Valvoline Instant Oil Change

Everyone I work with here is always nice and seems personable. Never any big problems or concerns, sometimes prices can be a little higher than other places. Always search the web for coupons.

Always polite. Never a problem here. Why wait in the waiting area like a basic when you can go over and get a coffee and read the newspaper?

I have been coming to this Valvoline Instant Oil Change for years. Sure, the prices have gone up. The service has always been good for me. When, I have forgotten to tighten my gas cap and my engine light has come back on. They have reset the engine light for me. Small needed repairs have always been mentioned on my 2 cars. I have taken their advice and gone to my own good mechanic. The time that I needed a new serpentine belt. It was cheaper from Valvoline then my mechanic. Sometimes, they are busy. So, I come back later or even on Sunday for my oil change or State Inspection/​Vehicle inspection.

I just get my safety inspection here and had my oil changed once. Been there 6 times in all. They have always seemed courteous to me. But, they aren’t always spot on when calling to let me know that the service has been completed.

Don’t go during lunch. That may seem obvious, but they don’t do regular lines. I pulled up to be second in the middle line. 30 minutes and three moves later, I’m #2 in a different line.

I had a special experience with the guys that work at Valvoline.
I had just finished grabbing a coffee from Starbucks, which is just across the street, when I started having car trouble. I pulled it back into the Starbucks parking lot and started making phone calls, not really knowing what to do. I hadn’t noticed that Valvoline was even there until one of their employees saw me trying to figure out how to open my hood and immediately came across the street to help. I pulled my car into their garage and they took a look at my car for me. It appeared to have a coolant leak. They set me up to get back to Austin, all free of charge.
Me, not knowing a thing about cars, (obviously since I didn’t even know how to open the hood), could not have been more thankful for those men. If I lived in Alamo Heights or even close to San Antonio, I would take my car to them in a heart beat. THANKS GUYS!

I trust these guys with every vehicle I own. They have been my oil change, air filter replacement, and vehicle inspection shop for the past 6 years.
I just brought my wifes car that we rarly drive and the guys showed me that the oil levels were fine and no oil change needed.
Its fast and courteous service. Do yourself a favor and start taking your vehicles to this location.

I just recently started coming here after taking job in the area, and every experience has been phenomenal. I took my car in to get inspected and hadn’t realized my insurance card was out of date. They took my car in immediately and began the inspection while I downloaded a new copy of my insurance card, and by the time it was downloaded, they were almost done with the whole process! They were super friendly and had me in and out in less than half an hour. A few weeks later, after a routine pre-​work-​commute oil check showed my oil level a tad low, I stopped in to get my oil topped off. They topped me off and did a quick check of my tire pressure as one looked to be a little low, as well as checked all of my other fluids while the hood was already open. These guys are always cordial and quick, and have never tried to upsell me. I’ll definitely be going back for small routine maintenance.

As far as oil changes go I actually had a pretty good experience here yesterday. The place was empty when I arrived so I’m sure that helped but I got what I thought was a fair price for an oil change without the crew trying to upsell me for anything, which is very rare! I went on a Tuesday early afternoon so I can only attest to that particular crew being decent.

Unprofessional crew. Rude. Always making a sales pitch.
Better pass on this place

I actually forgot how expensive this place can be. I blame living out of town and having to deal with different places that make me able to actually compare now.
Generally, synthetic oil changes are more expensive. I get that. But a lot of places I’ve been to previously, like Jiffy Lube or even the dealership help sweeten the deal or at least minimize the impact by doing a free inspection, washing windows, etc., SOMETHING that seems to give a little more value to the visit for pennies on the dollar. Also, I seem to remember synthetics not costing as much. So maybe it’s the area being able to support these kinds of prices, but that’s what I paid for convenience I guess. Luckily, that being said, at least there is a discount offered for Foursquare checkins, so there’s that, but it basically covered just tax. Also, be ready for upselling. As mentioned before, there will be an upsell, so be ready for that. Way back when, I never had a problem with the inspections, but every time I had gone for an oil change, there was always something.
So in summary: pay a little more, get less fringe benefits. This is also one of the few oil change places within the Alamo Heights/​Olmos Park areas so you will pay for the convenience.

My inital review became filtered, because Unilocal believes it could have been fake or I was spreading the word to hurt someone. Or it could have been filtered because someone, say the people who work at valvoline flagged it as a problem. Well I can tell you I have no ties with the business and am not trying to be malicious. I just think it is easy to get taken advantage of and wanted to help someone else. So here is my original review.
THIS MIGHT be LONG but it is the TRUTH
Ok so I have been coming here for the past 3 years and really haven’t had any problems, except for maybe the long wait. The service has been average and the location is very convenient for me.
Well 3 weeks ago I went in to renew my inspection sticker. I go into the waiting room and 5 min later they tell me they won’t pass me because my cv boots need to be replaced. They then tell me I can go to a mechanic down the street. I asked a question about how well they know him and the guy said they wouldn’t be recommending him if they didn’t think he did a good job.
Well I ended up having a family member help me out and we did all the work. I came in a week later and they send me to the waiting room. Well that same man who talked to me last time came in there and says he remembers me and wants me to remind him why I didn’t get passed. I responded with ‚“well am I going to pass now, because it really doesn’t matter what the old reason was” He says «oh yeah your fine and we just have to do the paper work.»
I told him he had said I needed to get the CV boots replaced. He then wanted to know how much the mechanic charged me out of curiosity. I said I did the work myself. He smiled and left and said they are just going to do the paperwork.
Well 5 min later another guy comes in and tells me they can not pass me because I need a new tire because of the lack of tread. He recommends me to that same mechanic down the street.
I was in shock. I couldn’t believe I didn’t pass a second time after having just been told I passed and paperwork was all that was left. I’m all for keeping maintenance up on my car and have no problem fixing and repairing what needs to be fixed, but I feel that once they found out I didn’t take my car to that mechanic that they just failed me on something else so I can go give them my service.
So now I’m going to go get ONE new tire and go somewhere else for my inspection and oil changes. I would like to think they are just worried about the safety of others and me and that is why they have failed me twice, but I find it very strange that I failed after I was told they were completing my paperwork.

Paying as much as I did, I’d have appreciated some dinner first… maybe a reach around before the oil change. I’m a Wal Mart oil change type of girl, you get vacuumed, fluids and tires checked, oil changed, and windshield washed for like $ 25. It was significantly more pricy here and I didn’t get the extra treatments.
So, why not less stars? My car has been hesitating upon acceleration for a long time now, countless people have told me that it’s been the spark plugs. The guys here discovered that the problem was actually a vacuum leak and repaired it for free. Now my car is running wonderfully! Onto the review…
I came here because I was in San Antonio, I had a coupon, and refuse to visit the greedy corporate bastards of Wal Mart at this point in time. Upon arriving here, it was kind of difficult to figure out how to go about doing things. I noticed a couple people in their cars, so I just lined up. There were at least five cars before me, not counting the ones already in the bays. I was acknowledged in a little over five minutes. The attendent was really friendly and abrupt… it was busy, I understand. After a quick run across the street to Starbucks, I settled in to read my Cosmo. They pulled my car into the garage after about 20 minutes of me being back and went to work on it. I noticed that a lof ot the other people were watching their cars being worked on and was unsure of whether I should do the same thing. After a bit, Ant approached me and asked about the type of oil I wanted. After a slight discussion, I went with a little more expensive one… because my car has over 75,000 miles. A little while later, he called me over and showed me the vacuum leak and offered to fix it. It was really a quick, easy fix, but it makes a WORLD of difference with my car.
I probably won’t be coming back here… but definately not because of the service.