Einstein’s Oilery

I don’t always need an oil change in Boise… but when I do it’s Einstein’s.
Friendly, helpful, professional, and there’s a giant Goodwill next door!

Great customer service! Very friendly and fast as well! Enjoyed them bringing a newspaper and drinks outside to us.

First experience with Einstein, not mpressed. Very poor communication. Moved twice between bays to ensure we would be served next. Car that arrived 20 minutes after us took the first open bay and received the complimemtary drink everyone raved about in addition to his nearly immediate service. The lack of free drink and reading material wasn’t the issue-​seeing the service provided to the car after us was.
I was given a complimentary high mileage upgrade, which I appreciated, but I didn’t understand what it was or why; it wasn’t until the tech went over the invoice at the very end that I realized they were aware of the mistake and had given the upgrade to compensate.
Mistakes happen. Customer service jobs are hard, especially on holidays. I work in a pharmacy, I sympathize. I know I was far from the only car in line, but I felt overlooked and ignored.
Waiting an hour isn’t unreasonable for an oil change on a holiday, but waiting in the car, wondering when and if I would ever be recognized was frustrating, especially when I could see the other cars around me.
Next time I get my car serviced, I will hand over the keys to a team that acknowledges me and lets me know what’s going on while I sit in the comfort of their waiting room. This set up is just not for me.

Holy cow! I have never had such a good experience getting an oil change.
First, I never had to leave my car, which was awesome since I had the baby strapped into the car seat and didn’t want to wake him up.
Next, the young man who approached me offered me complimentary newspaper or use of a Kindle fire. What?!? Maybe I am behind the times, but that one blew me away. He also asked if I wanted a beverage and the guy seriously brought me a cup of ice and diet coke. Whoa. He also guided my car in just a little further so my baby and I weren’t sitting in the sun.
The rest of the experience was fast, friendly and efficient. They honored the coupon I forgot to bring, made small talk about my kid and theirs, and applied no pressure about replacing parts or getting other services. This is no offense to jiffy lube, who does a good job, but I am never going anywhere else again.

Pros: The service techs are polite and professional. You wait in your car instead of some awkward waiting room.
Cons: They do try to up-​sell you on most everything. And on two different occasions I was told I need to change my transmission fluids (for $ 180). After the second time I took my car to the dealership where they said it wasn’t recommended for 40,000 more miles and the fluid looked fine.
Bummer. Would love to love this place. But at worse I was being lied to (twice) or at best had two different techs not knowing what they were talking about telling me to spend $ 180 I didn’t need to.
If you are just getting your oil changed you are probably safe, just double check on their up-​sells.
EDIT: to give the business the benefit of the doubt I toned down my «I was lied to» comment. I do believe mistakes can happen, and that could have obviously happened here.

Got my car serviced here today for the first time. Everyone was really nice and treated me well, which is important to me. They got my car in fast and had everything serviced in pretty short order. It’s a very clean and professional looking place for a «grease monkey» shop. The only downsides I found were that they didn’t have the air filter I needed for my car when they went to replace it (didn’t even have it at the Nampa location) and I felt like I was constantly trying to be «upsold» on every little service and oil type. They tried telling me that I needed synthetic oil for my car because new cars run better on it, as opposed to regular oil. Now I’ve used synthetic oil in the past for other higher mileage cars, but this car I’ve got now is under 50k miles. No synthetic needed really. So I thought that was a bit deceptive. Other than that, it was a pretty good place for an oil change. They look to be expanding all over the valley.

I loved the fact that I got to sit in the car, got a kick out them yelling out the info at least I knew what was going on at all times, they update you on other things other then what they are certified for and my favorite they are very friendly. I will tell my friends and family about this place.

Fast service. Didn’t have to leave my car and they had free wireless. They push a lot of upgrades but other than that it was the best oil change experience I’ve had.

These guys are total pros. Very polite. Efficient. And they gave me a fantastic deal. I couldn’t be happier stopping here on my road trip. Michael was super helpful. I got a newspaper and water delivered to me while I waited and the wait wasn’t long the service was very quick. It was a pleasure to do business with these folks.

The other day I had a grinding noise coming out of my power steering system on my 2004 Ford Escape. I stopped into a local filling station, bought some fluid and put it right in — yet it did not solve the problem.
So I went to Einsteins to see what it would take to flush the system and see if that resolved it. As I watched Raphael I learned so quickly that I had in fact put the power steering fluid in the «brake fluid» reservoir!
He said that the power steering fluid di not attention and he took care of that problem. now the squeal is gone and I am happy as could be. But he didn’t stop there!
Raphael gave me some advice on how to bleed the brakes and clear that system. He told me I needed DOT 3 brake fluid and where I could pick it up.
Raphael is an exceptional service tech. You have a helluva find there; I know you’ll work hard to retain this very talented young man!

I am shocked to read these reviews. I think that this is one of the cleanest and best run oil change places I have ever been to. These guys are fast and efficient as well as friendly. It is true that they make recommendations for services that are needed, that is their job, I said no to a transmission fluid change as I was low on cash and I did not feel pressured at all to do the work right then.
It is true that they are loud with the yelling but I get the reasoning behind it.
I have been to two different locations and I will be back and I would feel comfortable sending my wife there alone.
Keep up the good work!

