My yearly bike tune-up costs were pretty crazy a few months back. I need to start doing those myself.

TheCurl84 said:

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What has happened? Not very long ago it would cost around $50 for me to have my oil changed. Now about $125. Seemingly overnight. Is it simply that these places are now only offering synthetic oil brands? Or is something else at play?

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Walmart starts at 24.88 plus taxes etc. still. If you're going to a dealership to pay for an oil change, well, you primarily just hate your money anyway.

Cost is damn high, and while mine is due now I remembering the pain paying for it and being shocked.

I also need to drain and fill my transmission fluid, with both of those items being up you can bet I'm going to do it myself.

I used to do my own oil. Then I had teenagers and taught them how to do my oil.

Then they moved out and I realized the price differential between the cost of the supplies and the cost of dropping it off at the shop to have it done was minimal. And since my time is worth money, it was worth it to me to drop it off.

Then, the last 2 Jeeps I bought had 4 free oil changes and tire rotations. No brainer there.

Plus, doing a tire rotation on a Jeep with 35s is NOT very fun. Those tires get HEAVY for a fat old dude like me.

I have 4 cars / trucks. I bought a vacuum pump for this very reason. I can now change my oil and filter twice per year and save about $60-$70 per job.

My only issue is one of my cars. a Buick Enclave, has to be changed at a pro. The pump line won't go down from the top due to their schematics.

Quote:

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Plus, doing a tire rotation on a Jeep with 35s is NOT very fun. Those tires get HEAVY for a fat old dude like me.

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Several tire places do free tire rotations now.

I don't live close to a Costco but this last time I changed my oil, the Walmart brand full synthetic oil was on sale for $15 a 5qt jug. That's what I ended up buying because it is also blended by Warren. I know of guys with 500k+ on their pickups who have only ran Walmart Supertech.

If you go to Walmart for your oil change...buyer beware.

akaggie05 said:

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I agree it's gotten out of hand. Combination of things, IMO.
- Price of synthetic oil and more exotic grades like 0w-20 required by many new cars that only comes in synthetic
- Oil capacity of many new cars/trucks is 7-8+ quarts, where ~4-5 was the norm 20 years ago
- General public's knowledge of cars and car maintenance in general is at an all time low. Most everyone I know falls into the trap of "need to take it to a professional" even for an oil change.
- FJB

I can do an oil change in my driveway for around $60. Depending on which vehicle, can get two jugs of M1 or Rotella T6 + filter at Walmart for that price. Figure shop overhead and labor and there you are at $100+.

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On top of that, you get all of that used oil that you can spray along your fence line to save even more time and money on not having to weedeat those areas

LOL, somewhere an EV driver just spit on their screen.

aggiebrad94 said:

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Quote:

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Plus, doing a tire rotation on a Jeep with 35s is NOT very fun. Those tires get HEAVY for a fat old dude like me.

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Several tire places do free tire rotations now.

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Well...yeah, I get them from Discount Tire or the dealer now...but I HAVE done them before. Those are heavy ****ing tires/wheels...

TheCurl84 said:

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What has happened? Not very long ago it would cost around $50 for me to have my oil changed. Now about $125. Seemingly overnight. Is it simply that these places are now only offering synthetic oil brands? Or is something else at play?

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Started doing our own oil changes...not out of necessity, but because F them.

I refuse to pay $120-130 for a damn oil change. And the last one I got, they left my dipstick out about 8-10 inches and I didn't notice this until a few months later. I should have known to check everything myself after they changed it because that is not the first time a place has made a mistake over the years. Also convinced they use crappy oil often times.

I only save about $35-40 per car, but it gives me a nice little weekend project and I enjoy the peace of mind. I hate these new metal skid plates bolted under almost every truck and SUV nowadays btw.

Generally speaking, as long a you are regular with your maintenance and don't go too terribly long between intervals, it doesn't matter much which brand of oil you use.

That being said, I'm a Royal Purple homer and have been for 30 years now and have zero plans on changing that mentality. I also go 20k between oil changes and do the work myself. Buggy and tractor all get it as well, but they are only once a year changes. Change the filter every 5k, put a Fumoto valve on the drain pan and changing oil is stupid easy.

