Snow tires already in demand across Ontario

It might be the looming threat of winter or it might be the snow we have already seen.

In any case, about eight people a day are getting snow tires put on their vehicles at Windsor's Kipping Tire & Automotive.

Anthony Falkingham, an automotive service technician and licensed mechanic, said the wait at this point for this service is usually no longer than a day or two.

But the demand can increase as the winter nears and Falkingham said it can then be harder to get the tires you want, depending on what is in stock at that point.

"It is better to buy them earlier,"he told CBC News in an interview.

Bob Bignell, the executive director oftheOntarioTireDealersAssociation told CBC News that dealersacross Ontario have been having trouble keeping up with demand for winter tires this month.

Even so, the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada reports that Ontario retailers have been stocking up ahead of the winter driving season.

The trade association says that winter tire shipments for the January-to-September period were up 25 per cent in Ontario over what they were in that same period a year before.

And it is predicting that winter tire usage will increase in Ontario given that insurers will be required to give discounts to drivers who put these tires on their vehicles, as of Jan. 1.

Less cross-border shopping

With two border crossings in Windsor, many residents consider picking up their winter tires state-side if they believe a deal is to be had.

Two years ago, CBC News found that several Canadians were purchasing tires in the U.S. when the Canadian dollar was worth much less than the green back. Today, the loonie is trading at about 75 cents US.

As a result, local automotive professionals say they believe their customers are now more likely to pick up their snow tires closer to home.

"By the time you are going over there, waiting, coming back, paying duty, it's about the same [cost],"said Falkingham.

Falkingham said that he knows of some customers that bought their tires in the U.S. in the past, who are now choosing to pick these up in Canada.

"It saves time, really. You're not running back and forth to the States,"Falkingham said.

And Bignell said his dealers haven't heard of many people shopping for tires in the U.S.

Chris Thomson, the service manager at Service Maxx on Walker Road in Windsor, said that his company used to purchase their tires from a wholesaler in Detroit and then sell them to their Canadian customers.

"It worked out quite well until the change in the value of the dollar and then we stopped doing that,"Thomson told CBC News in an interview.

Now they are purchasing these tires in Canada, just like they are hoping their customers will do.