My girlfriend and I took her Hyundai to a place here in California called Big Brand Tire or whatever. We brought it in to do a tire rotation and to get an oil change. We also mentioned if they could check the rear turn signal bulbs as they were not working. They told us it would be about an hour wait for the service.

About 45 minutes had passed and we asked for a status update. The lady at the register (who was not a mechanic at all) gets a status check. The 'mechanic' comes out and tells us that the rear blinkers weren't functioning and they couldn't fix it. Uhh WTF? I already told them they weren't working!!!!

We proceed to walk out to the car where I immediately notice the tires had not been changed at all and I tell him they were not changed. He then tells us, "Oh, I did not know you folks wanted a tire rotation."

So my girlfriend ended up paying $20 for absolutely nothing. No service was done to the car at all other than telling us the rear blinkers weren't working, EVEN THOUGH WE BOTH ALREADY KNEW THEY WEREN'T WORKING and had asked if they could fix it, then to do so. But to see that she was charged just for them to tell us it doesn't work when we already knew is absolute bullsh!t.

 

What about alignments? i dont think any of us are going to try to do an alignment with a couple of strings and a ruler. Is the dealer the only safe bet on that? I had a crap job done for $50.

 

Generally, unless you know someone who works at a shop with a good machine and non-hack alignment techs. A lot of shops in order to make their bottom line will rush alignments, not do them at all - do them wrong, or break parts in the process of doing them. Don't expect to pay $50 for a good alignment. From what I've seen $100-200 will get you a good alignment at a dealer. At my dealer we charge $199, but we use a state-of-the-art laser alignment rack, manufacturer specific software and if the car needs no adjustment we only charge you $50.

 

I had a '98 Passat that had just such a bellypan. Was travelling a lot for work & decided to kill time one evening while in another city by getting a LOF at a Jiffylube/Valvoline type of place (forget which). They told me that they were unable to change my oil because they couldn't get to the drain plug due to said bellypan, and actually turned me away. I guess that's better than them having cut it!

 

Haha. Shows how smart those quick lube places are. At least they turned you away, and didn't charge you for it.

 

There is one shop in this town that everyone takes there cars to for alignment and front end work that always gets things right.... The same guy has been doing the work there for years, is well paid and well respected because of the quality of his work.... There are numerous repair and tire shops in town that excel in one thing or the other and the people are quick to tell you which one to go to for the service or repair that needs to be performed on your car.... It is one of the advantages of living in a small town.

 

A former co-worker of mine in NJ had an awful ordeal with Midas. he took his car to the shop to have his tires rotated and while they had it up on the lift, they said he needed new CV Joints. He told them that he'd check it out and contact them if necessary but it was not currently in his budget. The next day, he heard some grinding and loud noises so he took it to his local mechanic. both CV Boots were CUT. There were no cracks at all like a failing boot would show but just nice smooth cuts.

Unfortunately, there are businesses that do things that are shady. Most individual techs (even at budget friendly shops) don't care about doing bad stuff to your car as the company would make the profit, not them and they honestly don't care about the company they work for. Most lousy techs are that way due to lack of experience, training, or motivation, not because they want to do harm to your car. (That mandatory oil change video really isn't overly useful.) companies that care about the quality of work will put the time and effort into making sure that their technicians are well trained. The other side of that is that in order to have well trained people, you have to spend the money on training and that gets passed along to the consumer. In turn, as FITProject stated, the consumer gets skilled quality work done.

~SB

 

Very well put. Interestingly enough the CV boot story happened to one of our customers. A long-time customer who usually has services, repairs and alignments done at our dealer (but oil changes at a Valvoline) brought her car in after visiting a Sears Auto Center, where they told her that her outter CV boots on the front were split and leaking CV grease everywhere. She had 4 tires mounted and balanced at the Sears, but brought it to us to have the CVs checked out and an alignment done. Well, turns out we replaced both FRONT AXLES (due to CV joints being damaged) no more than 20,000 miles prior.

After having a few techs look at it at my shop it was apparent that they have sliced the boots - but not in between the folds as they normally split there. No. The idiots cut the boots with a razorblade across 2 folds on each side.

A good amount of shit went down after that, involving insurance adjusters comming out and looking at the car - and the Sears actually paying for replacing the boots.


It's unfortunate, but just like paying for a good electrician, plumber, carpenter or mason - the places that charge more generally have a reason to.

 

I definitely checked the oil that they put in after they rotated my tires and the oil was clean. Also, they put in the right amount, which is a sad thing to worry about when that's what you pay them for.

 

Although that's how it is, that doesn't mean that's how it should be. You don't need to have any amazing training to do an oil change, and if you're a mechanic, you sure as hell better know how to do it, and do it right, regardless of how little you're getting paid because that's your job.

 

This is part of the problem... with one stop shops, there is very little knowledge about the car that they are actually working on. One car might have a certain torque spec for the filter and another for the drain plug, one car might require a replacement washer at the time of the oil change while another doesn't. These one-stop shops that work on every car under the sun don't know that this one bolt should be this tight and this other bolt should be.... and so on. Is hand-tight good enough? Probably for oil but what about wheels and tires? How much is too much? (warping of rotors due to over-tightening...) Good service shops & Dealers have access to this type of information where BillyJoeJimBob at "Fred's Eat here and get gas" quick lube doesn't. At this point, we have all service done at the dealer because with a 3 yr old, I don't have time to change my own oil. (and it is damn cold here now). I could go to the local shop but with the oil change intervals on the fit (and the Ridgeline), why woudn't I spend just a little bit more and get it done by Honda?

~SB

 

Again, perfectly put. Since the general public often has no idea why quick lube shops are a bad idea. Part of the problem isn't bad intentions - just greed for the bottom line and underpaid, underexperienced techs working on unfamiliar cars. Not every car is simple as pulling the drain bolt, unscrewing a filter and adding oil.

 

Last time I went to Midas they tried to tell me my calipers were bad, and if I did not let them replace them, they would not do the brakes. I informed them that it was still under warranty, and that Chevrolet would take care of that after Chevy inspected them. They immediately changed the pads and turned the rotors with no further questions. ( I took it to the dealer, and they laughed. Said the calipers were just fine. They lasted another 40,000 miles before finally giving up.)

 

I think not only Midas or Jeffy Lube are doing these types of things. A friend of mine works for a Mazda dealer. He told me that if a car came in for warranty repair. The dealer puts refurbished parts and claim for new parts with Mazda. It keeps new parts for resell.

I will use dealer as my last resource. I will try to fix everything myself before taking my car to a dealer. Furthermore, I usually ask for part replacement and put it myself (as much as I can) for any warranty service.

 

Got my old truck oil changed at a exxon oil/lube shop a few years back and when I got home to check the work I found their oil filter wrench sitting on top of my battery. If the damn thing had slid into my belt or fan blade and then got tossed out I might have never known what caused it! Then a month later when I went they did a oil change when I asked for an inspection!! Never went back...I still got their wrench though

 

My girlfriend had an oil change at a Toyota dealer a couple months ago. The technician forgot to tight the oil plug. The plug came out and drained all motor out from the engine. Her car broke down on I-95 after left the dealer for 30 minutes. She towed back to the dealer and got a new engine rebuilt. It was too obvious that the car without oil plug and it was 15 miles or 30 minutes after the oil service. Now I do almost of services for her except warranty services.

 

Can't say that I've seen any catastrophic mistakes at my dealer, but keep in mind shit does happen. Catching it before it goes back to the customer is the key idea. I always road test most of my services 1 mile before putting it in to be washed and returned to the customer, just as an "in case" provision.

 

Can you make THAT kind of commitment after only 3 months?