I’ve been skimming this sub for awhile, and a lot of people seem to think that changing your own oil is not going to save you money.
If your car just requires conventional oil, and you change it every 5,000MI for $20-30 and get nothing else done at the shop, that assumption is probably correct. You also could have a car that has a difficult to reach filter, where you want a shop that do it. Or you might want to do a tire rotation, and while it’s easy to understand, it involves a lot of lifting.
Here’s some exceptions to that in my opinion:
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If your car requires synthetic oil or you just like using it, you can get huge savings from changing it yourself. Supertech Synthetic is $18 at my Walmart for 5qt. A filter is less than $3. That’s $21. Compared to $70 or $80. Before you ask, supertech is dextros approved and it’s fine for most domestic and Asian vehicles. With European cars you might need a more expensive oil that meets specs. Even if you opt for Mobil 1 or Valvoline, it’s around $25, and the more expensive filters are around $10.
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You find yourself leaving the shop spending way more than $20-30 due to upsells. If you can’t say “no”, changing your oil, and doing the cabin/engine air filters at home will save you money. Most of these filters are around $12 each. I can change them in less than 1 minute in my car. Your car might require 5-10 min. A bonus to doing DIY work is you become more knowledgeable, and shops tend to give you less BS. For example I changed my struts in my 12 year old car. The shop did the alignment after I was done and didn’t try to sell me anything. I’m sure they could have found something.
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You have shops frequently strip your drain plug or otherwise damage your vehicle and you are tired of dealing with it.
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With the savings, you can spend $20-40 to send your oil off to a lab and have them tell you what’s in it and spot issues early. Example: https://imgur.com/a/C5w9H This is also how I know that $3 filter and $18 dollar oil is fine.
I also realize some people just hate working on their cars, and that’s perfectly fine. I hate cooking elaborate meals and use the savings from doing my own car repair to eat out more often than I should. Do what you enjoy.
Edit:Also check with your apartment complex to see if they care. Mine does not.
September 09, 2018 at 10:51AM