Please understand that some of the reviews below are complaining about the misery of comfortably sitting in their vehicle, as enthusiastic auto «nerds» thoroughly work the veins of their car while delivering free drinks and pumping their tires out of good measure— if you can’t trust others kindness I think it says something about your character.
The faces of this «50’s style» oilery (yup, they shout as someone takes note and they all wear ties) were sincere, professional and kind of adorable:
Tony was incredibly welcoming, swift and a total multi-​tasker, directed all customers and refilled everyone’s drink while checking in on each person’s needs (outside of oil changes).
Rafael pumped our tires, cleaned our windows, as Mitch (I think this was his name – hard to decipher with the hood of the car in front of my face!) changed our oil. He was very knowledgeable and at the same time, concise (no intimidating auto-​talk), conversation felt natural and I didn’t feel coerced into buying anything outside of my means.
Here is where I disagree with some of the «scam comments,» although I had no coupon for $ 10 off, I asked for the special anyway – mom threw the coupon away, and I don’t think that this is a common etiquette but Rafael totally honored it! Yes, he did ask if we wanted to upgrade and he explained why it was important for the car, but people, respect that this is part of the man’s job. When you go to get your haircut, you ask the stylist for options, right? And when you grocery shop, you compare prices. Some of your clothing needs special maintenance, like dry cleaning only – how is this any different?
You should consider yourself empowered to have someone working on your car who is actually interested in the mechanics, and has willingness to share some of that knowledge with you (to help you get the most out of your investment… your car…) as you get your five– star service and then come home to complain about something as trivial as «shouting»?
I watched Michael, the owner check every car before it left. I watched him mentor his employees and a few small jokes exchanged between them. I sat, relaxed, in my car and sipped on Dr. Pepper while I read the Newspaper (also free) and was there for a total of 15 – 20 minutes. By the time I left, I was proud to see such diligence and integrity at an oilery– of all places– I hardly doubt I have ever received better service at any industry dependent on the kindness of its employees.

A couple years ago, I had my AC charged on my wife’s Saturn. We don’t drive it that much, and it probably needed quite a bit of service, as I was a little thrown back at the several hundred dollars of services they recommended. I declined the additional services, and they evacuated and charged my AC (with a coupon) for $ 80.
I’m a share the wealth kind of guy, and last summer when my AC was not working on my Trailblazer, I stopped at another place close. Both places are very close to where I work, and I see signs of promotion every day when driving to/​from work. The other place told me that it would be $ 250 to charge my AC, and presented ~$ 1500 of items that needed to be fixed. When I told them that I was pretty sure Einstein’s would charge my AC for $ 100, and politely declined all services, they said that the diagnostics was $ 50 and demanded I pay to get my car (their sign said «Free AC Check»). I paid the $ 50, drove my car immediately to Einstein’s, got a diet soda and a paper and they charged my AC for $ 80 with a coupon. All in all a much better experience at Einstein’s Oilery.
Every mechanic checks additional service items, and frankly they should. It presents an opportunity for them to make additional money, as well as an opportunity to properly maintain your car and catch potentially dangerous situations before they happen. We all remember 3−5k miles for an oil change, but really, who looks in the owner’s manual to make sure you’ve flushed your transmission often enough?
For the services the perform at Einstein’s, you will get fast friendly service, at a great price. I’m sure if Troy Y above would have taken his car anywhere, they would have looked at and recommended the same services (and likely charged more).
As for Kevin M — I’ve lost an oil plug in the past, I only wish a mechanic would have noticed it was bad and replaced it before it ruined my motor.

Good prices but I hate how they yell everything.

I used the Unilocal coupon and got my oil changed for $ 24.99. That was about $ 13 cheaper than the other places I checked. I believe their normal price was $ 34.99, still cheaper. They offered some nice perks: free paper and free beverage. (The guy who offered me the free beverage was so frantic he never got back to what I wanted! Oh well…) All the work was done fairly quickly. Which is what I wanted, a quick oil change at a good price.
Now the bad part. I am not a mechanic but can work on my own car when I have the time. This small amount of knowledge made the next part much easier on me. The up sell here was way over the top. Several times during the work they pointed out things they «recommend» be done. I declined everything, I don’t know how many no’s I uttered! Had I gone with all recommended services it would have cost me an additional $ 395-​$ 475 over the $ 24.99. (This does not include the oil cleaner and the fuel cleaner.) I think they would have made their monthly numbers off me. Don’t get me wrong, service is important. If kept up with, it greatly reduces maintenance costs. The problem is had it been my girlfriend she would have fallen for at least some of their scare tactics. Not cool. Mechanics already have a bad wrap about scare tactics and dishonesty. At least half of the items were unnecessary and the other half did not have to be done right then. You would have never known that from they way they told the story.
Had it not been for the up selling I would give 4 stars. Good value and work done right. For putting up with annoyance of up selling I have to give 2. I will go back but I will put the guy on notice that I ONLY WANT AN OIL CHANGE.
To the manager/​supervisor: please don’t tune up your people in front of customers. I saw and heard you do it several times. It makes me question their competency and it does not make you the type of boss they want to work for! (The frantic guy was one of the ones tuned up in front of me… wonder if that is why he was frantic?)

Never again will I take my car to Einstein’s Oilery. You sit in your car while they change your oil and the whole time they are trying to sell you on hundreds of dollars of other things. They bring these charts up to make you think you really need something that you don’t.
Also, WATCH OUT because even if you say no they may try and scam you into getting something you didn’t want. Did this to me with the oil plug. Oil change here is also super expensive compared with other oil service places.
Just be prepared for a horrible experience!!!