I understand your argument on gas. But I find the comment about tires to be curious. I literally will not buy tires anywhere else.

Costco:

- Often has a lower price on tires than other stores (particularly when they run a brand specific sale)

- Includes free installation

- Properly torques lug nuts/bolts

- Includes road hazard warranty

- Properly patches tires when you do have a service issue

Those are the highlights...

I've heard Discount Tire prices are almost comparable.

The main issue is scheduling and tire rotation. From every person I know who's used it, it's typically a 2 hour wait. The notion of "leave car, do shopping, pick it up" doesn't work. All other places do rotation really, really fast.