The following is an article from The Sunday Times March 27, 2005 and has been slightly edited to make it more relevant to Topgear.

Britain’s biggest tyre-fitting chain is amongst the most expensive places to buy some popular tyres, despite it’s advertising. A survey conducted by The Sunday Times found that Kwik-Fit, which has always used the slogan “Always cheaper. Guaranteed”, charged up to 120% more for certain types of tyre than outlets in the same area.

The findings are surprising given Kwik-Fit’s reputation for value for money. We contacted five Kwik-Fit outlets in London, Berkshire, Newport in Wales, Edinburgh and Manchester, then compared their prices for the same two popular tyres with independent dealers in the same area. In every case the independent retailers were significantly cheaper.

The two tyres we chose - a Michelin and a Pirelli - were for a range of mid-sized saloons and coupes including the BMW 3-series and some models of Volkswagen Golf, Ford Mondeo, Mercedes E-Class and Vauxhall Vectra.

For one tyre, the Michelin Pilot Primacy 205/55 VR16, Kwik-Fit charged on average 50% more than local dealers. For the Pirelli P6000 205/55 VR16, Kwik-Fit quoted on average twice as much.

The biggest discrepancies in price were in the South of England. In St. John’s Wood, North London, Kiwk-Fit charged ?149.99 for the Michelin (Topgear charge ?89.10 - a saving of ?60.89 or ?243 per set of 4).

In Bracknell, Berkshire, Kwik-Fit charged ?130 for the Pirelli tyre compared with ?70.54 at Topgear. The pattern was repeated across the country.

Kwik-Fit is by far the largest tyre retailer in the country with more than 1000 outlets throughout Europe and 670 centers in Britain out of an estimated 7,500 tyre dealers of all types. In 2003 it turned over ?854.6m.

Mike Wise, the managing director of Kwik-Fit, says his company regularly checks more than 4000 tyre prices across Britain to make sure its prices are competitive. However, he admits that on this evidence the checks aren’t working as well as they should.

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