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Walmart Auto Care Centers offer automotive services at an affordable price. The services that they provide include services for tires, batteries, oil and lube, fuel system, and many more.
While they are offering so many services at one place with additional products available in their retail store at a cheap price, many often wonder whether Walmart Auto does vehicle safety inspections.
So, does Walmart do car inspections?
Walmart will not do a state vehicle inspection at their Auto Center/Tire And Lube. They do offer a basic inspection with the oil change but it does not even come close to meeting the standards that car safety inspections need to.
Walmart’s auto care centers provide basic automotive services like flat tire repairs, oil changes, tire balancing, tire care, and a wide range of other vehicle services that can be done quickly while you shop. They don’t do extensive repairs or have the spare parts on hand that would be needed to do many types of repairs.
If Walmart did car safety inspections that would require them to pay far more to their “mechanics” since they would have to have specialized knowledge to provide the car inspection services and to see what might be wrong with the type of vehicle that you own.
In turn that would be the prices that they have to charge car owners would go up as well.
Instead Walmart only hires basic mechanics who do the most basic things that are very difficult for anyone to mess up (seriously messing up a battery change is virtually impossible). This helps protect Walmart from lawsuits (can you imagine if they said a car was safe when it wasn’t) and also keeps their labor costs in the Auto Center lower.
Most of the other largest retailers that also have car services will only offer the most basic of maintenance services as well. It simply isn’t worth offering things that are near as in depth as private shops would.
Does Walmart Auto Do State Inspections?
Many states require that your vehicle undergo routine safety inspections to ensure that it is safe to drive on the roads. This is different from standard vehicle inspections as a state car inspection requires certain things to be checked by a qualified individual or shop.
Walmart Auto Center does not do state inspections on vehicles. To find a list of those shops that are qualified to do a state inspection where you live, contact your local DMV.
Walmart typically doesn’t do state inspections because of the specific certifications required to do so. Since most of their “mechanics” at Walmart aren’t certified by anyone other than Walmart then they can’t do state inspections for you.
Some states even go so far as to have an official inspection station where all car owners must go to get a car safety inspection or to get emissions inspections done.
Most states aren’t that strict though and will allow a certified mechanic or a certain auto shop to perform the proper car inspections that are needed. They should also be able to do any necessary repairs that you need so you can pass the inspection as well.
Currently the states that require regular safety inspections are:
- Delaware (every two years)
- Hawaii (every year)
- Louisiana (every two years)
- Maine (every year)
- Massachusetts (every year)
- Missouri (every two years)
- New Hampshire (every year)
- New York (every year)
- North Carolina (every year)
- Pennsylvania (every year)
- Rhode Island (every two years)
- Texas (every year)
- Vermont (every year)
- Virginia (every year)
- West Virginia (every year)
If you can’t figure out where to go to get your state’s inspection done then contact your local department of motor vehicles.
Why Doesn’t Walmart Auto Inspect Cars?
There are a bunch of reasons why the Walmart Auto Center does not do standard vehicle inspections. While their services are comparatively cheaper than other shops, unfortunately, they fail to provide inspections for cars.
According to a research study, the mechanics who work at Walmart are not required to certify themselves under any other program apart from Walmart’s own certification and training program.
This puts a limit on their skills and means they are often not qualified to look for a range of problems an automotive inspection might need to find.
The employees are allowed to have external certifications by their own merit, but they are not required by Walmart while hiring.
This comes as a disadvantage, as many workers are hired with not enough skills or expertise in the automotive inspection to allow Walmart to offer the service so they don’t.
As mentioned earlier, not hiring skilled mechanics also saves Walmart a good amount of money in labor as they only offer the most basic services that virtually anyone can learn.
Auto Services Provided At Walmart
Walmart has three basic types of services that they provide. These services are associated with tires, battery, and oil and lube services.
All the services are set at very affordable prices to help save on basic repairs and maintenance.
Walmart Tires
The brands of tires that Walmart has in their retail store include Goodyear, Firestone, Cooper, and many more. There are two types of tire installation services that they provide:
1. The Basic One which includes tire mounting, lifetime balance and rotation every 7,500 miles, Valve stem service, and 50-mile lug re-torque.
2. The Value Pack includes everything in the basic package with a road hazard protection warranty.
The additional tire services provided by Walmart Auto Center include:
• Flat tire repair (tubeless)
• Carry-in tire mounting
• Specialty tire mounting
• Tire rotation
• Lug Nut replacement
Oil changes
The various types of oil changes available at Walmart include standard oil, high mileage oil, semi-synthetic oil, synthetic oil, and pit crew.
These are all affordable options and can be easily done at Walmart Auto Care.
The other services provided by Walmart are:
• Air Filter Replacement
• Battery Installation
• Battery Testing
• Coolant System Cleaning
• Fuel System Cleaning
• Lube Services
• Oil Filter Replacement
• Windshield Wiper Fluid Change
How Is The Quality Of Services At Walmart Auto Center?
Where Walmart has a ton of retail supply for almost everything at an affordable price, one often enquires about the quality of the services provided by the Walmart Auto Center.
Although Walmart Auto Center always comes up with budget friendly services, it is important to consider the quality of the work that is done on your vehicle as well.
If you get work done cheaply but it destroys your car then it really isn’t worth getting done.
Although the quality of work done at the Walmart Auto Center isn’t the best, it is good enough that you shouldn’t be scared to get your oil, battery, tires, etc. done there.
The quality of work done by Walmart will be about the same that you would get at places like Jiffy Lube, Quick Lane, Valvoline, etc.
I’ve gotten my oil changed and tires done multiple times at Walmart and at other third party shops and the quality of the work is comparable.
Despite Walmart not hiring the most experienced people your car should be well taken care of when you are there getting one of their services done. I personally wouldn’t hesitate to use them for tires or a lube service but anything beyond that and you are better off finding a qualified mechanic at a real auto repair shop.
Conclusion
Walmart is a retail giant that has spread across continents. Their products and services come as inexpensive and easy to avail. There are certain limitations in the quality of service at Walmart Auto, yet they are the very best at every outlet.
Walmart has extended its future plans that include smart shopping carts and drone assistance, but they have not mentioned anything regarding the possibility of having car inspections at all of its branches.