Dealership vs local oil change service?

Shoot2Thrill · November 7, 2005

I was wondering what other people do for oil changes. I don't have the space at my apartment to change the oil, so I used to go to the local Quick Kar to have them change the oil in my S10. I specified Castrol GTX. With my new truck, the first oil change is on them so I let the dealer take care of it. My only gripe with them is that I have to schedule with them to bring it in, and I don't know what oil they use. It is much easier to take it to Quick Kar, where I can watch the work being done and specify the oil/filter I want to use. What is everybody else's experience/preference?

willfxp · November 7, 2005

You don't need much space to change it at home. Why do you care which oil or filter a dealer uses?

When I owned a Civic, I brought it to the dealer all the time so I had a record when I went to sell it. They didn't require me to schedule it though.

Dans Denali · November 7, 2005

I had my wifes Yukon serviced at the dealer the first 4 times and they never greased it! Watch them. I found 11 dry fittings when I did it myself.

Dan

Shaners · November 7, 2005

I always have had my truck serviced at the dealer. That way I don't need to keep a file full of receipts. Plus my dealer is much cheaper than the quick-lube drivethru's around here.

I too always have to have an appt., but they usually get me right in, and they are pretty fast when I have it done. I never checked all the grease fittings, but I know they greased at least the obvious ones...

Wingnut · November 7, 2005

Do those fittings need to be greased at every change?

That just seems a bit excessive to me.

Bish · November 7, 2005

Do those fittings need to be greased at every change?

That just seems a bit excessive to me.

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I grease mine every other oil change (5K per oil change). Cheap insurance. My front end lasted 140K before I started to get any play.

November 7, 2005

I always do my own oil changes after the one time I didn't have the time to do it and I took mine into the 'Quick Lube Oil Jiffy Change' place. They used a wrench to tighten the filter so I had to take a chisel to the base of the filter. I had to use an impact wrench to remove the drain plug. If it's not their ride, they don't care.

GMCMan4.8 · November 7, 2005

A lot of times the dealership will have their newest employeed techs performing the oil changes. So it may seem like your getting a little better service, but in reality it may not be quite as good as a local shop doing it for you. A lot easier for you to look over their shoulder too and make sure they are putting in the oil you prefer. If someday you are ever in the situation to perform your own, I'd highly suggest that. Then you can choose the filter,oil....etc as you prefer.

willfxp · November 7, 2005

A lot of times the dealership will have their newest employeed techs performing the oil changes. So it may seem like your getting a little better service, but in reality it may not be quite as good as a local shop doing it for you. A lot easier for you to look over their shoulder too and make sure they are putting in the oil you prefer. If someday you are ever in the situation to perform your own, I'd highly suggest that. Then you can choose the filter,oil....etc as you prefer.

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What do the newest employeed techs at the local shop do?

redvett · November 7, 2005

Do those fittings need to be greased at every change?

That just seems a bit excessive to me.

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Look in your owners manual and grease accordingly depending on how dusty,wet & how hard you drive vehicle.

GMCMan4.8 · November 8, 2005

A lot of times the dealership will have their newest employeed techs performing the oil changes. So it may seem like your getting a little better service, but in reality it may not be quite as good as a local shop doing it for you. A lot easier for you to look over their shoulder too and make sure they are putting in the oil you prefer. If someday you are ever in the situation to perform your own, I'd highly suggest that. Then you can choose the filter,oil....etc as you prefer.

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What do the newest employeed techs at the local shop do?

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Sweep the floor!!

No, Generally in my experience with local shops the techs will have more broad knowledge on working on vehicles overall. A lot of times there is more experience in automechanics going on at the local shops. Like previously employeed dealership techs. I'd suspect that a newly employeed tech at a local shop is going to do more then just oil changes....(just my opinion however).

GM-Tech · November 8, 2005

At our dealership, we have one tech that does most of the "waiter" oil changes. He's not the newest tech, having been here as long or longer than most, but he is the one that gets paid the least per hour. Doesn't take a lot of technical expertise to change oil.

He's very thorough and does a good job. We finally had to stop him from vacuuming the leaves out of the cowl area and cleaning out the engine compartment on every vehicle because he was spending way too much time on an oil change and the waiters were always backing up.

I'd have to say that he sometimes does a better job than to the top techs here when it comes to oil changes. They can't seem to be bothered with such "trivial" work and often forget a zerk fitting or two, don't reset the oil life monitor, forget the oil sticker on the windshield, etc.

We've had plenty of vehicle in from Jiffy Lube or similar places where they forgot to put oil in the vehicle, damaged drain plugs, put power steering fluid in the brake master cylinder, etc. Some Jiffy Lubes do a fine job, I'm sure.

plainvanilla · November 9, 2005

.... My only gripe with them is that I have to schedule with them to bring it in, and I don't know what oil they use. It is much easier to take it to Quick Kar, where I can watch the work being done and specify the oil/filter I want to use. What is everybody else's experience/preference?

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If the GM Dealership is using genuine GM Goodwrench oil, I can tell you it is Mobil Drive Clean, which is also the factory fill for all GM vehicles, except for some who get Mobil One.

Ranger · November 9, 2005

At our dealership, we have one tech that does most of the "waiter" oil changes. He's not the newest tech, having been here as long or longer than most, but he is the one that gets paid the least per hour. Doesn't take a lot of technical expertise to change oil.

He's very thorough and does a good job. We finally had to stop him from vacuuming the leaves out of the cowl area and cleaning out the engine compartment on every vehicle because he was spending way too much time on an oil change and the waiters were always backing up.

I'd have to say that he sometimes does a better job than to the top techs here when it comes to oil changes. They can't seem to be bothered with such "trivial" work and often forget a zerk fitting or two, don't reset the oil life monitor, forget the oil sticker on the windshield, etc.

We've had plenty of vehicle in from Jiffy Lube or similar places where they forgot to put oil in the vehicle, damaged drain plugs, put power steering fluid in the brake master cylinder, etc. Some Jiffy Lubes do a fine job, I'm sure.

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So, what dealership did you say you worked for again?

Although I haven't really had any probs with mine. My service rep had also been my grandmother's and she's been going to that dealer for the last 10 years or so. I get my oil changed every 3k miles give or take about 100 mi. Already had the second change done and I'll probably have the next one done in about 1 1/2 months (depending on if I keep going to Port Orange for a site we're doing). Pretty much everything else I took my truck in for was done under warranty- replacement wiper sills, checked the T/C when it had first done the idiot maneuver, and did a free alignment when my truck kept pulling in either direction.

That, and the fact that the drainplug in my Colorado is supposed to be real kooky and has the tendency to spray out when you totally remove the plug.

phire · May 2, 2006

If the GM Dealership is using genuine GM Goodwrench oil, I can tell you it is Mobil Drive Clean, which is also the factory fill for all GM vehicles, except for some who get Mobil One.

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That's not true. My dealership uses regular Valvoline and reccomends changes at 7,500 miles. I think this is because they're running a promotion for 3 years free oil changes so this way it cuts cost and no one will *really* be able to tell the difference within the 3 years so...

It wasn't even a synthetic oil, just regular cheapo Valvoline. I drilled the salesman and manager about it because if I was going to wait 7,500 miles I wanted to know WHY and if it wasn't Mobil1 I wasn't about to wait 7,500 miles.