A few years ago, car tyre inflators were the sorts of gadgets reserved for your geeky neighbour or uncle, but they’re now breaking into the mass market – and that’s happening for a number of reasons.
The Increasing Price Of Air
The first one is the one that applies to virtually anything – the cost! They used to be quite pricey, but now you can often get really good air compressors from under £30 – thanks to some great models being imported and sold on Amazon. As you’ll know from looking at our site – we love Amazon, they’re brilliant for delivering to your door for free (if you’re a Prime member that’s often the very next day too!).
At the same time as the cost of inflators has fallen, the cost of using the garage forecourt is rising. There was a time not so long ago where forecourt air was free to pump up your tyres, but more recently that’s become more and more scarce.
If you’re unlucky enough to need to inflate them at a motorway service station or other ‘premium zone’ like near an airport, you’re a captive audience and will find yourself needing to feed the machine with pound coins. It’s not going to take long to save yourself money buy carrying a compressor around in the boot!
Better Safe Than Sorry!
Yes, of course it’s a cliché, but if you find yourself needing to pump up your tyres somewhere remote, it’s not always obvious where to do so. It’s also something few of us think about until it’s too late – but if there’s the constant reminder in the boot when you look at your trusty tyre inflator, then you are more likely to think to check them more often and at a time when you’re safer to do so – not least on your own driveway in broad daylight.
That’s got to be better than on the hard shoulder of a motorway or at the side of a country lane in the dark after the light springs into life on the dashboard. Which brings us nicely to our final point…
Technology Reminds Us To Stay Safe
All new cars now have some form of tyre pressure monitoring. Some are direct with devices attached to the tyres or wheels, other simply monitor for changes in the number of revolutions each wheel is doing to detect pressure decreasing. However your car does it, you’ll find out with that visual warning we mentioned a second ago, and probably an audio alert of some sort too.
That means we know faster than we used to that we’ve got a problem, and therefore head to inflate our tyres sooner too. That’s a great thing for safety, but it also means more visits to pump up tyres. Garage forecourts are the obvious place to do so, and we’re all familiar with the queues that can build up to use them.
So, between cost, safety and technology advances, car tyre inflators have been getting more and more common for the average driver to invest in, so if you’re yet to buy yours, check out our recommendations on the homepage.
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