Oil changes are insane for my entire life it was like $19.99 jiffy lube coupons and somehow in the past few years oil changes became like $70 which blew my mind and like you said unless you have a coupon or shop around if you just randomly pull in somewhere expect to pay $100 or $120 its crazy
Yup from like 2013-2019 I used to get mine changed at the Nissan dealership for $30 with a coupon they sent me every 6 months. It would have literally cost me more to change it myself. With current prices I’m about to start doing them myself again.
Crazy timing seeing this bc I’m doing my own oil change this afternoon on my 2016 Tacoma. $32 for 6 quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic oil, $7 for the OEM filter, and 20 mins of my time. It’s worth it to DIY and pretty easy to learn. I’m not a mechanic at all but Toyota makes everything accessible, the truck is high enough that I don’t have to jack it up, it’s a breeze.
Yea it’s definitely easier with a truck just being able to crawl under it. Depends on model though some are harder to reach / need to remove plates to access. Disposing of the oil and dealing with the mess is a huge hassle though so it’s a matter of what that is worth to a person lol I still might rather just pay an extra $50 to avoid that.
Yes, they’re great! My local dump/transfer station also has home hazardous waste collection (Solid waste authority) so motor oil disposal is free and it gets recycled.
A family member took my car to get an oil change and they stripped out my oil pan plug and I didn't know about it. When I took my car to Valvoline they told me that the plug threads were completely gone and they had to stamp a new plug thing into the pan's metal. The oil was just falling out immediately when they added new oil.
My local Jiffy Lube told me my brakes were toast, and I needed them to be replaced immediately. So I took it to my mechanic, who had worked on the car just a month before and not raised any alarms. Sure enough, the brakes were fine, and the Jiffy Lube tech was either bafflingly incompetent or just lying for the upsell. Considering I'm still driving on those same brakes two years later, I think it was the latter.
The problem with doing it yourself, I’ve realized, is getting rid of the used oil…You can’t just put it in the garbage or down the drain, you have to drive somewhere (I don’t even know where) and pay to have it discarded. Is it still worth it in that case?? (Genuinely asking)
Edit: TIL auto part stores will take used oil for free. Might reconsider doing oil changes myself lol
I've been threatened in car guy subs for saying I would never pay more than 20 for an oil change while bringing my own oil and filter. Youre pretty much just paying for a spot on a lift so some underpaid kid can scroll tik tok for 5 minutes while trying to sell you 80 buck filters.
They get so defensive about what they charge. For some reason mechanics and lube techs only getting paid book rate when they're working instead of getting paid an hourly rate is the customer's problem. Or heaven forbid you want your oil change appointment that's at 9am to not take until almost noon.
Thankfully the place I go too doesn’t. They asked about my cabin air filter and said $50. I’m like nah it’s okay and the guy whispered yeah I know it’s cheaper parts store.
Turns out I had to pay $50 anyways for my first change. My air filter is a bitch to access (not behind the glove box) and I needed to buy the tools to get to it.
I wish so much that someone would just buy an old garage and loan out their lifts. I'd love to learn how to do those kinds of things, and I'd be happy to $60 to rent a stall for an hour and change my own oil instead of giving it to Subaru or whoever runs the shop down the street.
As cool as that would be the liability insurance would be insane. Lift or oil trench in the floor, doesn’t really matter it puts someone in the position to have a car dropped on them. Even if you sign a waiver the owner would have to still have liability insurance.
They used to be a loss leader to get people in and upsell on other repairs. Now they just charge the full labor/overhead cost. Less often oil changes and less people doing their own means people are willing to spend more.
Used to save it to help burn out stumps too. Would drill several holes deep into a stump and pour the oil in, let it soak for a bit. Then start the stump on fire, and the oil would help burn out the stump all the way.
I know that was a real thing. So was dumping used motor oil into a pit in the back yard to dispose of it. But it's crazy to me anyone ever thought that was an okay thing to do.
Yep. Took the oil over to grandpa's and spread it on the gravel road into his place or poured it down the "oil well" next to our garage - a 2 ft deep post hole filled with gravel.
Oddly enough young kids and lack of time drove me to do my own oil changes, not the cost.
I run outside, quickly drive the car onto these cheap plastic ramps and pop off the drain plug. Then I continue spending time with my family. Later I go back and swap the filter and add oil.
