February 25, 201016 yr I had a local tire company price me a set of tires for $800. Went to a guy that has his own shop and he got me the same tires for $550.
February 25, 201016 yr I've been going to Pennzoil for over 10 years and they have never tried to sell me anything besides an oil change.
February 25, 201016 yr This is hilarious and I had to share. My friends wife takes his car to Midas because it was for lack of better words shaking a little when she drove it. She stops in the local Midas shop and they put the car up on the racks and sometime later come out and say her struts are bad. So she takes the car home tells her husband what they said and he calls them asked them about it. He decides to take the car over to them so they can show him just what is wrong. He noticed a little shake in it while he drove it. He gets to Midas and the manager greets him at the door and says are you the guy with the car with the bad struts? My friend responds I am the husband of the lady you said had bad struts. The manager said good I have the paper work all ready for you and the total is 1300 and change. Is the keys in it ? My friend says nope, they are in my hands and will be going with my way to another shop. He takes the car to a shop down the road and they look at the car and says you have a rear tire with a lump in it. He buys to new tires and the car is fine. They also said the struts were just fine. "Trust the Midas Touch" :lol::lol::lol::lol:
February 25, 201016 yr National auto shops are no different from going to a big-box retailer in that there is intense pressure from above to up-sell you on everything they possibly can. The preferred corporate method is squeezing every penny out of you the one time you are in the shop rather than doing it right and at a reasonable price so that you might continue to take your business there. And people wonder why I'm so anti-corporate. Like those one-year replacement programs.
February 25, 201016 yr I've been going to Pennzoil for over 10 years and they have never tried to sell me anything besides an oil change. That's actually a disservice. If your car actually needs something they should make you aware of it.
February 25, 201016 yr To add some positivity to this thread. I will say that the S&S Tire I've dealt with locally has been good. They never try to sell you anything unless you really need it, i.e. you have a bald tire that needs replaced or they just pulled a nail out of your tire and it'd probably be best to have it fixed. They're also the cheapest chain store around for oil changes. I always liked going to Valvoline because it was convenient. You just pull in and you're out in roughly 20 minutes, but the selling they try to do gets ridiculous. I did talk with a guy who worked at a Valvoline and he said that corporate wanted them to get at least $36 from every customer.
February 25, 201016 yr To add some positivity to this thread. I will say that the S&S Tire I've dealt with locally has been good. They never try to sell you anything unless you really need it, i.e. you have a bald tire that needs replaced or they just pulled a nail out of your tire and it'd probably be best to have it fixed. They're also the cheapest chain store around for oil changes. I always liked going to Valvoline because it was convenient. You just pull in and you're out in roughly 20 minutes, but the selling they try to do gets ridiculous. I did talk with a guy who worked at a Valvoline and he said that corporate wanted them to get at least $36 from every customer. We go to Valvoline. We just go in and say we want an oil change and that is it. If we want something else we will ask for it. They respect that. But they have pushed us to get random things before.
February 25, 201016 yr I have had very good success with PepBoys. I have checked their prices against the local guys and they are always within the right range, they do good work and they have great hours that makes it easy to get the car fixed when you need it. I have a local mechanic I use and trust but if he can't get things done and I need the car, I go to PepBoys.
February 25, 201016 yr I have a lot of family who are good with cars, so I save a lot of money that way. My car was shaking a bit the other day when I was driving, my father in law looked at it, noticed I had a bad tire, and we got it changed. No mechanics necessary.
February 25, 201016 yr We go to Valvoline. We just go in and say we want an oil change and that is it. If we want something else we will ask for it. They respect that. But they have pushed us to get random things before. From experience, that doesn't always work. I know someone who told them that and the guy came to him during the oil change and said, "We saw that your serpentine belt was cracking and needs to be replaced soon otherwise your car could completely die on the highway. You can only go about 15 miles before the car dies if that belt breaks." Since this is a scary thought, the guy was talked into having that belt replaced for $120. I saw the belt...it was fine. This is on top of his $49.99 oil change, so with tax, he went in for an oil change and ended up paying nearly $200. In fact, I've taken my car to a Valvoline roughly 3 months after having a new serpentine belt replaced myself. They told me that my belt looked like it was getting some wear on it and might need replaced soon. I would imagine, it mostly depends on who the salesperson is at your local Valvoline.
February 25, 201016 yr The "cracked" or "frayed edges" on the serpentine belt is such a tired sales upsell sham. Was told I needed mine replaced about 5 years ago. 100K miles later, belt looks the same and running fine. I am glad I do all the oil changes now. Less money and only about 15 minutes of my time and I know it is done right.
February 25, 201016 yr In the case of the Valvoline comments, whenever they tell me I need something I didn't come there to get, I just tell them no. It's their job to try and sell the tangent stuff, so it doesn't bother me that they do it. I just simply say no. Same here. We take our cars to our local Valvoline as it's convenient, and I always tell them 'no thanks' when trying to sell me something. I used to do my own oil changes, but it's such a hassle. Plus, it's really not that much different in price anymore. As for the initial post, I would never take my car to a Midas or Mieneke, or any other 'big box' store. I've heard plenty of horror stories to stay away. I've also had my own experience at Pep Boys. I'll never take anything there for service either. Outside of Valvoline, the only other 'big box' store that I will go to is Tire Discounters, and I only go to the one on KY18 if I have to pay for something. Otherwise, I go to Smith's Muffler in Covington or a family friend in Bellevue. Smith's is one of the few places that will take you back into the service bays to show you what is wrong and what they can do to fix it. They will also point out things that might need replaced in the near future.
February 25, 201016 yr Same here. We take our cars to our local Valvoline as it's convenient, and I always tell them 'no thanks' when trying to sell me something. I used to do my own oil changes, but it's such a hassle. Plus, it's really not that much different in price anymore. As for the initial post, I would never take my car to a Midas or Mieneke, or any other 'big box' store. I've heard plenty of horror stories to stay away. I've also had my own experience at Pep Boys. I'll never take anything there for service either. Outside of Valvoline, the only other 'big box' store that I will go to is Tire Discounters, and I only go to the one on KY18 if I have to pay for something. Otherwise, I go to Smith's Muffler in Covington or a family friend in Bellevue. Smith's is one of the few places that will take you back into the service bays to show you what is wrong and what they can do to fix it. They will also point out things that might need replaced in the near future. If I remember correctly, they also give you a rough estimate as to how many more miles you can expect those parts to last, which I thought was pretty cool and kept me going back there.
February 25, 201016 yr That's actually a disservice. If your car actually needs something they should make you aware of it. :lol: Not when there was nothing wrong. The first vehicle was a 96 Grand Am and in the 12 years I owned it, I had brake work completed twice, a new muffler put on and new tires. I changed windshield wipers when needed. That's it. I'm glad that they didn't make me aware of something that didn't need to be fixed. My current vehicle is a 2009 Focus. I'll let you know if they fail to tell me something that they should be able to detect is wrong with it.
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