes far less time. If you need tire service but don't know where to start or who to trust, we can help. Our rankings are based on consumer reviews from Consumer Affairs, the Better Business Bureau, Trustpilot, and BBB rankings and accreditation. SlashGear's rankings (from worst to best) use a five-point rating system, where companies can earn between zero and five points for various facets of their reputation with customers. A two or higher gets a company out of the bottom rung of being labeled the worst. 

Worth noting is that, on average, most tire service centers receive poor reviews, which could partly be attributed to the fact that people who feel strongly — good or bad — about something tend to talk about it. That does mean that the averages from our sample size are quite low. Stay tuned for a detailed methodology at the end of this list.

If you're a member, you may already know that Costco can do a lot for your car. The automotive service at Costco covers tires, but membership also gets you discounts on third-party auto service and parts. Not to mention, you can also find tons of vehicle-related merchandise in the aisles, although you may want to think twice about buying certain Costco auto products.

Given Costco's auto product reputation, it may not be surprising that it's not the best tire service company. Based on our ranking system, Costco Tires earned a zero, which is kind of hard to do. The company is not BBB-accredited and does not have a BBB rating, either. A stark absence of tire center-specific feedback also meant we couldn't award any points for the retailer's BBB reviews.

When it comes to Trustpilot and Consumer Affairs feedback from customers, Costco has no presence on Trustpilot and low scores on Consumer Affairs. Given that our rating system focuses largely on consumer reviews, the low score doesn't necessarily mean Costco Tires is awful. It may simply be that there are more thoroughly vetted (by reviewers) tire centers to visit instead.

That said, Costco's reviews on Consumer Affairs suggest that hundreds of consumers have had poor experiences, and those experiences were poor enough for customers to go online and rant about them. Positive reviews praise Costco's affordable pricing, comprehensive services, and online ordering options, while drawbacks include long wait times, inconsistent service quality, and poor staff communication.

Given how poorly Costco Tires fared in our rankings, it might not be surprising that Walmart Auto Care Centers have a similarly low ranking. In fact, our highest-ranking tire service centers are exclusively tire-oriented. They don't offer another service or product in addition. While Walmart has exclusive automotive brands to equip and pamper your ride, the tire center may not be the highlight of the Walmart experience.

Walmart earned a zero in our rankings for a few reasons, the primary one being a lack of transparency on the BBB website. Neither Walmart nor its service center has BBB accreditation, and the BBB does not have a rating for the service center. Trustpilot did not have reviews for Walmart's tire department either, which meant the center didn't get credit for having higher than average reviews.

That left Consumer Affairs feedback from customers, which means bad news for Walmart Auto Care Centers. With over 1,000 reviews and ratings from consumers, Walmart Auto Care Centers average one star per Consumer Affairs' rating system. The most reported cons of the service are long wait times and inconsistent service quality, while two pros highlighted by Consumer Affairs are affordable pricing and comprehensive services.

With hundreds of times more negative reviews than positive ones to go off of, we had to rank Walmart closer to worst than best. Sadly, the Walmart Auto Care Center may be one to avoid when it comes time to get new tires.

American Tire Depot has at least one good thing going for it: It is the first tire service company to register on our scale with a score of one. While the company doesn't have an official BBB listing — and therefore, no accreditation or ratings — it does have some excellent consumer reviews.

American Tire Depot has hundreds of locations across the United States — including over 100 in my home state of California — and clearly has tons of customers. Despite the absence of a BBB profile, American Tire Depot has a presence on Trustpilot. That presence earned the tire center a boost because the reviews are great overall.

Trustpilot has amassed over 21,000 reviews from consumers who were generally satisfied with the service and products at American Tire Depot. Based on Trustpilot's ranking system, American Tire Depot is excellent. However, the site notes that the company hasn't responded to negative reviews, which is often a red flag.

While a lack of online presence on review sites doesn't mean a tire service company is horrible, social proof is one of the key ways most folks decide where to take their business. Since American Tire stores only have reviews on Trustpilot, there is no BBB rating or other reviews to corroborate how good (or bad) American Tire Depot might be. 

Although you might expect a tire brand to score higher for its service center, Firestone Complete Auto Care earned a one in our rankings. Firestone provides a budget-friendly alternative to Pirelli, so quality tires might be one reason to visit this location. Of course, there are some drawbacks, and Firestone missed out on points in our ranking for those.