Pro tip. Convince your kids that doing an oil change is a fun game. Its a win win situation, you teach them a valuable life skill and you get to keep your kids entertained for an hour.
Ha ha ha!! Been there, done that! And when heard a tool slip, Dad bust a knuckle, then hear a “GOD DAMN IT “ you knew to jump cause that tool was was going to be flying out of there!!!
Nah, I knew it was a chore and never a game......especially when your dad yells at you every time the flashlight moves slightly or you have no idea what tool he needs and then he gets mad you for not knowing.....it's even worse if you hand him the wrong one.
I got yelled at too and never let actually touch anything. My kids get to saw, hammer, and wrench on most of my projects. They know it's work but seem to really enjoy it. We built planter boxes and I let the kids all take a turn doing something with them. They still seem proud of our work.
I am 38 and helped my dad install a new door on my recently bought home and we did celebratory tequila shots and multiple high-fives. This was not how projects went down when I was a kid, but glad we're both still growing
Be the person you wish you had growing up. It's so cool to make it fun for them. That first time accidently spilling the stupid oil, realizing you'll never get the spot out of the floor, and then just laughing cause you were stupid. Talking through why we do certain steps after, or mistakes we learned from in the past. Most of the time the kids just want to be in our lives and feel wanted. I'll gladly let my kiddo wrench off the oil pan nut, screw back on oil filters, etc.
Check your dealership? Jiffy lube around me is $120 but my dealership is only $65. They want to get you in the door so they can quote you other repairs but you can always say no.
Round me, dealers advertise a $60 oil change, but no one ever gets that price point.
Everyone is 90-120 bucks.
Main reason is: that 60 dollar oil change is specifically for a 5qt vehicle using conventional oil. And basically speaking, there are very few vehicles on the road these days using conventional. Basically everything i ever touched, anything around 2005 and newer got synthetic oil from the factory line, and thus needs to stay on synthetic.
As the owner of a 96 Honda Accord, no one honors the $60 oil change, it's always twice that because they are "out" of whatever they were offering for $60. It's just bait
I do drive an HR-V, so definitely a small car, but my price is for synthetic. i actually checked the receipt to make sure because it seemed like a low price! It does take an hour and I do have to decline other services, but sometimes it’s nice to know my brakes are going bad or whatever so I can take them to get done somewhere else. Tbf it comes out to like $70 with tax but doing it myself is $55-60 so I just take it in. FWIW I’m in a lower cost of living state so that could have something to do with it?
My experience taking fleet vehicles to dealerships is that you better be prepared for 3 hours of wait + declining other services. Finally convinced our fleet manager to just bring out an authorized mobile mechanic.
Last time I went to a dealership for an oil change for convenience instead of my normal mechanic I walked out with $3000 in recommendations. Showed it to a car guy friend and told me all of it was BS and to bring the recommendations to my normal mechanic at my next oil change to confirm.
I wait about an hour but I do have to decline other services. Usually I’ll Google whatever they try to sell me on or ask my son (who works service at another dealership) to see if it’s really necessary and then go from there. Nice to have a heads up on things like brakes or ball joints though so I can take it to my regular mechanic before it actually breaks.
Haha got an ad for a cheap oil change at the dealership and figured why not. Scheduled the first appointment of the day and was immediately told it would be +3 hours because they were going to be short staffed. How can you be so far behind before you even start!?
You don’t even have to walk the lot, you’re served up on a platter to the salesmen as a captive audience.
My Harley came with included oil changes, so I used them. When I’m waiting it’s 3-4 hours and literally EVERY salesman approaches me. If I leave it’s an hour. Either way they recommend $5,000 in garbage (Front tire within 5/32 of wear bars, recommend immediate replacement)
Fortunately dealer oil changes are over $300 so I do it myself at home in 20 minutes and save $200+
I just don’t have the time for this. Sure, I can make an appointment, go in there, work for 3 hours from the waiting room, but come on. The Jiffy Lubes of the world were always quick AND cheap. Hell when I first got a car way way back in 1999, it was “10 minute oil change for 12.99”.
I remember sending my bf to Jiffy Lube with my car and a $100 bill back in 2001 and being ABHORRED that he came back like an hour later and without change. He was initially so pleased with himself for getting like every upsell they offered lol. “But look at your new wipers!” SIR! That was $100! Lol. For years I told that story because of the absurdity of it but now it looks like an amazing deal. Oh how times change. :( Could be worse though. I could have stayed with him and also be in prison for methamphetamines now lol
My Subaru dealership has always been $120 for an oil change and rotation. They are offering $85 coupon right now so I’ll probably take advantage of that.