A whole lot of the cost at your local Jiffy Lube is the disposal cost they have to pay to dispose of the used oil because the EPA has put the squeeze on where and how it can be disposed of. Used to we could inject them in dead wells, but the tree hugers put a stop to that. Because putting oil back in the ground (you know, where it came from) is apparently bad.

How long would you go on Mobil 1 full synthetic? Royal Purple supposed to be significantly better?

I'm an EV driver but can very much appreciate both comments. I didn't spit on my screen but I definitely chuckled.

And for the rest of y'all complaining about the cost of oil changes, hold my beer. The local seadoo dealership wants $500 to do the annual oil change/maintenance. I have two.

Inflation is only 6%
Lol

Ag with kids said:

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I used to do my own oil. Then I had teenagers and taught them how to do my oil.

Then they moved out and I realized the price differential between the cost of the supplies and the cost of dropping it off at the shop to have it done was minimal. And since my time is worth money, it was worth it to me to drop it off.

Then, the last 2 Jeeps I bought had 4 free oil changes and tire rotations. No brainer there.

Plus, doing a tire rotation on a Jeep with 35s is NOT very fun. Those tires get HEAVY for a fat old dude like me.

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Not very many peoples' time is worth a single penny on the weekends.

Dude next to me left because he was quoted $171 dollars for an oil change for his Audi, because it needed European synthetic oil.

The liberal plan to make sure no one drives and everybody take high speed rail is working.

harleyds2 said:

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If you change your own like I do still at age 62. Cost a 1/3 of the price

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How do you dispose of your old oil?

AColunga07 said:

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I'm an EV driver but can very much appreciate both comments. I didn't spit on my screen but I definitely chuckled.

And for the rest of y'all complaining about the cost of oil changes, hold my beer. The local seadoo dealership wants $500 to do the annual oil change/maintenance. I have two.

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Good for you, and I have excluded you from my list of EV drivers who live down to my stereotypes. I don't exclude many, so congrats on your Friday achievement.

Orielly and AutoZone take old oil for free

evan_aggie said:

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I remember getting a 5 gallon jug of Castro GTX with a filter for $30 and Mobile 1 might be $40.

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5qt jug maybe? Or was this 1995?

Typically advanced has an oil change deal for that price

TheCurl84 said:

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harleyds2 said:

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If you change your own like I do still at age 62. Cost a 1/3 of the price

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How do you dispose of your old oil?

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- Take it back to the parts store they have a jug
- city recycling center

TheCurl84 said:

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harleyds2 said:

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If you change your own like I do still at age 62. Cost a 1/3 of the price

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How do you dispose of your old oil?

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Take it into Auto Zone and they do it for you. They'll even give you your jugs/containers back if you need them...begrudgingly sometimes.

Walmart Mobil 1 Synthetic gallon 27 and filter 15...what happened was no one is doing their own.

TheCurl84 said:

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harleyds2 said:

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If you change your own like I do still at age 62. Cost a 1/3 of the price

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How do you dispose of your old oil?

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Use it as a weed killer on the fence line.

aggiebrad94 said:

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I have 4 cars / trucks. I bought a vacuum pump for this very reason. I can now change my oil and filter twice per year and save about $60-$70 per job.

My only issue is one of my cars. a Buick Enclave, has to be changed at a pro. The pump line won't go down from the top due to their schematics.

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Enclaves are a pita to work on

I change the oil in my wife's it sucks because the filter is above the exhaust and some other parts. Always messy

ThreatLevel: Midnight said:

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They are also making new automobiles increasingly difficult to self service by eliminating free space under the hood for access so you need to remove xyz to acces a.

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getting the damn battery out of our Denali is quite a procedure. BTW, the bolts are metric!

This is trickle down wage inflation working its way into the system. An employee with just a GED is making 18 - 20 dollars an hour minimum since covid. Oil prices are actually coming down, I sell truck parts and the Oil has come down about 6% since the beginning of the year. But wages have skyrocketed so labor rates have skyrocketed. ours went from $75.00 an hour to $100.00 and will probably have to go up to $125.00 at the first of the year.

