Changing your own oil to save money is not news to anyone, but I think a lot of oil/filters in auto parts stores are way overpriced. I have been overpaying for filters and oil for a long time, and just now made some discoveries I wish I had made 5 years ago.
I just bought 5 Fram oil filters for a total of $12.69 (including shipping and tax) from RockAuto.com, which would cost me $10-$12 each from my local Autozone.
The oil itself also varies wildly in price from one brand to another. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as long as your synthetic oil meets API standards and is the correct SAE viscosity grade, it is all more or less the same stuff. They put in additives here and there with varying degrees of effectiveness and mark it up. From now on I plan on buying the store brand synthetic and seeing if I notice any differences. I don't know how much advantage there is to buying this online versus the store; probably cheaper online.
Same goes for any car maintenance, really. When the dealership quotes you for a part, you can usually cut the price at least in half by buying it yourself from Amazon or eBay. I had a dealership quote me for $700 and some change for a new AC compressor, found the replacement on eBay for $160 over the course of the phone call. It's gotten to the point where I don't even entertain the idea of letting them buy something for me.
I have started saving a lot of money by trying to learn more about my car and do as much maintenance myself as possible. It started with oil changes, but now unless it requires some fancy expensive tool or some advanced knowledge (I backed down from a timing belt change, and I let the dealership do the labor on that AC compressor even though I bought it), I recognize that a car is just a bunch of hoses and bolts and tackle it myself.
July 18, 2017 at 12:12PM