Firestone Complete Auto Care is not BBB accredited and has an F rating. According to the BBB, that rating is specifically due to the company's failure to respond to over 2,200 complaints filed against it. Although that sounds terrible, the fact that Firestone has over 2,200 service centers might explain the sheer numbers. Still, a lack of responsiveness might put off consumers who want solutions to their service issues.

Despite receiving such poor feedback from the BBB itself, Firestone Complete Auto Care did earn higher than average reviews on Consumer Affairs, though its reviews were lower than average on Trustpilot. Since we're judging this tire service company against others, it's safe to say that it's a less reliable service center than the higher-rated ones in our review.

Reviews on Consumer Affairs suggest that Firestone Complete Auto Care offers excellent customer service, transparent pricing, and knowledgeable staff. Negative reviews touch on inconsistent service quality and long wait times, and a low average rating suggests Firestone might not be the best choice for service.

Another unsurprising entry toward the worst end of our list is Sam's Club Tire & Battery. With a score of one, Sam's Club wouldn't be our top recommendation for tires. Like Costco and sibling Walmart's tire centers, Sam's Club Tire & Battery has a stark lack of tire center-specific feedback. Not only that, but Sam's Club isn't BBB accredited, and consumer feedback via BBB is very low.

Without specific feedback on Sam's tire centers, it's difficult to recommend going there. At best, reviews for Sam's Club overall are fairly poor, suggesting it's best avoided overall in the first place. At worst, zero instances of feedback would still drop Sam's Club Tire & Battery down into the worst category of our list. The only point that the tire center earned, in fact, was due to Sam's Club overall earning an A- from the BBB. Although not accredited, Sam's Club gets fair marks from the BBB for its overall service.

Although it has some unique offerings — like the Sam's Club auto-buying program — you might want to do your household shopping at Sam's Club and get tires somewhere else. Of course, there are some reasons to risk it. Sam's Club premium members get tire installation for $20 per wheel, and members who get their tires installed in-store can get emergency roadside assistance for free. Approach cautiously and read the fine print, as this is still one of our lowest-ranked tire service companies.

Big Brand Tire & Service is an easy sell on our list, landing among the best with a rating of two on our scale of one to five. There's not a ton of social proof to back up recommending Big Brand, as the company doesn't have a presence on Trustpilot or Consumer Affairs. Still, the proof that exists indicates that Big Brand is a relatively safer bet for tire service compared to other big names.

Big Brand Tire & Service does have a BBB listing, although the tire service company is not accredited. The BBB gave the company an A rating, however, and the reasoning may help instill trust in customers. As the BBB explains, its ratings are based on "how the business is likely to interact" with consumers. The BBB looks at complaints statistics, responses, resolved complaints, business practices, advertising, and other factors. In short, the BBB might prioritize different things than consumers who want good service and good products.

The customer review side of Big Brand Tire & Service's BBB profile has abysmal ratings. However, there are also relatively few reviews on the site, which means our sample size of consumers is tiny. That, combined with the BBB's evaluation of how likely Big Brand is to respond to consumers, makes the company look a bit shinier compared to other tire services.

Les Schwab earned a two in our rankings, which is closer to the best than the worst on this list. Like many other tire service companies, Les Schwab is not BBB accredited, but it does have an A+ rating from the BBB. Part of that rating likely stems from the fact that Les Schwab responds to many of its consumers' complaints on the BBB website.

That above-average BBB rating is part of what earned Les Schwab its place on our list, but the other factor was the consumer reviews. Although the reviews on the BBB are overall poor for Les Schwab, the company earned more stars than other major tire service companies. Again, since we're doing our best to compare apples to apples, consider that people may like to complain about tire centers. To that end, Les Schwab's fewer complaints than many other stores give it a leg up.

Unfortunately, the same is not true of Les Schwab's Trustpilot reviews. Customers on Trustpilot aren't thrilled with the service at the tire center. Unlike other tire centers higher on our list, Les Schwab Tire Center doesn't have hundreds or thousands of poor reviews online. Instead, Trustpilot had around 50, and not all were bad, either, suggesting Les Schwab is one of the better options out there for tires.

As one of only two BBB-accredited tire service companies on our entire list, Pep Boys is one of the best tire service companies, according to our figures. Earning a two in our rating system, Pep Boys gets credit for having not only BBB accreditation but also for earning an A+ rating. While Pep Boys doesn't always respond to consumer reviews, the company is apparently responsive when it comes to the formal complaints process.

