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I do my own. Once in a while I may take it to the dealer if I'm strapped for time but it's very rare. I can do the oil change on my 3 sometimes 4 cars for the price that a dealer wants to do my diesel for.
My filters I order once a year online for all the cars. The oil I buy in 1 gallon bottles and I go synthetic on all but the diesel. I'm lucky that all my cars take the same weight with the exception of my diesel.
Now I dint see a issue with people that don't care to do their own. You should be able to go to a oil change place and have a quality oil change completed without damage to your vehicle. Nobody deserves to have their car damaged for any reason. Weather you're pulling in a AUDI or a Honda the techs and manager/owner should do a quality oil change.
And there is no reason to chop a persons vehicle or leave oil filters loose or strip drain plugs.
That's simply a I don't give a **** about you as a person or a customer or your vehicle. But I also don't respect myself enough to do a job correctly.
Crappy service is so prevalent that it's become normal.
I can attest to consistent quality jobs performed by walmart. It's surprising, actually.
Other experiences to note:
Jiffy lube - got upsold twice and went elsewhere.
Firestone - caused $400 of damage after improper oil change. tried to weasel out of fixing it.
Dealership - consistent for the most part but crap attitudes and long wait. once, a mechanic unscrewed the air box to change oil and left it like that. drove home with irregular noise, noticed and fixed myself. notified dealership and received 2 vouchers for free oil change (while any customer that paid msrp or close to it gets free lifetime oil changes). had to deal with the "monday" lady from office space for the whole ordeal so i should have been paid for that.
Part of it, if you can believe it, is the consistency in their workforce. There's one guy from an East African nation who has been there for 10 years. He recognizes me and I recognize him each time I come in. I have gone to that Wal-Mart for 15 years and have 6 cars that need to have oil changes on occasion.
I watch them but, it's usually 1 of 3 techs I've known for over a decade. They do good work probably because they do so much of it? I always run full synthetic and change it about every 6,000 miles. The theory being that there is no sludge build up, the synthetic oil last roughly twice as long as conventional, is exponentially better for your engine and matters if you run them like I do well over 200,000 miles, actually costs less over time, and finally, I only have to go roughly twice a year instead of 3-4 times.
What is your time worth?
I pay roughly $50 for full synthetic, give or take predicated on the price of oil at any given time and I get the time it takes to get 2 oil changes back, annually.
I've rarely ever used one of "these" places, but the few times I have, I've never really had a horror store to tell.
That being said, every time I have gone to one over the years I must say I feel I'm rolling the dice...lol.
Of course they want you to think these are "trained" folks doing the work on your car. It's a low wage job typically done by younger folks and the training isn't more than a very short time. This isn't an education like a typical certified mechanic receives, but more like a few minutes or perhaps a few hours and then watching others do the work until you're like "hey....I can do that". Is that who you want working on your car ? I've had the feeling "hey I can do that" many times in my life....and sometimes it's right before I really screw something up beyond belief....lol.
I always change the fluids at the dealer. They inspect the vehicle and replace worn out items and make recommendations. It drives like a new vehicle although 16 years old.
Since I have NO place to change my oil, I take it to a Big O Tires near me.. They have done work on my cars for about 3 years now and I am very satisfied... No problems whatsoever.. They are helpful, knowledgeable, courteous....
I usually DIY but occasionally have gone to the dealer, especially if there's a recall or some other service that needs done at the same time.
But the time I've ever had problems with an oil change was at dealers. Have seen them way overfill, leaks at the filter due to not seating the o-ring properly, along with the typical issues of overtightening the drain plug and filter. It's not a job they give to their best techs.
Do basic oil changes *really* need to be done by employees making more than $15/hr to be done correctly?
As the saying goes, "You get what you pay for." If minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since 1970 it would be around $10 or so an hour.
I had a lease car that I took to oil change places for the receipts, I go one time they'd tell me the air filter needed to be replaced. The next time (maybe 3000 miles later) a different guy would tell me it's ok.
Now I have a Jeep that I took because it was wintertime. I pull up over the pit and the one dummy starts to use the squeegee to wash the plastic windows. I was reminded the Aamco commercial where they had the guy washing the floor, "I always wanted to fix a transmission."
The lube guy was working on his two post lift as usual. He absentmindedly started lowering the front post but didn't actually release the back post. As he turned away the front of the car lowered as the back stayed put.
Can you imagine being the customer watching his car in horror! One end up and one down...teetering on the brink on falling to the ground.
Panic ensued as a tow truck had to be called and rushed to the scene.... finally supporting the back of the car so it could be lowered without falling.
...and this is but one story of many....leading me to the conclusion..."I'll do it myself, thank you.
My dad always used to change his own oil (including the Old's 98 Diesel !) and taught me how to do it. Until the time that I had no place to dispose of it. Now, I go to my indi mechanic who is a ASE and AAA recommended garage. While not as cheap as these chains, I really trust these guys as they don't try to find other stuff to fix. If anything I ask them about stuff that might need to be replaced and they say, wait a little longer. Just like having a good doctor, a good mechanic is peace of mind.
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