http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/lo...207304771.html

 

I watched the 2006 KNBC report a couple of years ago and was not surprised at all. My GC has never seen the inside of a Jiffy Lube and never will.

About 10 years ago I took my Honda in to Jiffy Lube regularly, mainly because I was in college and didn't have proper tools to change the oil on that car, and Jiffy Lube was right around the corner from my house. I was usually good about only getting the oil change and not getting any of the "recommended" junk. One day they told me I needed a new radiator cap and air filter at a cost of about $100. I told the guy I knew how to replace both of them and would drive to Kragen (now O'Reilly) and replace them myself for $30. The guy proceeded to tell me that Kragen's radiator caps didn't have a dongle hanging from the cap like the Honda OEM caps had and that the Kragen part was junk. He even went so far as to show me the "proper" cap with the dongle. I called BS, paid for my oil change, and immediately drove to Kragen to buy the rad cap. Once I removed the OEM cap, not only did I notice that the OEM cap didn't have the dongle, there wasn't even any space for the alleged dongle to fit in the radiator neck. I have a feeling that the part the guy was showing me was a piece of their cap testing equipment.

I realize that many other people including KNBC have more extreme experience with Jiffy Lube fraud, but that was enough to get me to never go to Jiffy Lube again. I realize that Jiffy Lube has many satisfied regular customers and that it's pretty hard to beat their convenience, cost, and speed when it comes to an oil change. But there are other mom-and-pop quick lube places that aren't nearly as sales-oriented as Jiffy Lube, and many dealership service centers have quick lube services too. If you must go to Jiffy Lube because of their convenience, then only get the oil change, get their "recommended" services in writing, and take those to a real mechanic.

 

Yeah, I've never been to Jiffy Lube ever. I usually did oil changes myself, until I found a trusted, good, and cheap repair shop that will do oil changes for $10, you give them the oil and oil filter.

 

Before I got my own garage and started doing all my own oil changes again 5 years ago, I took my cars to a real ASE-certified, AAA-approved mechanic for oil changes. They charged about as much as Jiffy Lube does for a basic oil/filter change and threw in a free inspection that I was more inclined to believe than any Jiffy Lube inspection (bear in mind that in order to be "qualified" to work on your car at Jiffy Lube an employee must watch x number of hours of training videos on a computer and that's it). I also put quite a bit more trust that if the mechanic found something wrong with my car, 1) he was telling the truth and 2) he was qualified to fix it. The big thing I sacrificed there was convenience and time, which was no big deal for me at the time since the mechanic wasn't too far from my work.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you can get an oil change at a real mechanic for about the same cost as Jiffy Lube, and in the long run it might actually be less expensive when you factor in the potential damage to your car from unnecessary sales tactics from Jiffy Lube and its ilk.

 

Geesh, its tough now days with the economy pressing more professionals to do the dirty.

I usually do my own but took it to a Dodge dealership and when I got home I noticed I could hear my valve train more then usual. I looked at the printout and they used 5w20!
Good lord, I took it back and they put in 10W30 and it was much better. MERCY!