Short answer
Check the licence first — tyre shops need a licence for some work and not other work. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 3,289 Australian tyre shops in this directory, only 13.6% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 18.9% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Tyre Shops handle new tyres, puncture repairs, wheel alignment and balancing, rotations and wheels. This is what to check before you drive in, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
Tyre Shops are licensed for some work and not others
Tyre fitting is part of motor vehicle repair, which is licensed in some states and not others. The things that make a tyre shop good are mechanical rather than regulatory: the right load and speed rating for the car, torque wrenches rather than rattle guns on the wheel nuts, and a date of manufacture on the tyre that is not years old.
There is no national licence register in Australia — each state and territory runs its own. The regulator for your state is listed at the bottom of this guide, and checking a number takes about a minute.
What 3,289 Australian tyre shops actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For tyre shops:
| What we checked | Tyre Shops | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 13.6% | 21.5% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 39.1% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 18.9% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 82.9% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 79.5% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 115 | 39 |
What goes wrong with tyre shops
- Tyres fitted with a lower load or speed rating than the vehicle requires
- Old stock sold as new — the date code on the sidewall is the tell
- Wheel nuts over-tightened with an impact gun, which you discover on the roadside
What to ask before the work starts
- Are these the correct load and speed rating for my car?
- What is the manufacture date on the tyres you are fitting?
- Is alignment included, and will you torque the wheels by hand?
A tyre shop who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median tyre shop in this directory has 115 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the tyre shops are
Melbourne (135), Brisbane (110), Sydney (98), Perth (90), Adelaide (65), Logan (54). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best tyre shop in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do tyre shops need a licence in Australia?
- Sometimes. Tyre fitting is part of motor vehicle repair, which is licensed in some states and not others. The things that make a tyre shop good are mechanical rather than regulatory: the right load and speed rating for the car, torque wrenches rather than rattle guns on the wheel nuts, and a date of manufacture on the tyre that is not years old.
- How do I check a tyre shop's licence?
- There is no national register. Each state and territory has its own regulator — NSW Fair Trading, the Building and Plumbing Commission and Energy Safe Victoria in Victoria, QBCC in Queensland, Building and Energy in WA, Consumer and Business Services in SA, CBOS in Tasmania, Access Canberra in the ACT, and the NT Government. Search the licence number the business gives you on the regulator for the state the work is happening in.
- What percentage of Australian tyre shops have a verifiable ABN?
- 13.6% of the 3,289 tyre shops in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a tyre shop have?
- The median tyre shop here has 115. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare tyre shops near you
3,289 tyre shops, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
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