I got sick and tired of all the upsell crap from these kinds of places, let alone the outright lying I’ve encountered. We use a local small shop exclusively now. It may cost $50 instead of $29.99, but they have never cheated me. I knew they were trustworthy when I took in a very old vehicle and asked them to look it over and tell me what it needed. They said everything was fine and they just did oil and lube. I’ve used them for a dozen years now.
Granted, I’m not out of there in half an hour, but we have an extra vehicle and they’re close enough to home that it’s not a huge inconvenience for us to do drop-off/pick-up.
A cousin was driving down the freeway and the oil pressure light came on. It was losing oil. After checking he found that the old gasket had stuck on and the new filter was put on over it.
A. He did this himself.
B. He had recently worked at a local gas station/garage doing oil changes.
I’ve always assumed that the people at these places are like this and do it myself. And I’ve always double checked that the surface is bare and clean.
This happened to me years ago, not long after having the oil changed at a quick oil/lube place. Before I could get off at the nearest exit, the engine seized and was a goner.
The worker at the quickie oil change place had put the new filter on so loosely that oil spilled out while I was driving.
The quickie oil change company agreed to fund purchase and installation of a rebuilt engine, which died about a year later.
I’ll never take a car to one of those places ever again.
I agree that you have to watch out for the upsells. I also agree that some workers at those places are lazy or dishonest.
But here’s the thing–millions upon millions of people patronize those shops. If those places were as bad as some of you think, there would be a nation-wide epidemic of vehicles prematurely dying. But instead, the average age of vehicles keeps going up and up.
The last time I went to one of those places (Jiffy Lube?) years ago, they neglected to make sure that the oil pan plug gasket was intact. I drove home spewing oil everywhere and didn’t realize it until next morning when I backed out of the garage and saw the puddle under the Jeep. When I took it back to them, they tried to claim that they didn’t do it (!), but grudgingly replaced the gasket and the lost oil.
I go to my local Valvoline and have done so for about 20 years now. I’ve never had a problem with them.
Yes they upsell but I find them easy to decline. I’ve also been able to keep 2 (now 3) cars out of the shop for 20 years by agreeing to their maintenance upsells on occasion.
I’m sure they’re like The Worst Thing In The World OMG I Spit On You for anyone that has the space, time, knowledge and inclination to do their own oil changes and maintenance. But for those of us who lack any or all of those things, a local oil change shop where you’re a regular customer is a great way to take care of your car.
It’s just that it takes less time and you can be sure you’re getting the correct oil, a better filter and save money. I don’t have hate on those who go to the quick lube joints. It’s a matter of personal preference.
It just saves time (including travel and potential waiting time) and a few extra bucks.
Order your stuff online and do it yourself whenever you need it or have time, it can take you about 20-30 minutes. Warm up/drive car to operating temperature, park, put on jack stands pull drain plug, unscrew filter. Put drain plug back in, put filter on, add oil. Sure there are very simple nuances to the other maintenance things they upsell you, like bleeding air when changing steering fluid (probably only needed twice in a cars life, if people do it at all) or coolant. It’s the same principle otherwise, usually minus a filter. Faster and much cheaper in the long run.
I’ve changed the oil in both my truck and my car myself.
Couple problems with that:
I’ve mostly lived in apartments where that sort of car maintenance is forbidden, often in writing in the lease.
I currently live in a residence where my landlord actually WILL tolerate DIY car repair in the parking lot, but I don’t own jackstands.
If I did own jackstands, I wouldn’t have anywhere to store them when not using them as I live in an apartment and have no garage, storage shed, etc. and indeed am trying to downsize the amount of other stuff I have.
most of the driveway/parking space at my building is either gravel or dirt - if I did want to use jackstands it would require coordinating with the other tenants to monopolize the bit that is concrete and safe for jack use.
It takes me longer than 20-30 minutes to change the oil in one of my vehicles, based on actual experience.
I have occasionally had a real hassle properly disposing of used oil. As I have a well on the property for my drinking water I’m adverse to just dumping it on the ground, basically shitting in my drinking water. For that matter, I have a deceased tire I can’t seem to get rid of because I replaced it myself instead of having a shop do it and get rid of the tire for me. It’s annoying.
I don’t go to the Jiffy Lube type places, though - I have two mechanic shops (each has slightly different expertise) where I take my vehicles for oil changes and other routine maintenance because they’ve kept my vehicles running reliably for many years and I can trust them to tell me about anything else they spot, and to also reassure me when something doesn’t need to be done immediately (currently, I’ve been told that while my pickup battery is OK I should replace it before winter. And the guy said didn’t care if I did it or someone else did or if I brought it back to him … probably because he knows he’ll see me again sooner or later for something maintenance related). So… not as fast as a Jiffy Lube, or as cheap, but no upselling and faster than I could do it myself. And a lot less hassle. One of the two shops lets people schedule a time slot, so I’m often in and out in a half an hour to forty-five minutes. The other one is more haphazard, but since he’s literally across the street from where I live I’m not stuck in his waiting room, I just walk home and he calls me when its done.
