The Economic Case For Self Oil Changes
 

Hey guys. I took my car in for the 8K oil change today. I've never done my own oil change, but I've been looking into starting next spring. The price at the dealership for the oil change has sort of made me do some number crunching, though. While I was there, I swung by the parts department and got quoted on the stuff I'd need to do it.

Toyota charges 8.90 for the oil filters. Subaru charges 7.50 for them. So even with tax in, getting them from Subaru will be cheaper. Toyota wants something like 7.50 per liters of oil. IIRC, our cars need something like 5.7 liters. So 7.5X6 would add up to $45 for the oil. With the oil filter, that's like 52 dollars. Plus associated taxes, of course.

Now, the dealership charged me in the 50s for the oil change, came out to be $62 after tax. The changed the oil, filter, and gasket. I guess they also checked the air filter.

I'm not seeing a huge economic case for doing self oil-changes if the dealer you go to can be trusted. I know a lot of guys in favour of doing your own maintenance will argue that it saves you money. Since I'm starting from scratch with no tools, (no jacks, filter wrench lifts, or oil suction machine), it seems to be that there's no possible way that doing it at home will save you any money. Thoughts on this?

Just consider where you are going dispose of your used oil.

The way I see it, is never do the oil changes at home unless you have a lift or you love the manual labour involved. You can go to a private garage with your own oil, filter and gasket and pay them $10(usually) for using the lift and exchanging the oil(labour/ disposal).

Or you can continue using your dealership oil changes, why? Because I assume your vehicle is still under warranty and if there are any related problem with oil (usually aren't) they can't blame it on your "non-warranty" oil changes

Or you can go to a quick lube place life jiffy lube or econo lube. Cheaper than the dealership but more expensive than the first option. <- This is usually warranty approved.

Usually people make a midnight run to their local Canadian Tire and leave it outside the entrance. Don't ask me how I know.

Jiffy Lube is around $99 for 0W20. Free newspaper and coffee.

The jugs of oil are 5L ea so the oil will be more than your estimate.

Toyota dealers offer a great deal on oil changes hoping you will continue to enjoy their service for other work. I can't justify doing my own unless it's for full synthetic.

There is a reason Toyota is #1 and rightly so to some extent.

Only way I'd DIY an oil.change would be with an oil vacuum, some full synthetic oil and NO draining from below. Our vehicles have the best possible location for the filter access BTW.

Canadian Tire had no objections to picking up my yearly dump of used oil :).

If you just love working on your car and have plenty of time, sure.

Like you've calculated, I don't see much point. If the dealership is not total idiots, its fine if they change the oil. They go through dozens of oil changes a day I'm sure.

I was changing the oil on my old car, Nissan Maxima, because I needed to do it every 6 weeks. Supposedly I saved $30 each time, 7 changes a year = $210. This is totally peanuts if you factor in your own time (assume you value it). I did do more complicated things myself, like changing brakes - fucked up once, stripped the bolt, wasted another hour to go get a replacement; sparkplugs - done in 3.5 hrs, would cost me a pretty penny; coolant and transmission fluid...
All of this was pretty painful, no lift, jacking up the car and putting it on stands when needed. Not something i get excited about.

So far I had 2 oil changes at the dealer and I was out in about an hours time. While waiting, I can actually do some work on a laptop or browse the beautiful pictures of the twins here :).

Here they take it during the day time...they usually tell me to leave it on the side of the building :lol:

There is little to gain as far as saving money, but if you want to learn about your car and doing oil change, go ahead and have somebody knowledgeable assist you if possible for the first time. Be sure to save the receipts for any possible warranty claims.

Canadian tires gets some good sales on 0w20 Castrol 5 Litre jugs, something like 34$, so if you do it smart you can save a bit of money. It's actually on sale this week (It's not the right grade but they should carry 0w20 too)! http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ca...-0289212p.html

Wow, that's a decent price for the filter at Toyota. My dealer can't (or won't) touch that. I pay around $8 at the Subi dealer next door. If your dealer can do that, they should be able to do a little better on the oil (ask about case price). I get Toyota's TGMO 0W20 by the case (12 X 1L) for about $5/Liter...not bad for a really good oil. They also have no problem taking my old oil.
I have also done the midnight drop off at Canadian Tire...I look at it this way...when I buy oil at Canadian tire, there is a disposal/environmental fee added at the checkout (check your receipt). If they're going to charge me a disposal fee, damn right they can dispose of my oil.

Do NOT go to Jiffy Lube. That is, unless you want some kid that knows as much about cars as he knows about brain surgery mucking about draining & refilling your engine's lubrication system.

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Doing your own oil changes is like BBQ your "own" pre processed burger. Can't be done cheaply enough to warrant doing it yourself.

In sunny Alberta we just take our used oil to the local fire department hazardous waste site, no disposal fee.

Money wise I haven't really found it to be better when compared to dealership prices. However, dealer oil changes are painfully slow and they'll leave you there for an hour, sometimes more. Doing it myself takes me 20-30 minutes and I can just pass by a local auto parts store and tell them to dispose of the oil at my convenience. For me, the real reward is saving time, not money.

I get free dealership oil changes for a while. Till they stop being free, I'll let the dealership change the oil.

