Jiffy Lube or Do It Yourself?

[Microman]

I always do my oil and Filter change. But may be running out of time, for this little trip.

I have a coupon for a Jiffy Lube oil change at $19.95.

Anyone recommend going there, or not?

[Black]

Make sure you watch everything they do, ask to inspect your old filter, and check the oil level and check for leaks when they're done.

[PizzaGod]

I'm always puzzled when I see something like this-maybe I put too high a premium on my time. When I weigh chasing down the oil, getting the truck up on jack stands, draining it, taking off the filter (never a fun job) replacing everything, cleaning up, disposing of the oil, and then usually cleaning up again, I see the $30 or so as a bargain.

$19.95 coupon? No brainer.

[chopper]

I have all the equipment to pull oil changes and have done hundreds in my life but in the last ten years or so I've just cut the mileage by 1000 miles and taken it where convenient. Wal Mart, etc.

It's not brain surgery and the chances of them really screwing stuff up to me seem minimal.

Maybe the filter isn't the same quality as OEM but by decreasing mileage I think I'm covered.

Last summer on a local radio call in show, a young woman called in and asked if it was really true that she needed to change the oil in her car as the salesman had told her it would not need any maintenance until 40k and she's driven 27k on the original oil.

[space-time]

PizzaGod wrote:
... I see the $30 or so as a bargain.

$19.95 coupon? No brainer.

In principle I agree, but the real problem is the quite often mess up. Tighten the oil plug too hard and strip the thread, or put too much or too little oil, or the wrong type of oil. Even a Honda dealer put 10W20 when my car requires 5W20. I asked why and they said 10W20 was better. I would have though the Honda engineers know better, not the dealer. I never went back to that dealer.

So I usually don't go to the cheapest place for an oil change. I saw some Jiffy Lubes here with $17.99 coupons. The dealer mails out coupons for $21.95 and they also to a multi-point safety inspection, and of course they try to upsell you additional work but I politely refuse and change air filters and wiper blased myself and I do other work at independent mechanic (which would charge more than the dealer for oil change, go figure)

[MGS_forgot_password]

I'm only person I trust to do it right.

[cbelt3]

I've been changing my own oil for decades. But... the design of my damn Honda Civic makes me think twice.. I think the next time I'm going to look for a coupon. And, of course, resist the upselling.

I went with my father in law once and the guy tried to tell him that he was 'not allowed by state law to let the vehicle out of the garage without a new air filter and tire rotation'. My father in law was about to pay for it, and I told him to stop. And then read the weasel the riot act. I'm pretty sure I mentioned fraud and the state attorney general.

[BernDog]

I feel I'm very mechanically-minded. With everything else, I fix/repair/maintain everything I possibly can myself. I love learning new things and about the way things work and are put together. If something breaks, I see it as a challenge. Even if I can't fix it, I've learned something in the process.

That said, I have never had any inclination to change my own oil. Sure, I could easily figure it out and do it myself. My concern is twofold. First, no matter how smart I think I am, I'm still a novice. Other than my house (which is much more resilient to botched repairs), my car is the most expensive thing I own. A small mistake could cause huge problems...and it would be my fault. Second, being able to change my own oil does not make me an expert in the innerworkings of the rest of my vehicle. My mechanic inspects any number of other things that I could easily miss or just not know anything about and cause much more expensine repairs down the road.

I say pay a good independent mechanic to do what they're trained to do. The difference in price is well worth it in quality of work and my own peace of mind. Plus, if he screws something up, it's (ideally) on him to make it right (yes, I know that's a whole other can of worms, but if it's my fault, I've got absolutely nuthin').

Keeping all that in mind, Jiffy Lube-type places are the worst of both worlds. A good friend of mine even owns the local JL franchise. I've never asked, but I don't think he eats his own dog food either.

[NewtonMP2100]

......aren't the two the same thing (when you do it yourself you ARE jiffy lubing - at least I hope so).....???

.....or to paraphrase from the '40 Year Old V****n'......do you like to DO IT YOURSELF......?????

[BernDog]

cbelt3 wrote:
I've been changing my own oil for decades. But... the design of my damn Honda Civic makes me think twice.. I think the next time I'm going to look for a coupon. And, of course, resist the upselling.

I went with my father in law once and the guy tried to tell him that he was 'not allowed by state law to let the vehicle out of the garage without a new air filter and tire rotation'. My father in law was about to pay for it, and I told him to stop. And then read the weasel the riot act. I'm pretty sure I mentioned fraud and the state attorney general.

In spite of my previous post, I did used to occasionally go to JL in my younger days. They tried to upsell me on wiper blades. I had just replaced them less than a week earlier.