Who charges it
- Imposed by
- the dealer, as an optional product
- Legal status
- Optional — never required to buy the car or get the loan
- Negotiable?
- Yes — typically removable from the order
- Attention level
- medium
Dealer add-ons
Tire & Wheel Protection
Road-hazard coverage for tires and, sometimes, wheels. Value depends on the vehicle's tire and wheel cost and on cosmetic-damage coverage.
Negotiable: Yes — typically removable from the order
Benchmark range
$300–$700
typical $500
Premium vehicles with low-profile tires may justify more
- Carlarity operator benchmark (starting hypotheses from the 2026-09-07 brief, cross-checked against dealer F&I menus) — F&I ancillary product starting ranges (secondary source, accessed 2026-09-07)
The report pre-fills $599 for this line as a catalog starting point you can overwrite; it is not a market benchmark.
Why it matters
Road-hazard coverage pays for tire and wheel damage that auto insurance usually does not. It is worth more on vehicles with expensive low-profile tires and alloy wheels, and less on an economy car with inexpensive tires.
What to ask at the desk
“Please show the per-incident limits, whether cosmetic wheel damage is covered, the term, and whether the plan is cancellable for a refund.”
What Carlarity evaluates
- Classifies the line as tire & wheel protection from its name and aliases, and the fair price depends on the vehicle.
- Compares the quoted amount with the benchmark range above and states any potential excess as a range, never a point estimate.
- Adjusts the benchmark for the vehicle segment (luxury, truck, ev) before comparing.
- Flags the line for contract review: the coverage terms, exclusions and cancellation rights decide its value.
- Keeps government, manufacturer and lender charges out of the negotiable total by construction.
Reading this page
Legal and expensive are two different questions. An optional product can be entirely legitimate and still cost more on the buyer’s order than the same coverage elsewhere; a low-value item can be fairly priced. This page tells you what the product is, who is charging for it and what a fair range looks like. Your report judges your actual quote against that range, as part of the whole deal.
Benchmarks are market ranges from the sources cited, not exact prices, verified 2026-09-07. Nothing on this page is legal or financial advice. The product’s contract terms decide its value on your deal.