Jiffy Lube et al

**You meant inconvenience, right? :)

**They are always trying to sell you more stuff. Tranny flush, air filters, etc etc. I want to put a sign in the car window: NO! I didn't mind bringing my old Chevy there. My previous car, a Jetta, I only took to the dealership. I don't trust quickie places with it. My new car (as of Dec 17th), a 2005 Impreza RS wagon, I'll take to the dealership, also. The $30 oil changes will be a welcome change from the almost $100 of the Jetta dealership in Ann Arbor, MI.

kaboomie

That's funny, I never paid more than $25 for oil changes at my Subie dealer, and with the coupon it was $20.

I wouldn't want those jiffy places to touch my car.

Well considering what some dealers charge for an oil change I've almost wet myself :)

Yes, this is a classic example of what I tell my students about spell checkers.

I will have to print this and show it to them.

Thanks for the input.

I think I am going to stick with the dealer, although the dealer up here is pretty pushy about add ons, they want $600 for the 30,000 major service. I am going to cross check what they want to do against the maintenance schedule and see what really needs to be done.

Have a good day all

Jeff

**It's probably less, that amount was thrown out by the salesman at the dealership when I bought it. Were the coupons mailed to you from Subaru?

kaboomie

If same as my '03 Forester, it's a do-it-yourself job. I have ramps and do oil on both my cars, not so much for the cost savings but for the time it takes to drive to dealer and wait or leave car. If other service needed like tire rotation, I go to dealer or foreign car specialist I use - whoever is cheaper. Frank

Buy 2 cheap rollaround jacks and you can rotate your own tires in 30 minutes.

ROTO in Arlington Heights, IL (Chicago suburbs) charges $10-12 for an oil change with the filter.

A.

Untrained high-school students who don't give a damn paid minimum wage to work on my car? No way. I've heard quite a few horror stories from things happening in these quick lubes shops.

Hi,

Check around with the dealers and indy mechanics for oil change prices, and ask if they can do better if their prices seem too high. I haven't a clue what my local Subie dealer charges for an oil change, cuz I do them myself, but his filter prices are in line w/ chain store "next step up" Fram prices (the Tough Guard series???), so I'm sure he's not too far out of line for a complete oil change. And he'll install dino or synthetic at your request judging by the posters on the wall.

A buddy takes his Ford p/u into the Ford dealer cuz they'll match the Jiffy Lube down the street for price. He said you have to ask for a "price match" or they'll charge a little more, but what's it cost to ask? Some of the other local dealers for several popular makes advertise very competitive prices, too.

Now, going to a dealer doesn't guarantee nothing will go wrong, BUT you've got some recourse: my Camry was religiously taken to the Toyota dealer for oil changes by the previous owner. One time the dealer's service people managed to strip the pan threads! But a new pan was installed, no questions asked, no charge, with apologies for having to keep the car longer than expected, and the owner was shuttled to work and back. Haven't seen that happen with a quickie place.

So you can count my vote on the side of those who suggest you stay away from quickie places.

Rick

Over the years I have seen nothing to recommend the Quickie Lubes and a steadily increasing number of reasons to stay away from them. Stripped drain threads are legion (and expensive to fix), but I have also had friends and co-workers who had fluids put in the wrong places, oil drained and not refilled, and parts broken by JL and similar places.

If you are not a committed DIYer, I recommend you take it to the shop that does your other maintenance. It establishes you as a regular customer and can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars when the time comes up that you really need help.

Mike

Do you really think an actual ASE certified mechanic changes your oil at dealerships? At $20 a pop?

Dealerships have people called "lube techs", who are promoted from "parts driver" or "new car washer" positions. These folks aren't even close to a mechanic, and the examples at bad dealerships are capable of all of the same mistakes made at bad lube shops. There are good lube shops and bad lube shops, often varying widely within the same chain.

When I didn't change my own oil (on a Nissan King Cab that was an unbelievable PITA), I found a local Valvoline and a local Texaco lube shop to be very good. They allowed me to watch up close and actually did everything they were supposed to do.

On my Tacoma, I prefer to do my own with a Toyota OEM filter ($3.50 at the local dealer!) and Mobil 1. With a floor jack, I can change oil, check the other fluids and filters, and rotate the tires in less than 30 minutes. Doing my own also provides a good opportunity to eyeball the belts, hoses, battery terminals, and under hood wires.

IMPORTANT!!!

Make sure they have the little gasket that goes with the oil filter or you'll be leaking oil in the garage. My 2003 requires a gasket. Check if you need one for you '04.

Ted

Jeff wrote:

I wouldn't and learn to do it yourself: My daughter used Firestone for a quicky oilchange on her Impreza a while back.

The plug fell out soon after and blew the engine.

When complaining to their manager, he mentioned that "plugs are fine 99 percent of the time. Sometimes they just fall out". Funny, because that would leave one out of 100 of their customers stranded - we'd see cars stranded everywhere just because they had oilchanges. I am not sure what worried me more: the fact they didn't tighten the plug correctly or them having statistics on plugs falling out..

They ended up paying for an engine replacement but took some convincing.

Remco

I second the post about buying some ramps and doing it yourself. I do all my oil changes myself and it's actually not that bad!!! I haven't done any on my subaru yet, but on my previous cars, I have.

I'm actually taking my car in to the dealer for the first oil change tonight, and I'm thinking about how much of a pain it is to drive all the way out there, wait for them to do it, and then drive all the way back home. Heck, it takes me a half an hour to drive one way to the dealership (at least)....it would take me all of a half an hour to do it at home.

I'm bringing it in because I don't have any crush washers and will pick some up at the dealership. After that, I think that I'll start to do the subie on my own. If you choose to do it on your own, make sure you get some ramps and a big, round, oil catch basket. I've seen these at murray's and k-mart. This way, you won't drop the bolt in the oil and it doesn't drip any oil on your garage floor.

I've had a good experience in taking my Outback to Jiffy Lube. Been going for four years. JL charges $30 vs. $18 at my dealer, but the dealer is ten miles away w/ heavy city traffic. JL does try to sell me services I don't need, but who doesn't.

I've resumed doing it myself after many years of Jiffy Lube. I used to spill oil and ruin clothes but since discovering the Fumoto valve it's quick and easy. The last one I got with the hose bib which should help me hit the pan.

-rick-

Don't show your wife or girlfriend... she might get some ideas for INSIDE the house!

Rick (the other one)