LMCane said:

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akaggie05 said:

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I agree it's gotten out of hand. Combination of things, IMO.
- Price of synthetic oil and more exotic grades like 0w-20 required by many new cars that only comes in synthetic
- Oil capacity of many new cars/trucks is 7-8+ quarts, where ~4-5 was the norm 20 years ago
- General public's knowledge of cars and car maintenance in general is at an all time low. Most everyone I know falls into the trap of "need to take it to a professional" even for an oil change.
- FJB

I can do an oil change in my driveway for around $60. Depending on which vehicle, can get two jugs of M1 or Rotella T6 + filter at Walmart for that price. Figure shop overhead and labor and there you are at $100+.

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you can't change the oil on certain BMW yourself.

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a lot of vehicles now that make it too hard to do it at home.

ts5641 said:

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They say it's because it's synthetic but prices are going up more quickly now than any in my lifetime. A routine grocery trip that used to cost $60-$75 is now easily $120. My health insurance premiums went up $84 last year and now another $96 a month this year after having not gone up for years before this bidenflation.

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My wife and I were recently disucssing how much our montly expenses have gone up.

Between gas, insurance policy increases, electric bill increase, water/waste, taxes, groceries, etc...our monthly is up around $600-$700 a month. That doesn't even account for the increases related to discretionary spending. Eating fast food, for a family of 4 is $40-$50 without blinking.

But I guess it's worth it since high school kids make $15/hr at Taco Bell, and OPEC is happy. <sarcasm>

It's odd to me, more people are screaming from the rooftops.

learn how to change your own oil, it's literally one of the easiest and most basic car maintenance tasks

you can get 5q of generic brand synthetic oil for ~$40 and a filter for $10 at an auto zone or oreilly's. auto shops will use the name brand oil, slap an upcharge on it, and bill you $50+ for maybe 10 minutes of labor.

Dimebag Darrell said:

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Ag with kids said:

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I used to do my own oil. Then I had teenagers and taught them how to do my oil.

Then they moved out and I realized the price differential between the cost of the supplies and the cost of dropping it off at the shop to have it done was minimal. And since my time is worth money, it was worth it to me to drop it off.

Then, the last 2 Jeeps I bought had 4 free oil changes and tire rotations. No brainer there.

Plus, doing a tire rotation on a Jeep with 35s is NOT very fun. Those tires get HEAVY for a fat old dude like me.

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Not very many peoples' time is worth a single penny on the weekends.

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I value ALL my time and put a value on it.

That way I can prioritize what I want to spend that time doing.

If your time is worth about what an oil tech's time is worth, have at it. I'm an engineer and it's worth a LOT more than that.

AColunga07 said:

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I'm an EV driver but can very much appreciate both comments. I didn't spit on my screen but I definitely chuckled.

And for the rest of y'all complaining about the cost of oil changes, hold my beer. The local seadoo dealership wants $500 to do the annual oil change/maintenance. I have two.

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Something about it floating, flying, or ****ing.....

Ag with kids said:

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Dimebag Darrell said:

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Ag with kids said:

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I used to do my own oil. Then I had teenagers and taught them how to do my oil.

Then they moved out and I realized the price differential between the cost of the supplies and the cost of dropping it off at the shop to have it done was minimal. And since my time is worth money, it was worth it to me to drop it off.

Then, the last 2 Jeeps I bought had 4 free oil changes and tire rotations. No brainer there.

Plus, doing a tire rotation on a Jeep with 35s is NOT very fun. Those tires get HEAVY for a fat old dude like me.

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Not very many peoples' time is worth a single penny on the weekends.

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I value ALL my time and put a value on it.

That way I can prioritize what I want to spend that time doing.

If your time is worth about what an oil tech's time is worth, have at it. I'm an engineer and it's worth a LOT more than that.

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Well I can change the oil in my truck at home in about half the time you spend driving to and from the lube place