I take my oil and filter down to Grider's and Mitch changes it. I always ask how much I owe him? He says $10 and I give him $20.

I know what my wife pays me for changing the oil in her car but the NDA in place, I'm not at liberty to discuss.

quote:

Originally posted by hunter62:
Can they actually force you to have service done at their shops to maintain a warranty? I thought that was just something they say, but couldn’t actually stick to.

I have done all my own oil changes for at least the last 15 years. I do full synthetic Mobile 1 that I get on sale at Costco. I also put a Mobile 1 oil filter. I have a K&N air filter that just gets cleaned every 50k Miles. Last I checked, what I pay is half what the dealer or Valvoline was charging. Plus with Costco I get an extra quart.

Nope...the Magnuson-Moss Act prevents your being denied warranty work if needed if you change your own oil or have it serviced somewhere other than at a dealership...it's best to keep your receipts and a record of mileage...if warranty work is needed, it is up to them to prove any failure is related to what you did yourself (or whoever) caused the failure...

At least that's the way it was described to me.

BMW charges me $89 and VW $69. Both get done every 10K. For me I’d rather spend my free time doing other stuff...I’m happy to pay it.

I changed my oil myself for decades, but now with my Kia Sorento I have the dealer do all of the service. They are far and away the best dealership I've ever dealt with. They never try to over sell me and each time costs me $32 with a wash and I get a freeby every 4th change.

Jim

I bought my Frontier used with 609 miles on it. Guy bought it, drove it for less than a month, and traded it on a full-sized Dodge.

I took my Frontier to the local Nissan stealership once for an oil change and tire rotation. Fucking assclowns:

Took 2 hours even though I had an appointment. Always nice on a workday to roll in at the crack of 9:30 with the excuse I had a 7:00 AM oil change appointment.

I had filled in all of my info on both the stealership's and Nissan's website. When I went to pay, I was handed a sheet with the original owner's information on it. They didn't give a shit that they had exposed all of his personal info to me, and just hand wrote down my information. I walked out with the original owner's information on the receipt.

To top it off they didn't put the key to the wheel lock back. To their credit they did make this right when I returned a few weeks later.

Had the nerve to call and whine when I gave them 1 star on the feedback.

Since then, I've taken my Frontier to a Mobil1 Lube Express. I can see everything they're doing and I know the base stocks for Mobil1 are top tier. Mobil 1, Mobil 1 filter, tire rotation, and car wash is about $90.

---

Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
Not sure what could be the downside of changing oil at the same dealer that offered the warranty other than driving there. Should be better than carrying 47 receipts in a box when your ride needs main bearings.


Congrats on your new ride.

I keep meticulous maintenenace records for each of my vehicles. I document every time anything is replaced down to wiper blades. I keep the accompanying receipt for oil, filters, parts, etc. I do not however document every fuel fill up like one buddy does.
So keeping everything is already covered.

Though with this vehicle I plan on scanning all the receipts so I have an electronic copy available in the cloud as I was going through the records I have kept for the van some of the receipts NAPA in particular were already fading and almost illegible and not even a year old.

So I would much prefer a 10 minute total drive vs. a 1 hour and 45 total drive. Plus if I was in a pinch and needed to be somewhere while they worked on the Expedition I could toss my bike in the back ride it home in 10 minutes grab my truck and be where I need to be.
Or if I had nothing else to do drop a couple pistols and a few hundred rounds of ammo in a backpack and walk to the indoor range behind the shop

Also I still have 15,000 miles of my factory warranty so any issue would go to Ford anyhoo.

quote:

I was handed a sheet with the original owner's information on it. They didn't give a shit that they had exposed all of his personal info to me, and just hand wrote down my information. I walked out with the original owner's information on the receipt.

In this state the dealership is required to give any potential buyer the previous known owners info.
Kind of pisses me off. I traded in an Audi years ago and out of the blue some guy called me on my cellphone asking all these questions about the car.
Asked the fella how he got my number and he told me that dealers are required to give folks the info of the previous owner. I looked it up and sure enough that is the case.
Some dealers put a state issued sticker on the windshield of vehicles for sale denoting this.