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So basically the impression I'm getting is that I should really only do them myself if I either enjoy doing that sort of work, or if I have nothing better to do.

Blimey that's a lot of oil - the 2.5L EJ engine only takes 4.2 quarts..

Man wish I got charged $60 something. When they wanted to do the first service, they quoted me $130. Never asked them for just the oil change.

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Uhhh... you got *charged* for your 8K oil change?

From http://www.scion.ca/scion/en/owners/service/maintenance

"Complimentary Factory-Recommended First Maintenance Service

With every Scion, your first maintenance service is on us and can be redeemed at any Scion or Toyota dealership."

You should get your $$ back.

Well, I already used my first free oil change at 3K. So the 8K had to come out of my pocket.

Also got the complimentary one at 3K. Squeezed in 2 additional ones as part of the purchase so I guess I'm good until ~22K

Or if you are one paranoid mother-f**ker who doesn't trust anyone else to do even such a simple thing as an oil change without cutting corners and f**king it up.

That's why I change mine. :thumbup:

Also, it's therapeutic - imagine all that oil pouring out is the blood of your enemies as you crush them, drive them before you and hear the lamentation of their women.

oil change places get paid for used oil by recyclers, if you want a place to drop your oil feel free to drop it at my shop :D

btw it takes quite a bit to get paid, so don't think a few litres will get you anywhere, heck a few hundred litres won't either lol

Remind me never to get on your bad side.

I think I got ripped off by my dealer then - I guess Subaru doesn't do free oil changes, and I got charged $134 after taxes.

Subaru does do free oil changes. About 4...

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Wait what? They do?

I would love to be able to trust a place to change my oil. I have given that many tries and it has NEVER been done correctly. You would think it would be simple but for me it is always messed up.

Common problems are wrong or no crush washer, access door not reinstalled correctly and drain plug vastly over tightened. The most common problem of all is that places will air the tires up to the maximum sidewall pressure despite me asking them to not adjust the tire pressure.

I really hate to pull straight out of the service bay then have to fix a bunch of stuff. Much easier to just do it myself and know that it is done right.

Maybe straying a tad bit OT, but what did I miss by not changing at 3k?

Absolutely nothing.

You guys are getting ripped off. Just go to WMT and pick up a good brand name Mobil 1 oil and OEM filter from the dealership (see below). I know that the dealership would have charged at least $70 for this oil change.

Mobil 1 0w-20 5qt = $22.47
Mobil 1 0w-20 1qt = $6.97
Subaru OEM Oil Filter + Washer = $9.60 (including tax)

Total = $39.04

Not in Canada. Servicing is not included.

WMT sells Mobil 1 for under $4 per litre? I don't think so. Try $7 per litre, mind you a litre is more oil....

You realize we're Canadian, right? We pay more for things arbitrarily.

we charge a little over $100 for the frs oil change... haha

Price for oil change at my dealership is low 50s. $52, I think, but I don't have the invoice in front of me. For me it's not worth my time to buy the stuff, do it myself, then dispose of the old oil. YMMV.

The 16000 km service will be 3 times that, because they're also replacing 2 cabin air filters. $100 for filters seems steep.

I do my own changes for peace of mind knowing that they've been done RIGHT.

Example
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52097

That's the only reason I do mine. If you're doing it to save $, you're saving something like 5 or 10 dollars, and that's definitely not worth the pain in the ass imo.

Fair enough, but if you don't trust them, you should be going somewhere else anyway.

I'm confused. Why is that? I am perfectly capable of changing my own oil :)

I use toyota oil and filter as well as keep all the receipts. I put the date I change the oil on the receipt, and I also have a spreadsheet printed out with the date, maintenance performed, mileage, and type of fluid used. :thumbup:

The OP asked if it cheaper to do it himself. You didn't say you do yourself because you enjoy it or because you're cheaper, but because you want it done right. You then linked to a thread where the dealer overfilled.

I was simply saying don't take it where you'll get service you don't trust.

Just like my children.

Depending on how long you plan on keeping your car, it will definitely be a good idea to have a paper trail of oil changes and maintenance work from the dealerships. Dealers keep that all on file, and they will most likely be willing to give you more for the car if they have proof that it's been properly taken care of.

If you plan on selling the car after owning it for 4 years, then I would get the oil changes done at a dealer. If you plan on keeping it for 10, I don't think the paper trail matters at that point.

I get the oil changes done at the dealer for any car that still has factory warranty. I've read horror stories where there was an issue with the engine and the dealer refused warranty as the owner did not use any one of the approved dealers for the regular maintenance.

IMO, I'm not willing to deal with that kind of headache (assuming something does happen), and the difference between going to an independent shop, doing it yourself vs the dealer is a relatively small amount of money for maintenance over the duration of the warranty period.

Doing your own oil changes will void your engine warranty in Canada.

I estimate dealership labour charges for an oil change are about $20 and parts mark up for the oil is about $10.

You can't save money on the filter because your engine warranty requires you to use the OEM. The dealership pricing of their oil is actually pretty reasonable and because it says Subaru on the bottles you can have no warranty issues.

For four years you can save about $120 doing those four oil changes yourself, estimated.

I don't think we Canucks get this.
We (as usual) get screwed.