Originally Posted By: PhillyJoe
Yeeeeeears ago I was in the Iffy Lube waiting room and the manager was on the phone telling someone how his ADT was something like $50.00-60.00; and was higher than the previous month. There must be some kind of internal competition among shops for the highest average daily ticket.
It was unprofessional within earshot of the customers and just confirmed what I had suspected. Sell, Sell, sell.
The Ford dealer across the street offers a syn blend oil change with filter for $17.76; any car. Can't imagine what those guys pitch.
Unprofessional to discuss in front of customers, but at least they were being honest I guess?
Most oil changes below $25 are a gimme to lure people in so the shop can look for upsells. Jiffy Lube is not cheap because they don't do any real repairs beyond the occasional serp belt or some burnt out lights, so they can't risk eating a lot on an oil change to hope for a repair. They have to push the $35 service and make it look well worth it by vacuuming 10 lbs. of french fries and cigarette butts off the floor. That Ford dealer is definitely looking for repairs because they are eating something on that $18 oil change.
Any oil change below $25 is bait. That's not to say the shop is ripping you off (or trying to), but they aren't making any money on a $15-$20 oil change, so they have to subsidize the oil changes by making repairs. It's not dishonest unless they are trying to sell you something you truly don't need. Often times they are catching things that are way more important than an oil change, but many people are too stupid to reason that maybe if a really important belt breaks, that's going to be worse for them than skipping an oil change.
Of course, there are dishonest people out there who are just trying to pad a ticket, and that's wrong, but if you go in for an oil change that's as cheap or cheaper than what you could do yourself, expect them to look the car over for things that can actually make them some money. This isn't Unicef. Honestly, BITOGers have no place to complain about a shop trying to upsell on a $17 oil change. If you know enough to do the job yourself, and you go in for the freebie oil change, expect an upsell or just do it yourself if you don't want to hear about what your car needs. Really, this isn't a freaking charity here. Man up, or shut up. If all we did was $17 oil changes all day and never upsold anything, guess what, we have to look for new jobs. Often times, even if people went to Wal-Mart, they wouldn't be able to do it cheaper themselves. The oil change specials at AAP where you get a 5 qt jug and a filter are still $21.
I work for a small shop (not JL) that does do repairs, and does use a cheap oil change as bait. I wish we would just get rid of the super cheap oil change. Most people who get it are too cheap and too retarded for their own good. For example, we show them a shredded serp belt that could literally snap the next time we start the car, but no, they just want the cheap oil change because that will make it all better. Literally just dealt with this today...we tried to COMP an oil change to a customer with a [censored] W-body because the serp belt was literally about to snap and it was way more pressing than changing the oil. The estimate for the serp belt was less than $100, and they were going to get a free oil change, but no, they decided to pay the cheap oil change price and skip the shredded serp belt. Yes, people are that retarded. I honestly do not upsell things people don't need, I hate doing that. The problem is people are so dumb that even if you show them a clogged filter or shredded belt, they just don't care and want the oil change because they have to do that every 3K miles or else. Sometimes I want to bash my head against a brick wall when dealing with such people.
I know it may come as a shock to some that people do go to work everyday to try to make some money off other people, but honestly, if you aren't willing to do it yourself, don't expect someone else to do it at a loss and not try to get something else out of you.
) and changing the factory fill before the car even cools down from its first engine start. 
