Stealerships gotta steal

[Soup DeVille]

I still say mark your filters, to eliminate doubt.

[Payman]

You know where I go for the past few years for an oil change? My local Walmart. I bring the car in, they change the oil (Pennzoil) and filter while I shop, and for about $38, I'm on my way. I do it every 3-4 months.

[giant_mtb]

You know where I go for the past few years for an oil change? My local Walmart. I bring the car in, they change the oil (Pennzoil) and filter while I shop, and for about $38, I'm on my way. I do it every 3-4 months.

I do it at the shop. It costs me ~$30 and a 6-pack.  Sometimes I even get a free car wash!

[Payman]

I do it at the shop. It costs me ~$30 and a 6-pack.  Sometimes I even get a free car wash!

I gave up doing my own. The cost of oil, filter, the mess, bringing the oil in for disposal, and my time... fuck it. Walmart can do it while I'm shopping. I do my own brakes and the other Sunday mechanic stuff though.

[FoMoJo]

I gave up doing my own. The cost of oil, filter, the mess, bringing the oil in for disposal, and my time... fuck it. Walmart can do it while I'm shopping. I do my own brakes and the other Sunday mechanic stuff though.

I gave up doing it myself when it was too damned hard crawling under the car to remove the filter and drain plug.

[Payman]

I gave up doing it myself when it was too damned hard crawling under the car to remove the filter and drain plug.

That too. 

[shp4man]

If I took my old truck into an oil change place:

They wouldn't have a filter
They'd have to ask me how many quarts it takes
When asked if they did the lube job, they'd say "Huh?"
They'd probably kill somebody- no clutch safety switch
Where's reverse?
Dude, 1st gear is like reeaaaly low, huh?

So I do it myself.   

[r0tor]

That looks like a demonstration area to show what happens to filters over time. I don't doubt that they tried to stick it to your wife but I don't think this picture is the smoking gun.

She pointed to 2 of them as being what she was shown that were from our Jeep

[12,000 RPM]

I gave up doing my own. The cost of oil, filter, the mess, bringing the oil in for disposal, and my time... fuck it. Walmart can do it while I'm shopping. I do my own brakes and the other Sunday mechanic stuff though.

Just get an oil drum. And then pour it down your nearest storm drain (just kidding don't do that)

[93JC]

Brought my son's Pontiac G5 to Canadian Tire for an oil change, Rick the manager is a friend of mine. He got one of the kids to do it, and afterwards I asked to see the old oil filter. He fished a standard screw-on type out of the trash, and I said that wasn't it. I told Rick, and he rolled his eyes. The G5 (and Cobalt) use an element filter. The kid was made to redo the work, and it was done for free. The idiot couldn't find the oil filter, so he didn't bother to ask or change it.

[BimmerM3]

One problem I have with working at dealerships is having to sell such stuff. I sold service by the factory manual....not some crap made up by Wynn's.

My manager always tried to get me to do similar stuff when I worked in fast food (i.e. "Welcome! Would you like to try our NEW [insert food item]???") . They called it "suggestive selling." I always refused other than, "would you like a meal or just the entree?" because half the time the customer really did want the meal and just didn't say it, so I considered it to be a legitimate question.

[Payman]

Are you clapping because I was able to put Rick and rolled in the same sentence? 

[AutobahnSHO]

The army DIY garage is so awesome!!

[Payman]

The army DIY garage is so awesome!!

Yeah we have an auto club on base with hoists. Handy for the bigger jobs but I haven't made use of it in a few years.

[93JC]

Are you clapping because I was able to put Rick and rolled in the same sentence? 

No, just the story in general of a kid showing you a spin-on filter when the car takes a cartridge. Don't get cocky, kid.

[SJ_GTI]

I gave up doing my own. The cost of oil, filter, the mess, bringing the oil in for disposal, and my time... fuck it. Walmart can do it while I'm shopping. I do my own brakes and the other Sunday mechanic stuff though.

I do my own currently because its easier to do it in my garage rather than driver somewhere else to do it. Plus I can do other things (listen to podcasts or music) while I am doing it. But yeah I agree it isn't much of a money saver (unless you also hussle to always get your oil on sale, which I don't always do).