Back when my spouse was doing the vehicle maintenance I think he went to a Jiffy Lube type place one or twice over the years. We never had any harm from it, but really, we’re fortunate to have a good relationship with a couple mechanics.
The first time after I took my car to a quick lube instead of the regular mechanic for an oil change, something went wrong and I had to take it to the mechanic, who said something about making a prayer that he could get it back the way it was supposed to be. I got rid of that car a little while later for other reasons, and my new-to-me car (bought it off an acquaintance’s lease) I take to a dealership for regular maintenance, using a coupon they send. It’s not the dealership I bought it from either, it’s the one I took it to for my first oil change which had been already paid for as part of the lease deal and the car had been “turned in” early. So I’ve never had to pay the rack rate at the dealership, and they never try to upsell me one bit. On the contrary, they even replaced something for free after they quoted me a price for the oil change that included synthetic oil, and when I pointed it out, he looked into it and was apparently genuinely surprised that I didn’t take synthetic; so when something came up that needed attention, he didn’t charge for it apparently because he was worried that they would be seen as upselling because of the initial misunderstanding. So for all the stuff that I’ve heard about getting ripped off taking your car to be serviced at a dealership, the Toyota one I go to seems to be the exact opposite of that, and I’d never consider going back to a quick lube place even if I might save a few dollars.
actually the local lube guy we go to saved my aunt about 500 dollars because the dealer wanted that for a repair and he fixed it for just the part costS which was $15 because her son was a good customer
hes one of a very few places in my area no one complains about ……….
All Fords suck. My neighbor had a Ford, and it had transmission issues, therefore they all suck. My other neighbor has an Aston Martin. I never, ever hear people complain about Aston Martin. Those must be good cars!
Kind of the same thing, here, except you’re talking about oil changes.
This. Either change your oil yourself or take it to someone who you trust. Most of the quick change places give the young people they hire minimal training and supervision. They know they will rarely get called on any problems and, if they do, they can say, “it wasn’t us!”. A local mechanic with who you are a regular customer is likely to make sure things are right, even if they make a mistake, since it is their business.
I change my own oil. If I need it changed when I can’t, I’ll take it to a local mechanic. I have little confidence in the quick-change places.
At the places I know anything about the employees don’t last long. They move on to better jobs like the guys I knew, or they move on to the next Quik-E-Lube down the road. I think the main reason any of them get fired is for being too honest and not upselling a lot of useless or downright fraudulent service and repairs.
The biggest problem is the unnecessary work they con people into. They’re counting on drive-in business, not customers returning because they did a good job.
My experience with dealerships has been mixed. The Ford we bought our truck from never tried to upsell us. The Toyota one, though… it wasn’t the mechanics, it was the salesmen who’d try to corner you and talk you into trading in your car towards a new one. No, I like my car very mu-- BUT YOU WANT A NEW ONE, RIGHT? No, I like not having a car paym–LOOK, IT’S GOT THESE OPTIONS! The mechanics would actually sometimes have a hard time getting a word in edgewise to talk to you about your car re-- HOW ABOUT PINK INTERIOR, YOU LIKE PINK, RIGHT? ::: vomits :::: My spouse would then mention my aversion to pink-washing and tell the salesman he pretty much just lost any possible sale. After which the salesman would start badgering him and five minutes later there’s be another one after me. It was like dogs following bitches in heat. Except we weren’t bitches and we kept trying to shake the “dogs” off our legs while they were trying to hump our shinbones.
1000% agree. People tend to torque them so hard the gasket splits, or just can’t do its job effectively.
However, there are filters built with a hex head specifically mean to be wrench tightened, but the picture OP supplied clearly isn’t one of them. Why someone would then use one anyways? A mystery for the ages…
I kind of agree. However, if you live in the United States, I’m sure you can find an independent mechanic who will do a better job, for less. The Valvoline by my house charged me $54 for an oil change, on a 4 cylinder. The only reason I agreed was because I had to have it done that day.
My mechanic charges $15, if I bring the filter, and that way, I know he’s actually going to use it. I’ve caught Jiffy Lube twice putting the filter I drove in with back on. I had put my initials on it with a sharpie, and the employees at Jiffy Lube never even touched it.
When I was 21 or so, I had an MG Midget. The plugs needed changed frequently, I was poor, so I did it myself. Three plugs were OK to reach, but the fourth was a pain in the knuckles.
I splurged once and had a tune up done by a real mechanic. The next time I changed spark-plugs, I found three were one brand and was a different brand.
