Oil Changes: Dealerships vs. quicky place

I will be buying a new car soon from a dealership.

What are the pros and cons of getting my oil changes done at the dealership vs getting them done at a local oil change shop?

I have most of the oil changes done at a Jiffy Lube or equivalent, and any other servicing under warranty that adjustments or parts replacement at the dealer. In my experience you have to put up with a certain amount of obnoxious attempts to upsell from the lube places, but otherwise I’ve had no problems.

FWIW, this is an old issue, but every ad you ever hear on the subject drills customers on the 3K mile oil change mantra. My Subaru’s owner’s manual sez 7500 miles between changes. I split the difference and change at 5K.

Any competent auto repair shop can do an oil change properly, and it doesn’t matter where it’s done in terms of satisfying maintenance requirements for warranty coverage. Chain operations, including quick-lube places, often tend to oversell. I would ignore their pitches if you choose to deal with them (but don’t ignore the maintenance schedule in the owner’s manual). I don’t think there’s a compelling advantage to either option that applies broadly. Basically, it’s a personal choice based on convenience, where you feel comfortable doing business, etc.

Read the owner’s manual to find the recommended viscosity rating of oil (e.g., 5w30, 10w30, etc.) for your car. Make sure that’s what you’re getting, wherever you go (and yes, I have heard of dealerships that don’t follow the recommendation).

Read the maintenance schedule to find the recommended oil change interval. Be aware that there are usually two schedules, one for “normal service” and one for “severe service.” City driving patterns tend to be severe service.

I bring my car to the dealership (but the dealer by me has been nothing but outstanding, YMMV), because they have handy hours and do all kinds of inspecting and poking around. And I usually have a question about the car, and I know the guys there usually know what they’re talking about.

Do it yourself.

I get a sense of satisfaction from changing oil, and it gives me a good opportunity to crawl around the engine compartment and check on other things, too. While the oil’s draining, I top off all the other fluids, look for loose wires or worn belts or missing neighborhood children or whatever. Besides, if I do it myself, I don’t have to wonder whether somebody else really changed the filter or did they just wipe it clean and SAY it’s a new filter. I also know that the oil level isn’t TOO high.

I do it myself but if you have a new car you should ask the dealer whether you can do the changes yourself & keep your guarantee. Some let you do it as long as you use high quality parts.

I let a big store do it once & they over tightened the nut & put in a really cheap filter, idiots.

You might consider the dealer maintence package if its offered.

I would go to the dealer to keep the warranty in line. Besides the dealership is guarenteed to have your new air filter size in stock.

I find the quickie lube places always want to take advantage of me and try and convince me to get special cleanings and extra work done. I always tell them to “back off” this is a 2003 car! It couldn’t possibly need all that stuff.

Going somewhere else to get your oil changed will not void your warranty.

Keep in mind, though, that providing service records to the future buyer of your car is easier if all service is done in one place.

Also, if the type of car is new, other places may not have the oil filters available.

I go to the dealership for one car, and I do the other four myself. I just really like BSing with the guys at my dealership. :slight_smile:

I’m with the change it yourself camp but that isn’t some people’s preference. For me, I like to do as much work on my baby as I can. That way I know she’s being treated well. Oil and filter change, air filter cleaning (K&N), full wash and wax, interior maintenance, AV stuff. I’m not a mechanic but I like to take care of my baby. Good to get your hands dirty from time to time.

As far as when to change, you might monitor the cleanliness of your oil periodically as you check the level. If it gets dirty fast, have it changed on the more frequent side of the mileage range. It’s the dirt in it that can really cause some wear.

The dealership where I bought my car offered free oil changes for the life of the car, so being a perpetually broke student, I took it there. Now that I’ve moved, I’m due for a change and need to contact the local dealer and see if I can transfer that perk; otherwise, I’ll take it wherever the other household cars get taken.

In my experience-stay AWAY from those chain /franchise oil-change shops. My father went toone in Florida, and they put his oil drain plug on with an impact wrench! they stripped the trheads, and overfilled the crankcase.
Basically, they employ chimpanzess at minimum wages, so beware…I would not trust my car to these simians.

I’ve heard a few horror stories from people who used quick-lube services. Sometimes they’re so quick that they don’t put everything back where it’s supposed to be. My brother reported one did hundreds of dollars in damage to his Porsche because some part of the oil system wasn’t completely snug.

Our regular mechanic has handled all of our oil changes.

