I am glad you are okay! Thank goodness for AAA.

I was surprised when a friend picked up a rental SUV that had 170k miles on it. They rented because they were worried about taking their sedan with 120k miles. Things turned out okay, but that was a shocker. The last rental car I got had 4 different tires.

Yeah, they are actually eliminating spare tires now. Ridiculous. This is a good reminder to also make sure that if your car does have a spare, check the air once in awhile. No help to have a spare if it's also flat.

I know how you feel. It's really disappointing that they are eliminating spare tires and even donuts on many new cars. I had been driving full size SUVs for 20 years and they all had full size spares. With the kids out of the house I looked at getting a new mid-size SUV and when I discovered the one I wanted had the 'inflate-a-tire' kit that had to be connected to your car battery to inflate I immediately crossed it off my list. The one I have only has a donut but I think that's better than the kit.

Yikes! A good lesson to check for the spare, especially when you'll be traveling outside of a large city or on the road. Was this a major car rental company?

It's not the car rental company, it's the manufacturers. With a few cars you can get a spare as an upgrade, but mostly they are gone completely on mid-size or smaller cars, and on some larger ones, too.

IIRC, you don't get one with a Tesla S, just a round thing that looks like it might be a teeny tire but is actually a case holding a set of adapters for using other manufacturers charging systems. But I sure didn't see anything like a spare in there anywhere. I believe that if you want one, you have to buy a full sized tire, and they don't recommend carrying one.

I'm glad you're safe, neetsiepie.

I keep a "real" tire for a spare in the back of my Matrix. It's a real pain and takes up space, but I feel so much better knowing it is there. A flat can be a real nightmare.

That was one of the main reasons I got rid of my fairly new Bmw and bought a newer Audi. The Bmw had "Run Flat" tires and no spare. You were supposed to be able to drive a certain # of miles on a flat, which might or might not work out ok. And since Bmw dealers are few and far in between and most tire shops don't carry replacements for those in stock, I always felt really anxious when on the road away from home. I put one of my winter tires in the trunk a few times, but it filled the trunk.

I think this should be a safety issue with some govt regulations requiring a spare tire. I think the pressure to increase gas mileage has them removing tires because of the weight.

Wow, what an ordeal! Hope you get full reimbursement from the car rental company.

We have USAA so I've never really worried about changing a tire myself - I did learn years ago when I got my license, but I'm sure I couldn't remember now! I also live in a very suburban/urban area and typically don't drive anywhere that doesn't have cell phone coverage. I got a flat tire one night a couple years ago on my way home from my book club, only a few months after getting a new SUV. I knew it had a spare, but didn't pay much attention to its location though I knew it was underneath my car. Dh, of course, was out of town, my kids were home alone (oldest was 13) and I hadn't planned to be gone past 9:30. I didn't realize I had a flat at first, but knew something was wrong, so instead of taking the highway, I pulled into a complex of restaurants, condos, etc where I knew people were around. I ended up having to wait an hour for the USAA contractor to arrive. Then when he did, it took him forever to get my spare out. To prevent theft, There was a special tool just to unlock the lug nuts that I had no idea was necessary though was in my glove compartment. Even he, a guy who does this for a living, had to pull out the instruction manual to figure the whole thing out. It took him more than an hour. I didn't get home until 11:30, and realized there is no way I'd ever have been able to do that on my own!

thanks for the reminder to check on spares in rental cars. I rarely use rental cars but just took a college tour trip with my dd and rented a car. Stupid me didn't think to look for a spare.

My 2014 Optima doesn't have a spare. I recently replaced one of the tires (long story, but it had a miniscule slow leak) and kept the one that was taken off so now I do have a spare. I do have free roadside assistance from Kia, though. Should I have a blowout, I can either call them - or, because I now have a spare, change the tire myself.

I'm sorry this happened to you. The only blowout on a rental I've ever had was in Cornwall, on a tiny and remote lane. It was not a pleasant experience.

Neetsie, glad you were able to get to a safe place and have the tire replaced, but what a headache.

I had no idea that some cars don't come with spares. I had a flat tire in my driveway a couple weeks ago and would have been stunned to not find a spare, although I had never looked before. I doubt fix-a-flat would have done anything for that tire since I'd picked up a huge nail. Guess I'll hang on to my Honda just to have a spare tire.

That's really scary! Glad it worked out ok. I had no idea that some cars no longer come with spares. I know that many come with those tiny almost worthless spares, and the first thing we do when we buy a new care is replace that with a full-sized spare tire. PITA, since the space allotted is usually too small for a full sized spare.

In the past I've paid extra for a full size spare wheel that matches the other wheels on the SUV. It works out well too, if you ever scrape the rims on one of the wheels, you can then switch it with the new and matching spare.

I checked all the options when I bought my current SUV last year and the towing package included a full size matching spare.

I've never thought to check for a spare on a rental, so this thread is a good reminder.

It's bad that spare tires are not mandatory. I've changed a flat tire a few times and was thankful to be on my way. What are you supposed to do when it's late and everything's closed. What if there was an emergency. I'm glad you were ok but this puts women at risk unnecessarily and I hope more people complain.

Thanks for the reminder about checking for spare on a rental car.

olychick - DH thought I'd like a BMW SUV but when I researched the run flats I quickly eliminated it. You're right about the dealers not having them and many of the local chains don't stock them either. The worst part is the price to replace a tire. For safety reasons it's recommended that you try to keep the same mileage on all your tires, second best is to maintain the same mileage on pairs of tires. So if you have to replace one run flat that has 15,000 miles on it you should also replace the tire on the other side of the car. And BMW's tire insurance policy doesn't cover that so it's out of pocket money.

A few years ago I sold my 2 year old Porsche Cayenne because it only had the inflate a tire kit and to use it you had to connect it to your car battery to inflate the tire. I had visions of standing on the side of a dark road at night in the pouring rain trying to change tires. It was something I worried about when driving through the rural areas around our other home in the mountains.

I replaced it with a MB SUV that at least has a donut and I not only have a dealer about 8 miles from my home but there's also a dealer about 15 miles from our vacation home.