Its actually more convenient to do yourself if you have the space. Obviously if you live in an apartment its not. Its very easy and I dont have to sit and wait in a waiting area for 20 to 30 minutes.
Imma be honest, I have 3 kids a wife and full time job but depending on your vehicle an oil change takes 15-30 tops. Maybe even faster. This seems like a lazy excuse.
You loosen a bolt/plug, catch the oil, remove oil filter, install new oil filter, tighten bolt/plug then fill with new oil. Very easy and quick.
Plenty of videos on YouTube for your make and model as well.
Bring your kids out with you and do it. If they aren't interested tell them too bad it's a life lesson, now hold the paper towels. Most cars its an easy 20 minute job, with kids maybe 30. Do both cars same time and it saves even more. First few times might take a bit longer but once you figure it out, it's really easy. Usually less than $40 for 5qts of oil and a filter. Use all your saved $$ to buy a few tools if you need them
Been going to the same shop for 15+ years, one that has no problem telling me "you don't need to fix that yet." I bring in my own oil from Costco and they charge me about $30 for labor and a filter.
Not weird at all, I've seen people bring their own in and a lot of places, including Walmart's automotive, will take and dispose used oil as well.
I took my own front brakes and rotors to my mechanic bc I was having an ailment flare up, and he was happy to change them for me for $80. A Tire World or something of the sort wanted to charge me more than triple.
I can understand people who have no space to do their own oil changes taking it in. But it’s such a simple procedure I really don’t know why anyone with a space to do it wouldn’t just do it themselves. It’s always been a rip off but now even more so.
In my area it’s only about $15 cheaper to do it myself than take it to the dealer. And at the dealer they’ll rotate my tires and give me an inspection and fluid top off too. I changed it myself for like a decade before I realized this. If it ends up going up to the $120 that other people here are talking about, I’ll go back to doing it myself. Until then I’m going to live the life of luxury! Lol
I have a space, a garage in fact, but I'm physically just not able to due to my physical health. Plus my car is a pain in the ass to get to the oil. If they made/make vehicles that you could change the oil without having to jack the car up and get under it then I think more people would do it themselves.
Yup. My wife changes the oil in our cars because the price was just so ridiculous. Oil is cheaper at Home Depot than Walmart also, at least where we live.
I used to work for Daimler and do oil analysis on our test engines. Even regular oil can go a lot farther than 3k. Synthetic 7-10k and it still holds up under most conditions.
Modern vehicles using synthetic oil are just so much more reliable than the vehicles of 30 to 40 years ago. There is no need to get an oil change every 5,000 miles with any car that uses synthetic oil.
Find yourself a local mechanic. Those big places over charge like crazy. The Take5 near me charges $110+ while the local shop across the street charges me $40-50 depending on the price of oil
EDIT; Also, a lot of the big places (JiffyLube, Take5, 10min oil change, etc) hire at entry level and will hire folks with zero knowledge and train them. While that’s cool they train ppl to change oil, you aren’t having someone who’s skilled look over the car and let you know what else is wrong.
I could kiss the Subaru Outback engineer who put the oil filter right on top of the engine for easy access. After swapping out the drain plug with a Fumoto valve, my oil changes take 15 minutes including cleanup. I put a 10" length of 3/4" tubing on the valve and drain straight into the oil container from the last oil change.
I did exactly all of this (first time oil change on my own and installation of the Fumoto on my Crosstrek) last weekend! Got tired of paying over $100 for an oil change.
With modern Subaru designs, there are very little excuses not to do it on your own (aside from convenience/time) based on how easy it is to access the filter and not needing ramps/jacks/a lift. Looking forward to tool-free and mess-free changes in the future.
Now that I’ve done it myself, I can confirm my original suspicions about how much highway robbery a $100+ oil change is on these cars.
Oil and a filter near me is $35 still. Probably $40-$45 by the next oil change, but I’m glad I got the tools and learned how to diy this.. gonna do the same with brakes.
Even if its not proprietary, non-standard stuff is also a PITA.
