Rohan is made up, but his August probably sounds familiar. He drives a 2019 Toyota Fortuner from Mirdif to Jebel Ali and back five days a week. One Thursday, a fuel station attendant pointed at his front left tyre and said, “Boss, this one is finished.” Rohan had planned to spend the weekend at the beach. Instead, he faced a morning of driving between garages, getting three different quotes and drinking bad coffee in a waiting room in Al Quoz.
His colleague told him to just order online. So that evening, still in his work clothes, he typed “tyres shop near me” into his phone and started scrolling. He also had a chatbot open in another tab, which turned out to be more useful than he expected and wrong about one important thing.
The chatbot got his size wrong
His first question to the AI was simple: “What tyre size does a 2019 Fortuner use?” It answered quickly and confidently, giving one specific size.
Rohan nearly typed that into the store’s search box. Then he remembered that his car had been bought second-hand with aftermarket wheels. He went down to the car park with his phone torch and found a different size printed on the sidewall.
The AI hadn’t really lied. It had given the factory size for one trim level, and Rohan’s car wasn’t that car anymore. The lesson stuck. Whatever a chatbot tells you, the door-jamb sticker and the tyre already on the wheel get the final say.
Four digits he’d never noticed
On the same trip to the car park, he took a photo of the sidewall and asked the AI to explain the markings. Most of it was what you’d expect: size, load index, speed rating. Then it pointed to a small oval near the end of the DOT code with four digits inside, “2121.”
That number is the manufacturing date, week 21 of 2021. His tyres were older than his daughter’s school shoes, and in Dubai heat that matters a lot more than the tread depth suggests. Rubber hardens and cracks with age, and summer blowouts often trace back to tyres that were simply too old.
UAE police don’t treat it lightly either. Abu Dhabi Police once issued 8,709 tyre safety fines in six months, each one a Dh500 fine, four black points and a week’s impoundment. Gulf News reported that expired tyres were one of the main causes of summer blowouts.
After that, the first thing Rohan checked on every listing was the production year. The better stores show it right there. If a listing doesn’t, ask before you pay. A “new” tyre can still spend two years in a warehouse before anyone fits it.
Comparing fitted prices from a sofa
This part, he admits, was oddly satisfying. Instead of ringing garages, he pasted three listings into the chatbot and asked for a simple table showing brand, model, price and what each price included. He told it to use only the text he’d pasted, because it had already made one confident guess that day.
The table showed him something easy to miss. One price looked cheap until he spotted that fitting and balancing were charged separately. MLG Tyres, by contrast, lists fully fitted prices with VAT, balancing, a standard valve and old-tyre disposal included, so the number on screen is close to what you actually pay.
It’s a small version of a much bigger trend. Shoppers are now handing whole buying decisions to AI tools, and these notes on how AI took over holiday shopping show how far that has gone.
The suspiciously perfect reviews
Rohan’s wife had a rule for buying a washing machine: if every review sounds like the same cheerful person wrote it, be suspicious. With AI writing tools, churning out fake reviews takes no effort at all.
So he skipped the reviews that just said “Excellent product!!” and searched for ones that named a car and a road, things like “Prado, mostly E311, 25,000 km in, still quiet.” He also read forum threads where Dubai drivers argued about which brands crack first in August. These pointers on spotting AI-generated content cover the warning signs if you want to get properly sceptical.
Plenty of choice, with some homework
He couldn’t have browsed this many options in a neighbourhood garage, which might hold a dozen sizes in the back. Online, he could compare Michelin, Pirelli, Bridgestone and a long list of budget brands without anyone hovering at his shoulder.
He ended up looking closely at Continental Tyres Dubai listings, partly because a cousin swore by them. The range ran from touring models like the ComfortContact CC6 to SUV ranges like the CrossContact LX series. Each listing showed its size, production year, and a one-year warranty.
Before ordering, he asked the seller two questions. Where do they source their stock? And who handles a warranty claim if something goes wrong? He got straight answers and kept the invoice in his email, just in case.
Fitting day
Rohan picked fitting at a partner workshop because it was ten minutes from his office. Some stores will send someone to your building on request, and for anyone stuck in a Downtown tower all day, that’s worth asking about.
He did one thing before the technician started. He asked to see the date codes on the new tyres. They were from 2026. The technician didn’t seem bothered by the question, and Rohan suspects plenty of drivers ask.
He spent the Saturday at the beach after all. The old tyres went off to disposal with the date code that had started it all, and he’s set a phone reminder to check the new ones in two years.
Related: Smart Budget Habits That Save Money Without Sacrifice
