I heard zombies prefer Quick Lube.
I know this is a zombie, but here’s my quite similar story.
Years back, I had a girlfriend who had a Jeep Cherokee. She took it to the dealer for regular service.
I happened to look at the bill one time, and saw a charge for servicing and changing the oil in the transfer case.
My ex had what was, as far as I know, the only two-wheel drive Cherokee in existence. And this was at the same dealer who sold her the car.
Ha! Caught you! You’re one of those scummy bait-&-switch Midas employees aren’t you.
Know what gave it away? I’ve yet to meet a 'lected [del]orifice[/del] official who knows anything about brains, including their cost.
I really don’t understand it, but I’ve gone to my local NTB/Tire Kingdom for the past four years, always a different service tech/manager on duty. In addition to NOT upselling me, the frequently tell me I don’t need things that I thought I might need. Recent example during an oil change+tire rotation combo: the tech went to the trouble of rolling in one of my tires, showing me an embedded nail near the side wall, and saying “keep an eye on the pressure on this one”. Never once suggesting I replace the tire.
I replaced my rear brakes and rotors by myself today. The rotors were 30 a piece the brake pads were 19. I’m not a professional and it took me about 2 hours. If it was only brakes done by a pro on all 4 wheels and assuming a 100 percent mark up on brakes, I figure a conservative estimate would be 20 for parts and an hour labor. I don’t think 80 dollars is realistic, I don’t know why they advertise that.
I think it varies by whoever is running it. I’ve been using a particular Meineke which is not the closest one to my house (Central NJ) for 25 years because they’ve been extremely honest over the years. You can’t imagine how many times I’ve brought in a car with a strange noise or some other symptom and been told it doesn’t need anything - or that it needed some very minor adjustment that they fixed for free.
If the guy who has owned it all these years ever sells it, then I would have to reconsider.
[Similarly, there’s an old transmission guy a few miles from me who never advertises, and didn’t even bother replacing the sign on his building when it fell down, and the world has beat a path to his door. Several times I’ve brought cars to him and he goes for a ride with me and tells me that it doesn’t need anything, or that it has a small leak - on that ocasion he filled in some transmission fluid, told me to keep an eye on it and didn’t change me anything.]
Did he at least suggest getting the tire fixed?
Or putting nails in the other three tires?
When I first moved to Colorado, I had to call a tow truck for a blown tire on the highway. The guy who showed up was an independent tow driver, not affiliated with any of the shops. So I asked him if he could recommend a good car repair place. He did, I’ve used them ever since and am happy with them. But he also told me, whatever I did, never ever go to a Midas. Since he was right about the mechanic he referred me to, I presumed he’d be right about Midas, too, and have never tried one here.