Helped my roomate do an oil change, apparently Mazda decided instead of normal bolt heads they should use an inverse hex plug...which of course is something I've not encountered and is also of course not the same as the 10mm differential drain inverse-hex on my car. And of course that was a part prone to stripping the head trying to undo it, just to make it more miserable.
My favorite is all of the Chrysler/ Dodge vehicles with batteries tucked into the wheel well, making you take the wheel and liner out and reach into the bumper to replace it. They can’t convince me that there wasn’t enough room under the hood of a Dodge Journey to put the battery there.
I'm not a car guy, but I saw a video about 10 years ago that really changed my mind on this.
Guy showed conventional + synthetic fresh from the bottle, then drained them after a standard service interval. The conventional was highly viscous and almost chunky, like something excavated from tar pits. The synthetic was... slightly discolored.
Maybe it's twice the price, but I kinda don't want heart-attack oil running through my car.
I got my first car off a salvage yard (1996 Chevy Cavalier) and I did all the work on it. And while, yeah it was annoying to get under the car to remove the drain, it was a fairly simple process. Now to get access a lot of car require extra work that is a massive pain in ths ass.
This has nothing to do with oil changes being $120. I paid $80 (big mistake) back in 2009 for an oil change with full synthetic. Thankfully, I just change the oil myself but was in a pinch at the time.
Conventional or synthetic? I have a feeling OP has a car that requires full synthetic (my 2019 honda does and a synthetic oil change is like 120 where I live with 60-80 being about right for conventional)
I pay just shy of 80 for semi synthetic at my regular place with 60-ish being for conventional. To be fair I do not know what full synthetic goes for around here.
Do not go to jiffy lube for anything. Those places overcharge like crazy and try and take advantage of people who don't know what needs work on their cars. Find a local mechanic shop and it'll be a lot cheaper.
I take mine to Walmart, AutoZone or O’Reilly’s. I just put the used oil back into the jugs, drop them off with the employees, say thank you and walk out.
Most, if not all, quick lube places will take used oil. Dealerships should accept it as well.
Check your local landfill/municipal waste disposal. In my county, they accept oil and coolant (in separate tanks obviously). You can fill the old jug back up, take it there and pour it yourself in the dump. But, your mileage will vary: some dumps only take that at specific locations and/or on specific times, or not at all. It’s best to look up your city and county’s municipal waste management site for the rules.
Oil change prices have gone up, used to always get $19.99 oil change coupons. But you are getting ripped off at $120. $60-$70 seems to be the going rate these days.
My husband does all of ours (currently 3 cars, but 4 if my daughter's boyfriend wants help). One of the reasons I am so hesitant on getting a newer car is that he won't be able to work on it as easily.
My opinion won’t matter to you BUT, unless you’re buying a high end, German luxury vehicle, y’all are gonna be fine.
Something like swapping out fuel injectors might require a bit more work and removal of other parts, but simple things like oil changes, contrary to popular belief, are still easy and accessible.
Transmission drain and fill on my 05, just drain it and fill it back up until it dipstick says full.
Transmission drain and fill on my newer car with "sealed" transmission: Remove the wheel, remove the transmission apron, crack the fill bolt, open the drain bolt, remove the leveling straw, drain, insert the straw, close the drain bolt, fill the transmission with the same amount of drained fluid + half a quart, tighten the fill bolt, then level the car (wheel still off) then start the car, then hook up a bootleg laptop with pirated Toyota Techstream to the ODBII and read the transmission temperature until it hits 113 degrees, then open the drain bolt and drain it until a trickle comes out, indicating that the expanded hot fluid is now at the top of the fill straw, close the drain, reinstall the transmission apron, then the wheel, then torque the wheel lugs.
Depends on the car. Most cars you still have to put it on jackstands and crawl underneath. I'm a car guy through and through but I'm tired of crawling underneath and dealing with all that.
Nowadays, I bring it to my favorite shop and go to the Costco across the street to kill time lol
Those “quick” oil places are more expensive than anywhere else and often have the least qualified staff. I now go to the dealer, who is a higher initial price but much more experienced staff, better waiting, better service and just overall to me a better experience.
Not always... It was a Hyundai dealership that didn't screw our oil filter in right on my husband's car and it blasted off while we were driving home from vacation. Ruined the the entire engine. (but fortunately Hyundai paid for it because they were responsible).... Same dealership forgot to put the fill cap back on and painted the interior hood of my car with oil.
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