Our Oil & Filter Service V. Theirs

John’s Auto Repair Oil & Filter Service V. The Quick Lube Service Outlets.

We Have Been Doing 20 Minute Oil Changes Before Quick Lube Franchising Ever Existed.
The other day I decided to take my car to a quick lube place for an oil and filter change, to be able to compare it to my 20 minute oil change.

The first thing I noticed is that they don’t employ A mechanics, but then again they don’t have to, they are only doing oil changes.

Next thing they did was to try to upsell the type of oil they normally use for better quality oil; I declined it, thinking to myself why they don’t sell better quality oil to begin with like we do.

The quick lube technician showed me my air filter and said it needed replacement. I explained to him I had just changed it six months ago, and it looked pretty clean to me, he agreed and said maybe you change it at the next oil change, he then approached me with my transmission dip stick and a white rag to show me how dirty my fluid was, and that it needed to be serviced. I also decline this service knowing that my transmission fluid had recently been changed. He then approached me again to sell me a cooling system service which I also declined.

My 20 minute oil change took 40 minutes and, they never checked the air on my tires. The cost was $40.00 with tax. The next morning I noticed an oil stain on my driveway, we put the car on a lift and found that the oil plug was loose.

So what I found out by doing this is that the skill level of the technicians, was at the bottom of the scale for our trade, but they are trained for selling additional work. He forgot to check the air on my tires, one of the most important things to do at this type of service, they didn’t check my brakes or my front end, they can’t rotate tires if needed because you drive over a pit, so the car is not put on a lift where a mechanic can walk under the vehicle from bumper to bumper to be able to perform a visual check on multiple systems.

Our $30.00 oil change is done in 20 minutes by an A mechanic without all the gimmicks, always checking the front end, brakes, belt, hoses, cabin air filter, engine filters, tire rotation and air on tires.

Oil changes are the perfect, logical time to inspect the several points just mentioned. Anyone who maintains their own vehicle knows this to be true. If your mechanic does not do this while under your car hood then I believe he is simply not concerned with your safety.