got an oil change today and it was not pleasent

[bmonee5]

I charged my g/f's sister $20 to replace a bulb on the clock once. The bulb itself was $15.

a license plate bulb was 1.39 from my local parts store and took about 1 minute to change. Now some other bulbs are more expensive and take a little more to change out so its understandable.

 

[adsm08]

It was one of the bulbs from the Sable front light bar. that wasn't even our retail price, I got them to sell it to her at our cost from Napa, no markup.

 

[Kona]

Comparing basic maintenance and diagnostics is like comparing GM and Ford's financial pictures, not same except you are still working on cars!

 

[yodaman1151]

i've worked behind a parts counter for over a year and a half now and there is 2 jiffy lubes and valvoline within a couple miles from us. in my time there i've had 1 customer have jiffy lube forget to even put oil back in the motor and another customer where they didnt tighten the drain bolt and it fell out... no complaints from valvoline YET, and my uncle only lets them touch his cars and he is a 20 yr ret. mechanic. my g/f's mom borrow my dakota for a cross country trip and i told her to change oil before and after she left. she took it to jiffy lube. i changed the oil myself the other day and found that they stripped my drain bolt... our oil change specials run each month for $13 or $17 for conventional oil and a filter, i can usually find 20 minutes to do it myself and not have to worry about it being wrong.

 

[adsm08]

Comparing basic maintenance and diagnostics is like comparing GM and Ford's financial pictures, not same except you are still working on cars!

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I'm trying to say. Basic maintenance will always be able to be done at any shop with the right tools. Diagnostics and actual repairs need to be left to the properly trained professionals.

i've worked behind a parts counter for over a year and a half now and there is 2 jiffy lubes and valvoline within a couple miles from us. in my time there i've had 1 customer have jiffy lube forget to even put oil back in the motor and another customer where they didnt tighten the drain bolt and it fell out... no complaints from valvoline YET, and my uncle only lets them touch his cars and he is a 20 yr ret. mechanic. my g/f's mom borrow my dakota for a cross country trip and i told her to change oil before and after she left. she took it to jiffy lube. i changed the oil myself the other day and found that they stripped my drain bolt... our oil change specials run each month for $13 or $17 for conventional oil and a filter, i can usually find 20 minutes to do it myself and not have to worry about it being wrong.

That's pretty much jiffy lube, through and through. As for Valvoline, I'm sure that some locations are better than others, just like some individuals are better than others. In 3 years on the lube rack at dealers I never one let a car leave with the wrong type or amount of oil, only double gasketed 3 times (all in the first 6 months) and caught them all before the car made it out the door, and never once damaged a customer's car.

On the other hand the guy that was hired to replace me... frequently forgot to put oil in cars, double gasketed every other time, and once got the brake and gas confused and ran off the end of the rack and into the oil tank, $1500 damage to the car.

@ OilPatch, as for dealerships being a scam, thank you for insulting me, my profession, school, training, and choice of particular place of employment when you obviously haven't looked into it that far.

 

[Chance]

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I'm trying to say. Basic maintenance will always be able to be done at any shop with the right tools. Diagnostics and actual repairs need to be left to the properly trained professionals.

@ OilPatch, as for dealerships being a scam, thank you for insulting me, my profession, school, training, and choice of particular place of employment when you obviously haven't looked into it that far.

+1 Most people I know need their hoods welded shut.

Also, as for the righttorepair thing, how is $2000 for an obdII connector that hooks to a pc and vehicle specific data too much for accessible information from dealers? Granted it costs another grand each year for new models, but those are generally taken to dealerships as they are under warranty...

Working at an independent shop, you can easily get away with updating your software every five years as you do not get a huge wave of brand new vehicles.

Also, simple code readers combined with google tell you all you can get from CEL's, there's no magical dealer computer that you hook up to the car that gives you extra information...

Nor does the manufacturer information system have any more information than something like mitchel.

At least Toyota Information Systems sucks.

 

[kcm1582]

@ OilPatch, as for dealerships being a scam, thank you for insulting me, my profession, school, training, and choice of particular place of employment when you obviously haven't looked into it that far.

x2

Seeing an industry push to more complex systems is one of the many reasons I chose a factory based training program.

As far as the right to repair thing, most major car companies are pretty open with their data, and companies like AllData compile it and make it available to outside sources.