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I'm surprised more people don't choose to have a reputable mechanic shop change their oil. We do an average of about 20 oil changes per day, having one of five bays dedicated almost exclusively to that. We're a little cheaper than the quickie shops, use quality products, and people have a real mechanic working on their car, rather than a chain-smoker who's working on his GED. We're low key & low pressure about everything, which is one of the reasons our customers keep coming back.
Where's your shop? Probably too far away for me.
I have not had good luck finding a shop like this. Although granted, I haven't dug around exhaustively, and haven't searched recently. Feels like it's time to mount a new search.
I'm surprised more people don't choose to have a reputable mechanic shop change their oil. We do an average of about 20 oil changes per day, having one of five bays dedicated almost exclusively to that. We're a little cheaper than the quickie shops, use quality products, and people have a real mechanic working on their car, rather than a chain-smoker who's working on his GED. We're low key & low pressure about everything, which is one of the reasons our customers keep coming back.
They SHOULD do this. But most independent garages are slightly off the beaten path. And they don't advertise nor otherwise make it known they do a while you wait oil change.
The only reason people go to Jiffy Lube is convenience. That have no idea how bad the work is.
I have not had good luck finding a shop like this. Although granted, I haven't dug around exhaustively, and haven't searched recently. Feels like it's time to mount a new search.
Minneapolis. It's only about 900 miles for you. I see no problem here.
They SHOULD do this. But most independent garages are slightly off the beaten path. And they don't advertise nor otherwise make it known they do a while you wait oil change.
The only reason people go to Jiffy Lube is convenience. That have no idea how bad the work is.
You're right. JiffyScrewed is convenient. But in fairness to them, individual shops will vary, depending on their management. Even so, any good employee quickly becomes manager of an individual shop, and if he's a good manager, he quickly goes elsewhere - usually somewhere not affiliated with JL.
Also, a lot of independent shops aren't interested in doing oil changes, and for a lot of reasons. Mostly though, they view it as a waste of time. And I can understand that, though I don't see it that way. My "pure net" hovers right around or a little under $5 per oil change, plus I keep the used oil (we heat our shop with it). Doesn't seem like much, but it's more than a janitor's salary for the year...
Location: Butler County Ohio and Winters in Florida
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Jiffy Lube
JL did destroy my sister's Mazda RX-7s engine. They left on the old gasket and put the new filter right on top. She got about 2 miles before it lost all of the oil.
The Quick Lube places can be good, but they like the tire chains are pressured to up sale all the other things they sell. And like almost any place, they can screw up. The simplest auto labor operations like the oil change if done improperly can cause the most damage, almost makes me wonder why some places perform the service.
I have done the work myself, I have gone to the tire chains, I have used a few independants, but always returned to the dealer. I feel like they have more skin in the game and if a problem arrises has the resources to make things right. Also over the last few years their prices on oil changes and other basic services were priced the cheapest and they use the OEM stuff. I also have negotiated some repairs with the service manager. They are looking for business and worked with me, and again they use OEM parts.
The reality is that no shop can stay profitable offering just $15-20 oil changes. The materials, labor, liability insurance, utilities, rent are just too much. They either have to to upsell you on useless services like fuel injector cleaning, or they have to charge much more for oil changes. Most quicklube places rely on the former approach. Full-service shops and dealerships have the luxury of getting revenue on other repairs so they don't rely on $15 oil changes to survive
It's not just Valvoline that doesn't check everything they claim to have checked. I have experienced this all over the country at all kinds of oil change shops. I've seen these shops repeatedly not check the battery, transmission fluid, wiper blades, coolant, you name it.
I've also noted that most of these employees don't even know how to lubricate a chassis. Most of my cars are older and do not have sealed ball joints, tie rods, etc. They don't make any effort to find all of the grease fittings. I've gone back to doing my own oil changes and lubes. It's not worth the hassle to have to constantly teach these guys and ladies how to properly perform an oil change and lube.
Their "computer" showed an oil fill level way over what the owners manual states for a VW Passat V-6. Fortunately I overheard them shouting to one another how much oil they were going to add after draining. Stopped them and showed them the owner's manual. Wheww...could have done damage.
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Jiffy Lube
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