Current Events > Ever been to an oil change where they don't allow you to sit in the car?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I know some people prefer not to, but last time I went to Jiffy Lube, they required me to wait in the coffee room. Then the guy came in with a price that was fairly higher than I was expecting. The whole thing frustrated me really, and I said I'd never do Jiffy Lube again.

However, today I'm at a different Jiffy Lube and they don't mind at all that I'm still in the vehicle. I wonder if it's just different management, or if they have changed rules company-wide.

No, but I change my own oil.

Bishop_Hastur posted...

No, but I change my own oil.

I prefer to pay a company to do it, because I get other services such as filter checks, windshield wipers replaced, tires rotated, etc. it's usually not that expensive, so I've never found it worth my time to learn to change my own oil.

It's not really good practice to have people sitting in the car when it's raised/jacked up.

i don't think i've ever sat in the car. what's the appeal of doing that?

and yeah, fuck Jiffy Lube. they're super expensive.

I have never sat in a car being worked on unless I was doing the work.

If they use lifts, I dont think they can allow you to remain in the car.

ai123 posted...

It's not really good practice to have people sitting in the car when it's raised/jacked up.

They don't raise it. They have people working in underground stations that are below the vehicle.

God_of_6strings posted...

They don't raise it. They have people working in underground stations that are below the vehicle.

Still not a good idea.

You don't know what someone sitting in the car is going to do. It's completely unnecessary to have them there.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

what's the appeal of doing that?

Lots of oil changing places can be pretty shady. This way I can let them show me the air filters and such and communicate them whether I want them to do certain things as they're working on it. When you wait in the room, you can't pay attention to anything the guys are doing, and they'll walk in after they're done all like "ok, we noticed such and such, we took care of it, here's the price." Whereas today I was able to tell the guy, "No, I'll replace my tag light myself, I'll wait until my next service to change the air filter, etc."

God_of_6strings posted...

Lots of oil changing places can be pretty shady. This way I can let them show me the air filters and such and communicate them whether I want them to do certain things as they're working on it. When you wait in the room, you can't pay attention to anything the guys are doing, and they'll walk in after they're done all like "ok, we noticed such and such, we took care of it, here's the price." Whereas today I was able to tell the guy, "No, I'll replace my tag light myself, I'll wait until my next service to change the air filter, etc."

"we went ahead and did the work without asking you" is a shitty practice and should tell you to avoid going back. i would firmly tell them "sorry, i didn't agree to have you do that procedure and i dont want to pay for it. please undo that".

I get serviced at the dealer I bought my truck at. They take it to the back and I go into a waiting room or leave and come back later. I've got a service plan though so it never costs anything to me.

I think I would rather just go to a place where I didn't have to watch over the mechanics to make sure they weren't ripping me off.

(Though all my servicing is done on a plan via the dealer, so it's not an issue).

God_of_6strings posted...

I prefer to pay a company to do it, because I get other services such as filter checks, windshield wipers replaced, tires rotated, etc. it's usually not that expensive, so I've never found it worth my time to learn to change my own oil.

Not going to tell you to do those yourself but they are all very easy to do yourself and les schwab will rotate your tires for free.

We've never been allowed the chance to do that, >.<

I used to work as a lube tech. We only had people step out if we were performing a tire rotation.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Giant_Aspirin posted...

and yeah, fuck Jiffy Lube. they're super expensive.

I paid less than $60 for everything today. Wonder if you guys are sitting in the room waiting for a guy to come in and say "Here's everything we did for your vehicle, here's your price, have a nice day!"

Bishop_Hastur posted...

No, but I change my own oil.

It would be hard to do that while sitting in the car

Ive never heard of people sitting in their car while its being worked on, even if its just an oil change

Quite the opposite. I've never gotten an oil change where they do allow me to stay in the car. It's always the waiting room.

But yeah, fuck Jiffy lube. The last time I went there, they didn't put the bolts back in to the oil pan and they forgot to put in new antifreeze when they "replaced" the antifreeze for me... Never again.

I had literally no idea people ever sat in their vehicle during oil changes and such.

NoxObscuras posted...

But yeah, fuck Jiffy lube. The last time I went there, they didn't put the bolts back in to the oil pan

What? How is that possible? It's only one bolt (assuming you mean the drain plug) and oil would have been all over the floor

Dat_Cracka_Jax posted...

What? How is that possible? It's only one bolt (assuming you mean the drain plug) and oil would have been all over the floor

Shit, you're right, wrong description. It was the undercarriage cover that they didn't put all the bolts in. It started dragging on the ground while I was driving