You think I gave this dealer my cell phone number now that I know this??? Nope, nope, and nope again. Should have done a google voice number to dump when all is said and done.

I change the oil on my 1994 F-150 myself. Once a year (I put about 1,000 per year on it). My Focus I take in. $40 for oil, rotation, inspection, etc. I usually take my Escort in, but I will occasionally change it myself, usually just to remind me why I take it in (the filter pisses out hot oil when removed. It also tends to go in about 4 different directions). My wife's Jetta TDI goes into VW every 10,000.

I am going through the maintenance schedule for this bad boy and Ford does not call for the front and rear differential, transfer case, and transmission fluids to be changed until 150k

I’ll certainly do them at 75k myself then have a trained professional do them at the 150 mark.

Spark plugs aren’t called for until 100k. I don’t like that idea either so I’ll drop a new set in at 50k.

I like to play it safe with maintenance but man 150k on the fluids seems really long to me.

With a coupon for my Chevy at the dealer about 40.00 and that includes tire rotation. Let them do all the work and get rid of the old oil. I worked on my other cars and did pretty much everything but it started to get to be a pain. Dealer is about 7 minutes from my house. I did replace the coil packs and some sensors by myself a couple of months ago but then again the dealer wanted over 2k.

I've no idea. I just go to the nearest oil change place and have them do it. Never pay any attention to what it costs. I can afford it, whatever it is, so just ignore it.

flashguy

My Dodge Cummins diesel truck takes around 15 quarts of synthetic oil (compensating for the additional oil coolers). If I buy Mobil Synthetic oil on sale I can get it for around $75 bucks plus around $8 for the filter.
So figure a total of $88 bucks with tax for materials.

Most of the Dodge dealers I've encountered want $160.00 or higher to change the oil. I do this one myself.

My wife's car I take to a oil change place because it's cheap to change.

$20 from the local guy with a no-name oil. Bout $22 if I do it myself with Fram and Pennzoil's recycled dinosaurs. $40 if it goes to the quick lube place, for the same dinosaurs and a purolator. Been doing it myself as my junk has been out of warranty almost as long as you've owned a cars (15 years past as of June).

I'm of no help, as I'd still change the oil myself regardless.

I buy Mobile at Costco. Then pay about $30 for the shop to change the oil, including factory filter. And they check stuff like fluids, pads, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
I know what my wife pays me for changing the oil in her car but the NDA in place, I'm not at liberty to discuss.

What? No cheap joke about lube jobs, dipsticks and packing the wheel bearings?

I change my own on the older vehicles that are
1. Out of warranty
2. Easy to slide under

If it has to be on ramps to get under it, or is still covered under warranty, I take it to my mechanic to keep life simple. He charges $20 or so plus cost of the oil and filter required by the manufacturer, which for my bride's 2017 Silverado is pretty expensive (GM DEXOS compliant).

quote:

I like to play it safe with maintenance but man 150k on the fluids seems really long to me.

Black02LX- They may have gotten away from this and begun a change around 75K, but BMW used to call their auto transmissions "lifetime fill" Many owners that wanted fluid changes were denied in the past by dealers. It is presumed they only cared about the transmission living past warranty, and were just fine with installing a new one if it failed.

I too do all my own maintenance on my personal vehicles. The only thing I pay to have done is tires and alignments. I keep my own records, and this has worked well for me.

I do now have a take-home car for work, which I am required to maintain (on the town's dime). The town mechanic does all of the routine stuff, but I have to get it there. Even though he's really good about working me into his schedule, it still takes a lot more of my time on my days off to take it in to him than it would to just do it myself (20 minute drive each way).

Then there's the fact that it's an effing Ford and it seems to need recall work done about every other month. That involves setting up appointments at the dealership, having my wife rearrange her day to pick me up, then drop me off when it's done. Even though it's costing me nothing out of pocket, dealing with the dealership is a huge PITA, and has firmly reinforced my policy of doing my own work on my own cars.