Unpopular opinion: quick lube places are ruining new techs

I spent 6 months working at a Speedy Oil Change in 2021. They push 15 minute drain-and-fills on everything. I got pretty fast at that, but I never touched a transmission or differential. Now I'm at a real shop and I feel like I'm starting from scratch. The other side is that those places get people in the door and teach basic safety. But is the speed worth the lack of real training? Has anyone else seen new guys come from quick lubes who don't know how to diagnose a simple clunk?

3 comments

3 Comments

lunakim1mo ago

Quick lube shops aren't ruining anything, they're just a different step in the game. If a kid spends six months only doing oil changes and never learning diagnostics, that's on them for not asking questions or reading up on their own time. Nobody forces you to stay ignorant, you can learn basic stuff from YouTube or a service manual in your pocket. The real problem is expecting a fast food style shop to teach you heavy mechanical skills when their whole business model is speed and cheap labor. If you're coming out of there with zero clue about a suspension clunk, you probably weren't curious enough to look under a car that wasn't on the hoist for 12 minutes. Isn't that more about personal drive than the shop's job?

lopez.karen1mo agoProlific Poster

Wait, @lunakim, isn't it a bit unfair to put all that on the kid when the shop literally trains them to just drain and fill without teaching any real troubleshooting? Some places even rush them so hard they barely have time to spot a leaking seal, let alone learn from it.

angelar571mo ago

Curious enough to look under a car" - yeah, like you get time to breathe at those places lol.