My car is 3 years old, and I have faithfully taken it to the dealership for all maintenance, because it’s a lease and I wanted to have no issues upon turning it in at lease end if I decided not to keep it. The nearest service dealership is easily a 25 minute drive, so this has always been rather a pain in the ass. However, they have always been good with reminding me when I’m due for certain mileage-related service, and because they’re super-knowledgeable about my car, being the dealership and all, I feel I can sit back and rely on their information/reminders/suggestions about my car’s needs.
Now my warranty is up and I’m planning to keep the car after the lease ends, so I’m not sure it’s necessary to continue the long trek to the dealership. I’m thinking “why not find a local place to do maintenance from here on out?” But the question is: will I now have to keep on top of what kind of mileage-related maintenance is needed for my car myself, since somebody at a generic garage isn’t going to keep on top of this stuff for me? (I’m thinking of stuff like the “grade card” I get from the dealership when I get an oil change that tells me how things are looking and when I’m getting near some kind of maintenance investment, like new tires, or brakes, or timing belts, etc). Knowing myself, that just sounds like something I won’t stay on top of. And then there’s the whole question of finding a reputable place. I may pay more at the dealership, but I have felt that they’ve been pretty fair, and if I had a complaint, I know there’s a service manager that has the auto-maker’s reputation to uphold. I just don’t know how easy it is to find a local place that I can trust to be fair, reasonably priced, and committed to keeping me happy.
So, stay with the easy yet inconveniently located dealership relationship? Or go through the pain of finding a local place that will help me stay on top of my car’s upcoming needs (if such a place exists?)
What do you think you’re required to do to keep up your car? Oil changes and your 30/60/90K checkups should do it. There’s not much else you really need to do, and it’s all in your owners manual. When you get your oil changed just leaf through the schedule and see what’s next on the list.
I guess I figured that garages that do oil changes on cars just do that—oil changes, and that they don’t do “full-circle inspection” type stuff on your car to let you know of anything that’s amiss. Or do they?
Speaking as the bookkeeper for my son-in-law’s auto shop, I would suggest that you have no hesitation in using a good independent shop for all your maintenance. By this I mean a shop offering full service - ask around, word usually circulates quickly if somebody cuts corners.
The competent shops will warrant their work as well as a dealer will. And they spend thousands of dollars a year keeping their technical manuals, for all the makes of cars they service, up-to-data. (I know - I write the checks each month.) This information is all on computer now, and updates constantly. And the independents should cost you considerably less for work than at a dealer.
Check the wall back of the counter. You will prpbably see a bunch of certificates attesting that the technicians have received this or that training. These aren’t just window dressing.
There are competent general repair garages that suit your needs. My advice is to develop a relationship with one. Quick-lube places are convenient for oil changes, but they tend to oversell the services they do provide, while not being able to provide all the services you need.
Go to iatn.net and use the Shop Finder to find some places that are convenient. The sponsoring members (both shop sponsors and individual sponsors) are worthy of consideration - these are the good guys of auto repair. Some of the shop sponsors have info on their iATN webpage, but for many of the sponsors you’ll have to look up the address and phone number in the phone book or on Google. Some shops send service reminders, which you would like, so ask if that’s something they do.
There are lots of good general repair shops out there. Find one. Look for the ASE logo, or IATN or ASC logos, these guys tend to give back to the industry.
Do you self and your car a favor and stay the hell away from quick lube places.
Besides IATN (a great resource), you can also go to www.extremewrench.com and search by car line and zip code. When you do find a good shop, use them. Don’t visit once or twice and then split.
Great info- thanks all! Yes, I definitely want to stay away from the quickie places.
It’s funny. I’ve pretty much stuck to dealerships for service for enough years that I couldn’t really remember the last time I went to a regular auto repair shop. So as I was reading these posts, I finally remembered my last experience at one of those places: It was the day after Christmas (probably 15 years ago) and I was terribly ill with a cold and my car wouldn’t start. So I had it towed to this repair shop nearby. They told me I needed $2000 of work done. I wanted to die on the spot—of fever and shock. I didn’t even have 1/4th of that much money in my savings account (I was a lot younger and poorer), so I just told them I had to have it towed back to my house. A concerned co-worker who was a car-geek offered to look at my car and discovered that I needed a $65 switch for the fuel pump (or something like that). He put one in and my car drove for another good 30,000 miles until I sold it.
