Once upon a time, everyone in Manitoba drove all year long on the same old tires. Late one year, perhaps sometime after Autumn, snow began to fall. The roads became slick and cars began to slide off the roads. Not all of them. Just some. It was chaos.
OK, it wasn’t total chaos. We’re pretty good drivers up here, you know? But the situation was still less than ideal. Particularly for the drivers in ditches.
Manitoba Public Insurance saw this was happening and set out to find out why–and more importantly–how they could fix it.
They quickly identified the problem: Winter tires and associated costs are expensive and a hassle… It starts with the tires. Sometimes you need rims, studs, alignment. It costs money to put tires on, it costs money to take them off; where do you put one set of tires when you’re using the other?
It’s no wonder anybody was bothering with winter tires.
MPI set forth to create a program that would allow everyone to afford snow tires. The solution: The Manitoba Public Insurance Winter Tire Program.
Nope, the name is not particularly catchy but the program works and it’s pretty simple. You can get a loan for up to $2,000 per vehicle to cover snow tires and associated costs including switchover and storage. They’ll even cover rims!
Interest is a mere prime plus 2 percent. That’s a really great deal, and you get up to 4 years to pay it off so payments are low. For the safety of your family, you really can’t afford to not take advantage of this program.
There Are Some Limitations, It’s the Government After All
You must be a person. (Sorry Business.)- No financing restrictions or outstanding arrears on your Manitoba Public Insurance account.
- Must be purchasing tires for a passenger vehicle or light truck
- You must be buying tires from Snowflake Mountain. (Seriously. At least, we think that’s what that logo means. The tires have to have this logo on them.)
What Do I Need to Bring With Me When I Get My Tires?
Your dealer should take care of figuring out the right tires and your eligibility. You’ll just need to bring a couple things:
- Vehicle registration certificate and your driver’s license or identification card
- Choice of financing term between one and four years and a monthly payment withdrawal day
- The choice between using the existing banking or credit card information on your Manitoba Public Insurance account
- Phone number and preferred Autopac agent
- That’s it. You’re good to go.
So, are you excited about new tires (and rims!) or what? You can read more about the program at the Manitoba Public Insurance website or just let us take care of all the boring technical paperwork.
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