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People trash the local 'Jiffy Lube' type places all the time, but my local joint is meticulous, same people there for years, and I get to stand there next to the car and watch: Mobil One 5W-30, my oil filter, long drain and nothing else is touched, on my '02 VetteVert that I am not gonna slide under. All my other cars/m'cycles are done by me, but for the once a year oil/filter on the Vette it's the local quick lube...
Interesting. Our local JiffyLube will not let you into the shop area "for safety reasons"..You can watch through the glass windows.
The question is really, how do you find an honest mechanic? Trial and error, word of mouth I guess. In the case of my old place, I just got lucky, went there because it was across the street from work, and they turned out to be exceptional...I still miss them.
Also be knowledgeable. If you describe the problem to them and talk more in their language, it gives you credibility that you're not an idiot and therefore will be less apt to try ripping you off. I think it helps me a lot due to the fact my car has almost a quarter million miles on it and I'll casually talk about how good of a car it is and how they only things I've done to it was the handful of things and heavily imply you do a lot of the work yourself (which I do).
Interesting. Our local JiffyLube will not let you into the shop area "for safety reasons"..You can watch through the glass windows.
I take my car to Firestone and have been back by the car before. They just ask me to wear some safety glasses. Basically they mentioned a tie rod was bad and they couldn't do an alignment. I asked them to show me and they gave me a pair of safety glasses and they clearly showed me it was bad. The other shop I take my stuff to is in my hometown and my buddy works there. When I lived in my hometown I took the stuff I didn't do myself there and sometimes if I have something I need done I'll wait until I come up there. I can walk around the shop and BS with them (it's locally owned with 2 other guys besides my buddy).
Interesting. Our local JiffyLube will not let you into the shop area "for safety reasons"..You can watch through the glass windows.
My local joint is actually named Snappy Lube, but same kind of place...
They are a 3 location mini chain in our western NC area.
Most customers sit in the waiting room, but in my 14 yrs of taking the VetteVert in for its annual oil/filter and getting our 3 cars and 3 m'cycles their state inspection, they have never asked me to 'go away'. I stand there and bs with the guys as they are scurrying around.
Waynesville, NC is a wonderful town, but things are different here, in terms of rules & regs.
GL, mD
Find a local Indie that you trust, and make it clear you aren't looking for the '$19.95 special oil change'...
Often one can roll into the local shop with an appt, they put the car up and do the oil/filter and you can view/peek at what they are doing and using.
People trash the local 'Jiffy Lube' type places all the time, but my local joint is meticulous, same people there for years, and I get to stand there next to the car and watch: Mobil One 5W-30, my oil filter, long drain and nothing else is touched, on my '02 VetteVert that I am not gonna slide under. All my other cars/m'cycles are done by me, but for the once a year oil/filter on the Vette it's the local quick lube...
Your local real Indie will probably satisfy your needs.
GL, mD
If you are taking your Vette to Jiffy lube and still servicing your other vehicles you should surrender your "Car Car" card.
No real car guy would ever use the discount lube shops unless you owned the shops. Shame on you.
It takes me almost an hr to place the ramps, slowly crawl under the car on the cold concrete floor and drop the shield just so I can reach the filter on my Coyote Mustang. I am 73 and I ain't letting any HS dropout near my car. If I owned a Vette I would be putting on white gloves to service my car.
BTW oil change every six months even though I only drive 4k a year.
I use a mechanic I have known and trusted for nearly ten years. If they want to rip me off, there are plenty of more lucrative ways to do it than oil changes. We always have something for them to work on even though I and my son do a lot of the work on our cars ourselves. With seven or more cars in our family there is always something we can't or won't do ourselves. Oil changes are one of them. By the time I buy oil and a filter $35 is not much more. Avoiding the messiness of dealing with old oil is priceless to me. It is not like you can still just dump it in your driveway like the old days. (Especially since we live on a river that supplies water to about 4 million people)
Yes, my dad and I used to change oil on our cars and it was a good bonding for us. However, you are right, with the laws and making it such a pain, I go to my indi and feel good about it. Telling my daughter in Philly to do the same with her car. Dealer was too expensive and had mixed reviews.
Getting a new vehicle and want to use synthetic for oil changes and also make sure to use factory oil filters. How do you guys prevent from getting duped? I mean, since at car dealerships you cannot see what is going on, what is to say that they charge you for synthetic and put in conventional oil in there? That is a huge profit for the dealership and they know it's virtually impossible for people to tell that they have used regular stuff.
Check consumer ratings of the dealer and then don't worry about it. You have to trust someone. Anyone could try to cheat you - your gasoline could have water in it, etc. Even if you try to change the oil yourself, what if the car jack is defective and unsafe? What if the manufacturer cheated too?
The only way to 100% avoid this is to not drive at all. Pick your battles.
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