Wow, that memory was buried deep. I think I have post-traumatic repair shop aversion syndrome!!
Anyway, I’m checking out these links and I’m already feeling more confident. Thanks again!
My buddy, the ex dealer mechanic and also ex independet shop owner would say that a dealership is a great place to spend more and get less than a good shop. Ask around for a good shop
When I need an oil change ,I go to a Minute Lube or something like it. I just get lubed. I but nothing else. It works fine,is fast and reasonably cheap. They only oversell if you chose to over buy. Just say no.
Check your manual; there’s really not a lot of stuff that happens between the major intervals. You really don’t need full circle inspections most of the time. On most modern cars you could change the oil every 5K and take it in for the 60K and 120K and be fine. A lot of what happens during that time is checking stuff that rarely has problems, and if it does, you’ll notice.
I’m not saying to ignore things, but bringing the car in every 15K or even 7.5K is not doing much to keep your car in good working order.
But even places like Jiffy-Lube will do most of the checks. I don’t trust them much, a local garage will do all that for only a few bucks more.
For the love of OG, please don’t do this. Iffy lube and their ilk hire the least trained and frankly dumbest people out there. Besides over selling they quite often destroy peoples cars. Cite, cite, cite. (3 of over 344,000 for Jiffy lube +damage) Back when I was a tech I had a customer that had Iffy Lube change their oil. They sold him a rear axle oil change (not needed) they drained it but neglected to fill the damn thing. Twenty five hundred dollars later (1989 prices) he had a new rear axle.
sorry I have to disagree with this. Problems do occur and the driver does not always notice them. Just today, I had a car in that drove just fine, no complaints. When put in the air to change the oil we found that both front tires had tread separations, and would fail soon. Customer had no complaint, and the trained technician noticed no irregularities during the test drive before the oil change. But when he spun the tires to check for nails (something else Iffy lube can’t do cause they use a drive on system) he found exposed steel belts on both front tires.
I brought the customer down and showed her the problem. Her response? :eek:
Again I would disagree with this. Dealerships often have the best trained technicians, and use factory parts. A dealership tech that only sees one brand of car is probably pretty good on that car. A generalist may know more about a a bunch of different cars, but may not know as much as the dealership guy about your car.
Factory parts may cost more than other brands of parts, but then again the quality may be way higher than a cheaper substitute.
If you’re willing to drive down to South Redondo, I can highly recommend our service station and car guru, Sam, at the Select station at PCH and Torrance. Their gas is really expensive, but Sam’s service rocks. If you decide to give them a try, either let me know and I’ll call Sam and tell him I’m sending you, or when you get there, ask for Sam and tell him Jill and Thomas sent you.
Good luck!
Oh yeah. . .
(310) 372-2474
246 S Pacific Coast Highway,
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Sam’s awesome. We take our car in every December for routine maintenance (we use synthetic oil so it doesn’t have to be changed as frequently). When we pick it up, all the old filters and parts they took off or out of the car are lined up, along with all the empty boxes and bottles from all the new products they used on the car. He’s plugged tires for me at least twice and refuses to charge me. He’s driven me to work, or picked me up from work on multiple occasions, when I’ve needed to leave my car there for something during the week.
Of course, we’ve been long-standing customers, but if you start going there, you can build a relationship, too.
The former owner, Gary, sadly, died in his sleep about 6-8 months ago. His wife used to cook all these yummy Armenian dishes, and I couldn’t get out of there without eating something! He’d almost literally force-feed me! His adorable sons are working there now.
You know what—I’m willing to give Sam a test run! I just need my oil changed (& basic look-over)—would you mind calling him and telling him I and my 05 Mazda 3 would like to meet him? Then I’ll follow up with a call to him shortly thereafter.
Will check it out!