Customer review ratings are low for Pep Boys on the BBB website, so the company missed out on a point there. However, an overall high rating and accreditation means a lot in our weighted rankings. As far as other social proofs for Pep Boys, ratings on Trustpilot and Consumer Affairs were lower than average, but again, reviews are not the make or break of our rankings, and that's why each section is weighted.

Trustpilot, for example, has fewer than 200 reviews for Pep Boys. A significant majority are one-star ratings, but there are also five-star and middling reviews — like the rest of the tire service center companies.

On Consumer Affairs, reviewers overwhelmingly gave Pep Boys low marks in over 1,000 reviews and ratings, but the pros included timely repairs and assistance and transparent pricing. Its cons include inconsistent service quality and poor communication from staff, but these are two common complaints at most service centers we looked at, so this isn't entirely alarming. On average, Pep Boys approaches the upper echelon of tire service centers. 

Having recently visited America's Tire, I can see why many reviewers complain about wait times. Yet over the years (and through at least four different vehicles), I've had the best experience at America's Tire versus any other tire shop I've visited, so I keep returning. Thus, it's not surprising that the company has earned a 2.5 in our ranking.

America's Tire, which is also called Discount Tire in some places, was a difficult tire service company to rank because of its two different monikers. We treated each listing as a separate entry and then averaged the scores between the two. That meant the company, overall, got credit for America's Tire's higher-than-average Trustpilot reviews and Discount Tire's higher-than-average Trustpilot and Consumer Affairs reviews.

Discount Tire also has an A+ BBB rating, though neither company name has accreditation listed. On its BBB profile, Discount Tire is quite active in replying to consumer reviews and complaints, so the company appears invested in its customers. Whichever branch of the nationally available tire service center's reviews you look at, there are positives and negatives, but having higher-than-average consumer reviews was uncommon in our review.

Although author opinions weren't factored into our methodology, I would personally recommend America's Tire since I've had good experiences there. It's reassuring that our ranking backs up that recommendation!

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Goodyear tires are known for their affordability, even the high-mileage options. Not only are they easy on the wallet, but Goodyear is one of the most-recognized tires out there, and that might be why it ranked so well in our evaluation of tire service companies, earning a three overall.

Goodyear's parent company, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, was one of two BBB-accredited companies in the lineup, with an A+ rating. The service centers themselves are not accredited, however. Although Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company doesn't always respond to consumer reviews, it's clearly responsive to actual complaints, which might be part of the reason for the high BBB rating. Not every customer leaves happy, but the fact that Goodyear engages is a solid point in the company's favor.

Goodyear didn't earn a point for its Trustpilot reviews, as they were lower than the average in our review, but it did earn credit for higher reviews at Consumer Affairs. While many tire centers have limited reviews available, Goodyear had over 200. Goodyear may be one of the best bets when shopping for tires, both in terms of the tires themselves and the service center's reputation.

Big O Tires has offered tire services for decades, and you'll find hundreds of stores across the U.S. It turns out there's a reason for Big O being so ubiquitous, and it's got something to do with the service. While many of the better-rated stores on our list hit a few categories with consumer reviews and BBB ratings, Big O Tires earned a four, blowing most of the major tire service centers out of the water. 

Big O Tires is not BBB accredited, but it did earn an A from the BBB. Better-than-average reviews on Trustpilot also pushed Big O forward in our rankings, although there weren't as many reviews for this company as there were for some others. That said, Consumer Affairs has over 500 reviews and ratings for Big O Tires, and the average got the tire service company a point in our rankings since those ratings were higher than most of the other companies we looked at.

Based on our rankings, Big O Tires is the best of the major tire service companies and comes highly recommended.

To determine the best and worst tire service companies, we looked to Consumer Affairs, the Better Business Bureau, and Trustpilot for consumer feedback and official rankings.

Five categories were weighed for each business, with one point per value. Companies earned a point each for being BBB accredited, having a higher-than-average BBB review score, having a C or higher BBB rating, earning an above-average total on Trustpilot reviews, and earning an above-average score from Consumer Affairs. In the case of America's Tire/Discount Tire, each company name was tallied separately, and then the two were averaged together.

Thus, each company scored a number out of five in total, with our results ranging from zero to four. Where above or below average scores are mentioned, this refers to the averages among the companies surveyed. The average scores of all the companies on BBB, TrustPilot, and Consumer Affairs reviews were 1.3, 2.1, and 1.5, respectively.