It costs me about $80 per sensor but things are cheaper in Minnesota. Where would you conclude the repair is free? Would you conclude I got free gas if I said I went to the station and got gas?
Sounds like a rather casual action, just replace the sensor. Most customers with 15 year old cars choose to live without the tire pressure monitor, seems they have more important needs in their lives for their money.
Now, if your gas tank is low on fuel, you just stop at a gas station and fill-up. Another way to communicate that would be “you need to buy gasoline”.
That’s really silly, especially for someone selling car repairs. “That sensor will cost you $100 but your car is so old, don’t you have better things to spend your money on?”
I don’t sell the repairs. I inspect the vehicles, write the estimates and count the declined and approved repairs. It has been my experience that people with ageing cars won’t spend hundreds of dollars on tire pressure sensors.
That’s true but what is not known is if they left to find somewhere less expensive to do the work.
Just adding my own 2 cents, have you ever noticed that, “It’s always the cheapest guy who ends up spending the most”?
As others have mentioned, with today’s low profile tires it’s practically impossible to tell at a glance if your tire pressure is low but today it’s a rare bird that actually has guage, let alone regularly uses one.
So while a TPM replacement every 5+ years at $100 a pop certainly isn’t inexpensive, weighed against the cost of a tire replacement for sidewall damage caused by an unnoticed slow leak, the cost of an unexpected tow for a flat or the plain inconvenience/risk of a breakdown, the TPM cost starts looking like cheap insurance.
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Not to mention I know some people that will spend every dollar of the savings on gas driving around looking for a better deal. They have amnesia later on about that aspect… 
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+1
But, it’s worth remembering that newer cars allow the driver to check individual tire pressures with just the touch of a button on the instrument panel.
My new vehicle is my first one with that type of readout, and I was initially skeptical of its accuracy, but checking it several times–in varying temperatures–proved its accuracy. So, while I do still have my dial-type pressure gauge, I now use it only to check the pressure in my spare.
Or, they will drive to three different supermarkets to buy the one or two items that are on price reduction at each market that week.
Many years ago, I worked for a school principal whose mother insisted on visiting 3 or 4 different supermarkets every Saturday. Mom saved a few cents in the process, while her daughter used-up a LOT of gas–in addition to wasting most of her day off.
I am not going to get into this discussion because it’s getting a bit divisive… But my two newest vehicles, the Toyota and the Honda both have a TPMS “system,” but neither tells which tire is low. I use my handy-dandy tire pressure gauge to check the tires once a week… It’s a small chore that “forces” me actually look over the vehicles, check tires, check the oils, the coolant level, brake fluid, etc…
The reason I check the tire pressure each week is to preclude a tire slowly loosing pressure and since the sensors will only tell me that one is low, I would not know if it’s a “hardly noticeable leak” or a tire just minutes away from going flat…
Since I know a warning is not a slow leak, I know I need to take relative quick action to prevent a complete tire failure…
That’s my “2-cents” and I think I spent it well…
