Today I brought my sister’s car (2001 Saturn L200) to the Valvoline quickie lube for an oil change and transmission service. In the past, I’ve offered to change her oil for her but she always insisted on going to Valvoline for some reason. I never really have time to change her oil anymore anyway. I used to feel uncomfortable with her taking it there, but not anymore after today. I’ve been trying to get her to change the transmission fluid for some time now, as the car now has 69k on the factory fill, but she never seems to have enough money/time to do it. I realized if I don’t bring it in myself, it’ll probably never get done.
After hearing all the horror stories here and other sites, I had my guard up and was prepared for the worst while driving there. I prepared myself to watch their every move, decline other services, make sure they did everything correctly, etc. When I got there, the tech guided me into the bay and suggested I sit inside and have a coffee. I of course declined and stood by the car. He and the manager got to work and tested all the bulbs on the car, checked the tire pressure, topped off the washer fluid, checked all other fluids, checked the air filter. (I had just changed the air filter a couple weeks ago and was prepared to call them out if they said it needed replaced.) They said it looked fine and everything else checked out OK. The tech started looking for the tranny dipstick. I told them there isn’t one. (This trans is one of those pains-in-the-butt that has the check plug instead of a dipstick…which is one of the reasons I didn’t service it myself.) They didn’t want to touch the trans either. I suppose I can’t really blame them.
So they just did the oil change. They had 2 guys on this job: One in the pit and one on top. I was impressed with how they communicated with each other. They would shout out to each other things like, “drain plug is out” “oil filter is off” “oil filter installed and tightened” “drain plug tightened” to make sure the other guy was ready for the next step and no one screwed up. The tech asked if I wanted conventional or synthetic instead of assuming anything. (I chose conventional 5w30 in case you’re wondering) He led me over to the computer and showed me the other “manufacturer recommended
” services that it’s “due” for. He said it’s due for a power steering flush and fuel system treatment. I just said no thanks and he simply said “OK” and didn’t push it any farther. He filled it up with oil, reset the oil change light, started the engine and checked for leaks, and showed me the dipstick to show that it was at the correct level. We went inside to pay and he told me all about the Valvoline engine guarantee (once again:
) and gave me a brochure, and I left.
Overall, it was a very good experience. Of course they did the obligatory up-selling on other services, but they weren’t pushy about it at all. And of course the oil change sticker says to come back in 3 months/ 3k miles, but those things are to be expected. I was worried about the quality of the work, but they had that place running like a well (Valvoline-)oiled machine. I no longer worry about my sister taking her car there.
After hearing all the horror stories here and other sites, I had my guard up and was prepared for the worst while driving there. I prepared myself to watch their every move, decline other services, make sure they did everything correctly, etc. When I got there, the tech guided me into the bay and suggested I sit inside and have a coffee. I of course declined and stood by the car. He and the manager got to work and tested all the bulbs on the car, checked the tire pressure, topped off the washer fluid, checked all other fluids, checked the air filter. (I had just changed the air filter a couple weeks ago and was prepared to call them out if they said it needed replaced.) They said it looked fine and everything else checked out OK. The tech started looking for the tranny dipstick. I told them there isn’t one. (This trans is one of those pains-in-the-butt that has the check plug instead of a dipstick…which is one of the reasons I didn’t service it myself.) They didn’t want to touch the trans either. I suppose I can’t really blame them.
So they just did the oil change. They had 2 guys on this job: One in the pit and one on top. I was impressed with how they communicated with each other. They would shout out to each other things like, “drain plug is out” “oil filter is off” “oil filter installed and tightened” “drain plug tightened” to make sure the other guy was ready for the next step and no one screwed up. The tech asked if I wanted conventional or synthetic instead of assuming anything. (I chose conventional 5w30 in case you’re wondering) He led me over to the computer and showed me the other “manufacturer recommended
Overall, it was a very good experience. Of course they did the obligatory up-selling on other services, but they weren’t pushy about it at all. And of course the oil change sticker says to come back in 3 months/ 3k miles, but those things are to be expected. I was worried about the quality of the work, but they had that place running like a well (Valvoline-)oiled machine. I no longer worry about my sister taking her car there.
I know some shops don't like customers bringing in supplies for liability/warranty issues, etc....but WM seems to not really care.
