i am done with jiffy lube
 

today i reluctantly took my magnum to get the oil changed.

the last time or two i have gone they raised the prices and there is new managment.

so today i showed up at 2:40 and there was nobody there to direct me in. so i went in and the manager tells me that they close at 3. i say and it is 240. she acts like she doesnt believe me.

so she acts like she is doing me a big favor and says ok i will to your oil.

so i pull the car in and this other fellow says that i can wait in the lobby. i ignore him and so pretty soon he says it again. i say if i can't watch i will go someplace else. so he says ok, then leaves. pretty soon he asks me where did you work? i say what do you mean? he says where do you work. i say i am an architect. then i say "about 15 years ago a guy at a place like this told me my car was done and it didn't have any oil in it". he says oh, that isn't good.

the gal goes under the car and starts draining it. complaining about the plastic pan under the engine. then she says the one of the fasteners is missing, and i say the last time it was off was right here. she says ok....like as if what difference does that mean.

pretty soon the guy comes back in and says that there are three cars waiting for a change and she complains loudly. so he goes out and tells them to go away. it is 245 now.

so finally she gets it all done and buttoned up and i go to pay.

so it cost me $66 for six quarts of mobil 1 10 w 30 and a filter. for that kind of money i will do my own.

and nobody will complain about me watching.

that place won't be in business much longer.

tom w

The Dodge dealer could have probably done it cheaper.

I never started with Jiffy Lube - too many horror stories.

it used to be better.

yeah, i may try the dodge dealer.

tom w

Man, my Mercedes dealer changes my SL600 with Mobil synthetic and hand washes the car for $99! I would never go to Jiffy Lube for anything!

The worst part about going to happy lube is they don't inspect the car. They probably arent going to find anything wrong with your car cause it's brand new but if it has some miles they WILL miss things like tie rod ends and super thin brake pads.

Any car maintenance place with names that have Jiffy, Quickie, Speedy, Insta, Fast, or Jet . . . are as likely to get my business as a restaurant called "Discount Sushi" :D

No Fast Lube for me!
 

When I owned a shop, MB Autowerks, you wouldn't believe the number of Mercedes we saw that were screwed up by fast lube places. Usually, it was simple stuff like using the wrong tool to remove the drain plug which eventually ruins it.

Sometimes it was major...like draining the tranny and forgetting to fill it back up. Jiffy lube ended up paying us to install a new transmission. We LIKE Jiffy Lube!

Not long after I bought my 1998 E430 I took it to the nearest fast lube place for an emissions inspection. They wrote it up as being a BMW 5 series!

Fast lube places are fine for leased vehicles or company cars but not for anything you really care about.

Just about any indy or dealer could do it for half the price. It may take a few minutes longer, though...

What does Mobil 1 cost where you live? Where I live, the oil for my car alone is over $50/per change.

I was told that plenty of quick lube places will pull out your metal plug and never put it back; that they just reinsert their own rubber plugs.
So they don't have to bother keeping track of your original plug...


I would never ever go to any quik lube place....

Safer to drive another 100 miles until you could take it to an indy garage.


....

I really have no clue. I just use the cheapie dino stuff. Local indy charges $19 for an oil change.

When they washed my car they sent it back to me with the hoodstar crooked.. I Stood there staring at it and did not move until the service department assistant manager person fixed it...

Ever tried to replace that thing with a bottle opener?
That's what I did when I was your age...just teasing :wacko:
It came in real handy...though :D

Sure enough many of them, handling the wrench, may not know the difference between metric and SAE.

when i worked in a lube shop the new kid(we called him baby huey (he was that dumb) ) came to work with his tools and all he had was open end sae. i told him to use mine until he got some real tools. he claimed he has snapon at home:rolleyes:

I used to be an independent adjuster, and worked claims for the local Jiffy Lube franchise. They did about 50,000-60,000 oil changes a month and allowed about $1 per change to pay for "oops" situations, everything from not refilling the oil, to driving the customer's car through the overhead doors. So, there were 3 big frranchisees in St. Louis at that time, and just one of them spent $50,000/month paying for repairs/replacements. Statistically they looked great, 99.9 percent success rate, but every time they fried a Cadillac Northstar engine it turned into a $10,000 claim...the filter their book told them to use was too tall and would hang below the motor, first speed bump, no more filter.

There is a nice independent garage right down the street from me that only charges $20-$30 to change the oil on a normal car. The guys that work there are good mechanics and know there stuff. Mercedes cost more because Mobil 1 is $6 a quart but still they are cheap.

They only charged my friend $25 to change the oil on his Dodge Ram last time.

So the point of Jiffy Lube is? I'd rather take it to these guys and support local business.

........that would be the first Jiffy Lube that I've ever seen with 50-60 bays...........:eek:

(must be quite a few locations...........??)

Count your lucky stars you don't have to rely on Tune Up Masters for your automotive work.

Anybody remember those? Every few thousand miles, spark plugs, distributor rotors, caps, points, wires, carbs... in and out in about 90 minutes.

Technology sure has come a long way.

