Editorial policy

The rule behind every page on UsedTireShop: publish only what can be traced to a source, show the source, and say plainly when something is not known.

Where shop information comes from

• Map listings. Public map listings found through web search supply each shop's name, address, phone number, map point and website. We never copy their ratings, reviews or opening hours. When the shop's own website shows phone numbers and the listing's is not one of them, the shop's page shows the website's number, links the page it is on and gives the listing's number too.
• Shops' own websites, quoted. We read a shop's own website (its home page and a few pages such as services, prices, hours and contact), respecting its robots.txt. Every line we show about what the shop sells, charges, offers or when it is open is copied word for word from that site, with a link to the page and the date we read it. Software picks the lines; it does not write or rephrase them, and before a page is published each line is checked again against the saved text of the page it came from.
• Sources for the tools. The tire tools rely on federal regulations (the Code of Federal Regulations and the Federal Register), for one example of a state rule the California Vehicle Code, and tire makers' own published pages (Michelin, Bridgestone, Continental, Pirelli, BFGoodrich, Falken, Nitto, Mastercraft) for load index and speed rating charts, age guidance, coin tests and size guidelines. Each page quotes the passage it uses and links it, with the date we read it. Chart values are checked against the saved source page; where two of a maker's own charts disagree, we leave the value out rather than pick one. Everything else is arithmetic, shown on the page.

When a shop counts as a used tire shop

• Its own website says it sells used tires, in a line of at least three words such as “new and used tires” or “quality used tires starting at”. A line about tire disposal or recycling, or one that says the shop does not sell used tires, does not count.
• Or its business name says so (“New & Used Tires”). Such shops appear in the finder and on state pages, marked as listed by name, without a page of their own.
• National and regional tire and auto-service chains, and franchise networks (rent-to-own tire stores included), are not listed: a chain's website speaks for the chain, not for the store.

How we read a shop's website

• When a business lists several locations on one page, we quote only the lines that belong to the location we list (its own address block), and never a page about another of its locations.
• When the website gives two different opening hours for the same day, we show neither schedule and say so: call the shop.
• Promotions (“free” offers, deals, specials, rebates, coupons, anything time-limited), customer reviews, questions, headings cut off mid-sentence and blog labels are never quoted.
• A business whose website says it is a mobile service only, with no shop to visit, gets no page and no directions.

Which pages search engines see

A shop gets its own page only when all of these hold: its own website says it sells used tires, in at least one line of 6 or more words or with a price; its street address, ZIP code, phone number and website are all known, and its street address also appears on its own website; its website does not say it is a mobile service only; its website gives at least 2 more kinds of facts we can quote (one consistent schedule of opening hours, a price, at least 2 services, or the tire brands it carries); the quoted lines other than opening hours add up to at least 60 words (a long line counts as no more than 25); it is not marked closed; and we read its website within the last 400 days. Every other shop appears only as a row in the finder, without a page.

A state page is offered to search engines with at least 10 shops that have pages, in at least 2 metro areas, and a town page exists only with at least 5. A page whose text or list of shops is 80% or more the same as a broader page, or whose shops are 80% or more on another page that search engines see, is kept for visitors but marked noindex.

What we do not publish

• No invented prices, hours, ratings or reviews, and no placeholder listings.
• No star ratings and no review text copied from other sites.
• No paid placement. Shops cannot buy a listing or a better position.
• No safety verdict on a particular tire: the tools compare markings with the published rules and makers' guidance, and a tire professional should inspect any tire before it goes on a vehicle.

Corrections

Anyone can report a mistake by emailing contact@usedtireshop.org. We check each report against the shop's own published information and update the listing and its checked date when the change is confirmed. Details, including how shops can ask for removal, are on the corrections page.