Many auto companies now resort to the practice of selling new cars without spare tires, giving drivers instead repair kits or sometimes nothing at all.

Many buyers do not bother to check on the spare tires and only discover the missing tire when they have a crisis with a flat or a damaged tire, often in the middle of nowhere.

I have test driven a new premium car in Italy that had a flat tire half way to its destination.

When I found no spare tire I telephoned the company — another car was dispatched to complete the journey. Had this been my own car I would have been stuck in a foreign country to arrange for another tire.

The tires were supposed to be run-flat.

Thousands of drivers in Britain have complained about this issue and many have resorted to buying their own spare wheels to store in their vehicles for peace of mind. Repair kits are not useful in all cases when there is damage to the side walls of the tire — a damage that can happen for driving – unaware – on a flat tire for a few kilometers.

All the assurance of car manufacturers about the quality of new tires and their “run-flat” capabilities are not enough to give assurance to drivers especially if they have a problem in the middle of nowhere with no mobile telephone signal. Some drivers now insist that their next car should have a spare tire or there is no purchase.

The problem is not as rare as thought by many car buyers. Last year, 94,000 drivers called the RAC (Road assistance organization in the UK) after being left stranded without a spare wheel. This was three times the number of the year before.

The RAC is just one of many road assistance services in the UK. A driver can wait for hours for assistance instead of changing his own wheel in 15 minutes.

The crucial question is: why do car companies resort to this practice? The answer is “money!” Companies save about $150 per car which translates to millions of dollars for mass produced models. Companies say: no spare makes the car lighter, saving fuel and the environment.

But in reality the saving is so marginal and can be less than $10 per 10,000 kilometers in the Gulf region.

If drivers insist on buying cars that have spare wheels, car companies would reconsider this practice.

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— Adel Murad is a senior motoring and business journalist, based in London.

Email: [email protected]