Another vote against chain quick-lubes. During my first year in college, I decided to take my Jeep to the local Jiffy Lube. They wanted to leave my Jeep sitting out in the parking lot, unlocked and with the key in the ignition.

Needless to say, I’m still going to the regular family mechanic for repairs and maintenance.

My father was a lube-shop owner for many years. He instead recommended to me either do it yourself, our go to a dealer or mechanic. The lube places are always very rushed, and have a very high turn-over of employees that often don’t know squat about cars and are too busy to take the time to find out. Cars today are extremely sensitive to specific oil types, you don’t want some high-school kid two weeks on the job filling your fragile classic sports car with 10-30 when it really needs something else. Often times the car owner doesn’t even know enough about their own car to determine what oil type should be used.

If you don’t personally know your oil type, take it to the dealer, they are the experts.

The quick-lube place I go to is privately owned. The people there know me as a regular and I have always received good service. They don’t do any upselling, but will let me know if something like an air filter needs to be replaced. They have also let me know about problems that they have identified but were not set up to fix themselves.

One time I went to a place close to my work to have my oil changed so my car would be ready when I left that day. By the time I got home I realized that the back window of my car had oil sprayed all over it. I took the car to a mechanic our family knew and he found out they didn’t put some part back on properly. He replaced the lost oil and only charged me $2 for it. I never went back to that place again, and not surprisingly, they went out of business and changed hands a few months later.

I changed my oil myself once. What a pain. The filter was in such an awkward place that it took me an hour of sweating and finally a call to the Toyota dealership to actually get the damn thing off. Once I drained the oil into my roomate’s oil pan, I noticed that the pan was almost full, so I decided to take it to a place that deals with used oil. My first stop was a gas station. They said they had stopped accepting used oil because teenagers were throwing debris into the oil at night. sigh

Next I went to Autozone. The clerk there was happy to take the oil, but -oh- one problem. There was some rainwater mixed in with the oil (the pan had been sitting outside for a while and the cap was loose).

“We can’t take it if there’s water mixed in,” the clerk firmly declared.

“Well, then, what am I supposed to do with this crap?” I responded. “If it’s illegal to dump it in the ground and you won’t take it, what the hell do I do?”

He just shrugged.

After a moment, he relented and let me dump my water/oil mix in his giant container.

Never had any problems with the chain places.
I go to the dealer for intermediate and major service, though.

And I change my oil at 7,500 miles. IMO, the “Change every 3,000” is just an attempt to drum up more business.

Wow, I’m so totally blown away by what everyone has to say on this topic. I have now owned three American cars (read: lots of problems as they get in the 50,000+ mile range). With my first car, I took it to the dealer because oil change only places weren’t very common back then. Every single time, they would try to upsell me something with some ‘recommended service’ and not knowing enough about cars, I’d usually let them gouge me. Brakes and rotors are their favorite. That was a Chrysler, if it matters.

With the next car (a Ford), I did a combination of dealers and third party mechanics for service, including for oil changes. I found again that the dealer ALWAYS tried to upsell me stuff when I brought the car in. The other mechanics did to a lesser degree.

With this car (a Chevy), I go to chain oil changing places, and ONLY third party mechanics. I find that Chevy dealers in my area hire only the laziest idiots who take twice as long to do half as good of a job as the independent mechanics. They also use the shoddy Chevy parts that seem to break a lot faster than the aftermarket stuff.

Besides, the only thing an oil change place has EVER tried to upsell me that I didn’t need was an air filter, which I always decline and change myself. Oil change places don’t sell many other services, so they don’t have an incentive to push them. Ever notice how every car that drives into a brake shop needs new brakes? That’s why they offer the ‘free brake inspection’. I feel the same way about the dealers that offer the ‘free oil changes’. I’m convinced it’s a loss leader to get you in the door so they can nail you for other services. In fact, I would dare say that the oil change chains have noticed problems in advance that they couldn’t fix, but were nice enough to point out.

Yes, the chain places do hire high school drop outs who barely know anything about cars, but how hard is it to change the oil anyway? It’s mostly just a dirty and messy pain in the ass. I’ll pay the $20 and let it be someone else’s problem. And when I’ve had the guy ask me “what kind of oil do you want?”…I open the owner’s manual, read what it says under ‘oil’ and tell him to put that in.

I too change every 5000 and usually am able to keep a car to more than 150000. Actually, I could probably keep one longer, but buy then I just want a new one…