The franchisee had 13 stores when I started dealing with them, ended up with 16 as I recall, including 2 that were right across the street from each other, but were on such a busy road that taking a left turn across trraffic was almost impossible so they had them on opposite sides.

I've got a story.



It's of a lube pllace, much like a J-lube.


My girlfriend (against my wishes) took her car upto a local quick lube place (Uncle ED's...) I told her I'd do the oil/filter change. Since her schedule is hetic, I was able to in that week.

So, she go's to the said lube place.

I get the phonecall that night; It was her complaining about the cost of an oil change. This is on a small 4cyl. car (no-more than 5qts.) It costs her $45 out the door. They added on an extra $10 just for "High millage" oil (off the shelf at murrays, is the same price)




Never again.

Why would you change the oil at all on one of those?

Kidding.

At any rate, the oil change joints just crack me up. I spend a fair amount of time correcting the work of those places. They like to ruin VW aluminum oil pans.

It's self serving to say this, but I don't care: Either you should be changing your own oil or you should entrust it only to someone you'd have doing any other engine work. That's what an oil change is- engine work. Simple engine work that anyone can learn to do properly; but it is mission critical. You can cause every bit as much engine damage improperly changing oil as you can improperly replacing a timing chain. You wouldn't let the monkeys at Jlube change your timing chain would you?

only with me watching 10 feet away. before the present managment i was on first name basis with all the guys there. the manager had my wife in class when he was in grade school.

and don't think my indie or the dealer can't f&ck it up.


tom w

Tom- There was a thread on the Forum about some kind of scam Jiffy Lube was running where a local TV station inserted hidden cameras into cars and found out the work people were billed for wasn't done.

that is why i watch.

tom w

I ALWAYS watch. The one time I didn't, I regretted it. Had a coolant flush because I needed to get rid of some oil in the engine. This was a 103 engine with a head gasket change. Well, the tech did drain it and refil it. However, what I asked for was a flush to clean out the oil. Well, 4000 miles later, the oil was back. I was pissed and still am. Asked the service writer if he thought MB coolant lasted only 4000 miles. This time I had Gilly do it. Oil didn't come back. The first tech had his signature brake flushes. Suck out the fluid, fill it up and call it done. This was at a dealership. No knock on Gilly or 210OELmotor but I watch my techs work. Those two I would trust and I watch them so I might pick up something in case I need it again. Others I watch because I want to make sure they are doing it right. I will consult WIS so I know the procedure and what needs to be done should I have to use others. For the most part, I schedule my work when 210OELmotor is working or I tell them NOT to give it to anyone else.

Man, you guys are something. When I went on a trip to Paris with my second '67 200D, about 30 years ago, I replaced the Star with one of those 'souvenir Eifel-Towers'. It was just too funny :P

Well, I never drive with the Star crooked, just for the record.

i saw a benz diesel once with a little tortoise statue on instead of the tri star. i loved it.

i even bought one with that intent but my mrs made so much fun of me i still have the tortoise and have never had any fun with it.

tom w

A lesson I learned long ago is to support the local guy. (I ran an automatic transmission shop and competed against the national guys.)
The franchise people do not need repeat business because the national advertising pulls them in--they want to hammer you hard just once, and never see you again.
The local guy relies on word-of-mouth and repeat business; he is )usually) a member of the community and cannot afford a bad reputation.

good point.

trouble is my indie is a 15 minute drive and they won't do it while i wait so it is time consuming to take it there for an oil change.

i would rather do it myself.

come to think of it i may start doing that anyway.

tom w

When you think about it, changing your oil is serious engine work. Would you trust the JiffyLube meatheads to do engine work on your car?

hey....no need to rub it in.

tom w

LOL

tom w

Around my neck of the woods ALL of the lube guys, franchise and indy, are members of the community... I've had good results with all.

In the bigger cities, nobody can hear you scream!

buckwheat,
Next thing you'll be telling us is that there have been discussions on " Which is the Best Oil for my Mercedes...?"

HEY, HEY,
Don't insult monkeys that way...!
They can more likely, be trained to change oil the right way, a lot easier than the morons, who change it at JIFFY LUBE, and places like it.

is that you kamil?

tom w

Oh by the way.

I noted a jiffy lube today on my way to muncie and the place i am fed up with is actually a "Quicky's Quick Lube".

I don't think I have ever actually frequented a Jiffy Lube.

Tom W

I just went to Jiffy Lube. Didn't hurt at all. I have 4 gals so I don't want to screw with it in the winter. I made sure they did not use anything on my drain. I gave them the drain tube and watched them insert it. When it was done, They gave it back to me and capped it by hand. Next, they took off the filter and they tightened it. I finished the tightening by myself since with the Powerstroke you have to tighten it till it can go no more or it will leak. Watched them fill the oil I brought it to the right amount and paid them and left.

Well then, that explains it............Jiffy Lube is a professional outfit...........;)

Yes, but professional what?

By god does he have an imagination!

he may be the next hemmingway!

tom w

Which one?

There is the writer and the playmate http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9607/02/hemingway/index.html

i was thinking the one with the whiskers.

tom w