Research commissioned by Auto5 shows that 63% of drivers choose tires based on price. 33% look for the best deal by comparing options online, although only 24% buy them online. Auto5 warns that focusing solely on the cost of new tires isn’t always the best long-term choice.
The Auto5 study also says 65% of drivers are willing to pay more for better quality, safety, and longevity. This means price has become nearly 10% less important since 2024. Moreover, choosing a less expensive, independently tested mid-range tire isn’t the same as choosing an unsafe one.
Safety investment
New tires are expensive, so it’s wise to compare prices. However, everything depends on your driving profile. How many kilometers do you drive, and what kind of routes do you cover? Under what conditions?… These are questions you, as a driver, should ask yourself.
According to an ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club) comparative summer test in 2025, which tested 18 summer tires for braking on wet asphalt, the best and worst tires differed by almost 17 meters under the same conditions.
The cheapest tire is not necessarily the most dangerous, however. ADAC’s 2026 test revealed that the relatively inexpensive Chinese Linglong Sport Master performed exceptionally well on wet roads but struggled with dry-road handling and tire longevity.
That is why evaluating the whole tire, not just the price or a single performance characteristic, matters. Independent tests repeatedly show that performance differs substantially between models, not simply between price segments.
So are all-season tires becoming a safety problem?
According to the German tire trade association BRV, all-season tires became the country’s best-selling tire category in 2025. Auto5 also reported a 30% increase in all-season tire sales in 2025.
ADAC’s July 2026 test reported that eight of 16 tires were not recommended, including five rated deficient. Their 2026 winter-tire test found that ADAC did not recommend nine of sixteen small-car winter tires.
Some tires carried the three-peak mountain snowflake symbol, indicating that they satisfy the applicable winter-traction requirements, yet still performed poorly in ADAC’s broader winter tests. Legal compliance does not guarantee good all-round performance.
What about other countries?
Comparing tires and pricing across neighboring countries is difficult, but some national inspection data offer interesting insights. In Flanders, 76% of tested cars had incorrect tire pressures, mostly too low. This indicates a maintenance issue, not necessarily unsafe tire purchases. A shift toward postponing necessary maintenance or using tires that perform poorly can be dangerous.
In the Netherlands, tires rank sixth among the ten most frequently recorded defect categories. Across 9.5 million inspections, 21.5% of cars had significant or dangerous defects. In Germany, 10.45% of inspections identified major defects involving axles, wheels, tires, or suspension.
Only France’s statistics are more specific about accidents associated with bad or worn tires. France’s national road-safety observatory, ONISR, reports that tire wear and blowouts are relatively uncommon factors in recorded accidents, but are disproportionately represented in fatalities.
Belgium is not alone in facing problems with tire maintenance and condition. However, these figures do not show whether Belgian motorists buy cheaper tires more often than their neighbors.
Motorists increasingly have to balance affordability against a tire market in which objectively measured safety differences remain substantial.
