I was calling around and trying to find a place to have oil changes/other work done on my car next year when I'm in college. (5 hours from home). I got a LOT of kinda rude or not-particularly-confidence-instilling answers, like "it comes out of a tank and says it's synthetic blend" or shops that acted like I was bothering them. I called one on a whim that's a gas station and 6 or 8-bay shop. The guy politely answered the phone, even though it was right before closing time. He asked how he could help (after digging online, it's a family operation). I asked for an oil change price, and he asked what kind of car I had. When I told him "06 Buick Lacrosse" he said "Ok, that'd be our Thrive 5w30 Synblend. It meets American Petroleum Institute standards and the GM6094M standard your car calls for" (at this point I was shocked). Then I asked him about synthetic, to which he said: "our Thrive full synthetic meets the new gen 2 Dexos spec, and would be another $8." (the base price was $35, cheaper than Jiffy Lube or Valvoline without a coupon). I then asked him what filter they used, not expecting anything better than a generic Puro or something. He then replied, "we use Napa Gold filters for all of our oil changes." (except Amsoil changes which he advised against because of the unnecessary cost). At this point, he told me that they would need 45 minutes to do an oil change. Before the end of the conversation, he mentioned that they look the car over for problems but don't ever upsell. And, the true kicker, he told me that my car has an oil life monitor and I should change it only as often as that tells me to.
The Thrive oil looks solid. It's here. http://www.uslube.com/engineoils.html
TL;DR:
The shop uses API certified oil
More importantly, the guy knew what this meant
He knew my car's specs right off the bat
They use Napa Gold filters even on the basic oil changes
They take the time to do a complete job
They recommend following the OLM
They charge a fair price
They just earned my business!
The Thrive oil looks solid. It's here. http://www.uslube.com/engineoils.html
TL;DR:
The shop uses API certified oil
More importantly, the guy knew what this meant
He knew my car's specs right off the bat
They use Napa Gold filters even on the basic oil changes
They take the time to do a complete job
They recommend following the OLM
They charge a fair price
They just earned my business!