I needed an oil change and pulled into Valvoline Instant Oil Change in Manhattan Beach, CA. The greeter, a young girl who seemed to know nothing about automotive products first asked me what type of oil I wanted. When I said 30 Weight or whatever is cheapest, she told me they were "Out of the cheap oil" for the $38.99 oil change but could provide me with "premium oil" for $53.99. When I asked what type of oil this was she had no idea.
I had always thought Valvoline was a premium oil to begin with (probably based on the commercials), so I questioned why an oil change would cost $53.99, and what kind of oil could justify $15 more she just shrugged.
It is obvious they are just trying to push people into a higher service charge, and given the fact that we really have no idea what oil they are actually putting into our cars, I thought this was ludicrous. I did a little more investigating and discovered this is how Valvoline works, their whole goal is to grab as much $ as possible from consumers.
Interestingly, there were no cars being worked on at the time, and in the past I've noticed there rarely are cars in this shop when driving by. No wonder. Hopefully the word is out on these crooks and they will go out of business soon.
I recommend avoiding these national brands like Valvoline and Jiffy Lube, and using a local mechanic to do regular maintenance. You never know for sure about mechanics, but it's pretty obvious companies like Valvoline are just a bunch of crooks.
How does an Oil Change shop run out of oil???
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