Sondra S2K

[rant]
I went to the little pissant oil change/state inspection station at the corner of 183/Spicewood Springs-McNeil Rd today to get the inspection done on my Protege. When I got there, the guy asked if I had proof of insurance, had me put it on the dash, and sent me inside to wait.

30 minutes later, he comes back and says that because the Protege isn't LISTED on the insurance card, he can't do the inspection. Now this card is good enough for the cops, but not good enough for the piss-ant little inspection station? I tried to explain that it is a NEW car, that I wouldn't have it listed on the card yet if the car was new, but he was intent on being a jackass. I offered, if he would go on and DO the inspection, to let him hold the paperwork and sticker, and I could go down the street and get something from a State Farm agent with my policy number and the Protege listed on it. No dice, Dipshit says. If I want the inspection, I'll have to wait in line AGAIN.


So after I handed the initial moron the card, he didn't look at it and note that the car wasn't on there so that I didn't have to wait for NOTHING for 30 minutes???

I'm never going back to those uneducated, useless, toothless morons again...

[/rant]

S2KDDS

Sorry to hear about your experience. Where exactly are these toothless morons? I'd like to leave them a card.

WRXBoy

Why are you getting an inspection on a brand new car? I thought you had like 2 years before that's required on a car?

Good one S2KDDS

- Steven

Chris S

Sondra,

I had really good inspection experiences at the Quik Lube (i think that's what it's called) in between the Chevy dealer and Schlotsky's/old Academy.

My old Supra didn't have a catalytic convertor, so I didn't need an anal inspection place. They were cool, twice in a row, and the inspector was even asking about my car since he was into drag(strip) racing.

Sondra S2K

Steve, I bought it in Nebraska, so it had no inspection sticker.

BeyerMonster

I had good luck at the place over by the HEB complex between Jollyville and the 183 feeder...

amartin

Take Mopac -> Far West...go down past the 3rd light West... Up the hill on the right is a little oil-change shop (QuikLube)... They do inspections, I've had no problems w/them.
-- Aaron

Skorpion

They may all be toothless morons, but I don't see what they did wrong. You didn't have any proof of insurance on that car and by law they can't do the inspection.
Every vehicle I've purchased, I dropped by State Farm the next day and got insurance cards printed out that last until the official ones arrive in the mail.

BeyerMonster

Are you talking about QuikLube or "Primetime LubeXPress"? If you're talking about the latter, I'll never give them my business again. I used to bring my Camry there for oil changes. One day, he somehow convinces me to let them change my Fuel Filter and do the Fuel Injector cleaner treatment. Neither involves really taking anything apart, so I figured how could they mess it up?

(DISCLAIMER: I'm not the car guy that Randy is, so this part might be off)
To do the Fuel Injector Cleaner they basically spray some chemical into your car via the fuel line and it's suppose to carbonize any of the deposits that are in there. In the process of doing this, they bypass something or other (fuel filter?).

(Everything past this line is accurate)
Well, they bypassed something and forgot to reconnect it. I made the mistake of not reviewing their work right away. They even left a clamp on my fuel line in the car. So for about a week, my car still managed to limp around. On the day of jury duty (conveniently), I was driving down 2222, when my car seemed fairly unresponsive and suddenly stalled. It started back up again easily, but then stalled again, about 30 sec later. Rinse, repeat for about 4 or 5 minutes. I limp to a gas station where I pop the hood and see the shiny chrome clamp looking back at me.

For some silly reason, I thought the clamp might just be pinching my fuel line. ie, maybe it would all work, if I just took it off. Took the clamp off, started the engine and started hearing the gasoline hit the ground. Called AAA to get it towed. 30 min later, the guy arrives. I make the mistake of telling him what happened and he says "AAA won't let me tow it, unless it's cleared by the Fire Department". Umm, OK... So I call the fire department and they say to call 911 and explain it's not an emergency. I do so. But 15 min later, sure enough, here comes the fire engine with the sirens blaring. I explain the situation and the fire chief says, "I've never heard of such a thing, and I've been doing this for 15 years". I ask him to "clear it", and he says "it's cleared". Right now, it's about 9 AM. I feel bad for the firefighters, some of whom are yawning right now. =( I end up having to call back AAA, they take another 30 min to arrive. Then get towed to the dealer where they reconnect my fuel line for about $40.

Morale of the Story: I'm never taking my car to PrimeTime LubeXpress ever again... For anything...

Sidenote, after my last oil change on the Camry (which I did myself), I started getting about 1.5-2 mpg more than I used to, and I'm pretty sure I drive it the same way as I always did. Dunno if the 2 things are related.

Sondra S2K

My issue isn't that they refused to do the work; it's that they could have made a phone call to verify it, or at the least, when I handed Toothless Moron #1 the insurance card, he could have looked at it rather than just hand it back. I talked to Svann about this yesterday, and he said that lots of places will call State Farm and verify it or ask for a fax copy of the card. These idiots didn't offer to do either, were willing to make NO concessions, no working with me in any way. Businesses that go the extra mile are the ones I go back to. This is NOT the kind of place I will ever do business with again.