[12,000 RPM]

I just don't trust those super fast lube places, due to shit exactly like this. If anyone is going to lunch my engine, it's gonna be may

[Eye of the Tiger]

You know where I go for the past few years for an oil change? My local Walmart. I bring the car in, they change the oil (Pennzoil) and filter while I shop, and for about $38, I'm on my way. I do it every 3-4 months.

I'll just say that I worked at a Walmart Tirenloob for a few months, and I quit because they were so incompetent. The number of new engines they had to buy for screw ups just had to kill any profits. There was no dishonesty, just stupidity.

[MrH]

The Accord I take in to a dealership. S2000 I usually do myself.

My wife takes her to the Hyundai dealership.  They treat her really well there, so I'm good with it.  That's the only thing I like about her car: the service at the dealership is really good.

[FoMoJo]

I'll just say that I worked at a Walmart Tirenloob for a few months, and I quit because they were so incompetent. The number of new engines they had to buy for screw ups just had to kill any profits. There was no dishonesty, just stupidity.

My reason for avoiding quick lube places was that too many drain plugs got stripped.  It doesn't need to be tightened with something equivalent to a breaker bar.

Living in a small town, I found a local mechanic who I could trust.

[Eye of the Tiger]

My reason for avoiding quick lube places was that too many drain plugs got stripped.  It doesn't need to be tightened with something equivalent to a breaker bar.

Living in a small town, I found a local mechanic who I could trust.

Don't get me started on the wheel studs and lug nuts. All yoi have to do is start the threads by hand, and use the right size socket.

[Raza]

Check your premise. It is immoral for a business not to try to maximize return off every customer. If your wife fell for it, that's her fault; she needs to educate herself or do the work herself. That is how the market works. A business exists to make a profit—that is the most moral and logical end to any existence as profit is the only morality—and your wife and other customers like her exist to feed businesses what they need. Simple. It's your wife's fault for not knowing better.

[MrH]

I don't actually disagree with that.  I tell my wife don't agree to any charge outside of the oil change.  If she's confused, she just calls me

[Galaxy]

A german auto mag does periodic tests of dealerships with prepped cars. It is not that unusual to find dealerships charging for something like windshield wiper fluid, even though the cars gets sent in with tanks filled to the brim.

[BimmerM3]

I don't actually disagree with that.  I tell my wife don't agree to any charge outside of the oil change.  If she's confused, she just calls me

Being an intelligent consumer and holding businesses to reasonable moral standards are not mutually exclusive.

If you really believe that business are morally obligated to attempt to fuck over unsuspecting customers, then you're what's wrong with this country and much of the world.

[FoMoJo]

I don't actually disagree with that.  I tell my wife don't agree to any charge outside of the oil change.  If she's confused, she just calls me

Being an intelligent consumer and holding businesses to reasonable moral standards are not mutually exclusive.

If you really believe that business are morally obligated to attempt to fuck over unsuspecting customers, then you're what's wrong with this country and much of the world.

Although businesses are required to make money, too many have forgotten that integrity is/was an important aspect of capitalist ventures.  Too much greed has infiltrated the system over the past few decades.

[CaminoRacer]

Yeah, free market doesn't mean free from morality or ethics.

[Soup DeVille]

Well, it does; but it doesn't mean free from consequences.

Being caught trying to steal from customers is bad for business. People will freely choose not to patronize a business with a reputation of ripping customers off.

[CaminoRacer]

Well, it does; but it doesn't mean free from consequences.

Being caught trying to steal from customers is bad for business. People will freely choose not to patronize a business with a reputation of ripping customers off.

Many bad shops manage to stay in business due to lack of information on the consumer's end. The BBB is an attempt to solve that, but not very good.

[Speed_Racer]

Many bad shops manage to stay in business due to lack of information on the consumer's end. The BBB is an attempt to solve that, but not very good.

More recently, the internet has helped shift power to the consumer for better or worse. Yelp, Google reviews, twitter. Consumer problems/issues that companies could in the past brush under the rug are now easy to bring to public knowledge.