We’ve seen it, the image of a man or woman changing their own oil with grease-stained jacked with a wrench in hand and oil dripped over their clothes and on the ground. The imagery looks to provide a self-sufficient person who can handle anything mechanical…especially oil changes! What’s not typically shown is the expensive pieces […]
We’ve seen it, the image of a man or woman changing their own oil with grease-stained jacked with a wrench in hand and oil dripped over their clothes and on the ground. The imagery looks to provide a self-sufficient person who can handle anything mechanical…especially oil changes! What’s not typically shown is the expensive pieces of equipment that may be needed to get your vehicle oil change from point A to point B.
When you live in Grande Prairie life can get fairly busy. Most households have more than one vehicle which can result in their fair share of oil changes. Throw in a teenager’s new ride and you’re finding you need to do a half dozen oil changes yourself.
Getting an oil change isn’t overly expensive for forking over anywhere from $40 t $100 dollars each time is never fun. What’s worse can be the extra money you end up giving for any additional extras your oil change service may find. Extras like air filters, transmission fluids and flushes, brake pads/rotors etc all can come into play when you visit somewhere that will change your oil. When you consider all of these extra costs it seems logical to change your oil yourself doesn’t it?
Well, truth be told, you likely won’t save a lot of money changing your own oil. For starters time is money and when you factor in your own labour costs you’re likely better to have a professional place like Quick Lane do it for you.
If you’re looking to save money on oil changes there is a better way to go about that. First, stop getting them every 3000 KM. You can cut costs on oil changes by more then 50% if you decrease the frequency of your visits and visit every 6000 to 8000 KM’s. If you have a newer vehicle that the oil change indicator should take all the additional guesswork out of it.
The best bet is to check your vehicles owner manual or simply call us at our location and we’ll give you some advice on when we think you should come in for an oil change.
Visiting our Quick Lane you’ll be able to choose what’s needed and what’s not when it comes to extras. With every visit and every oil change we’ll provide you a comprehensive 83 point inspection on your vehicle allowing you to make a decision on what you want to service or if you want to wait until your next visit.
You can also wait for deals. Quite often we are giving away coupons and discounts on a regular basis for oil changes and other vehicle services so be sure to sign up for our newsletter to ensure you get the discounts you’re hoping for.
Those are just some of the ways you can save money on oil changes. But if you want some cold hard facts and numbers consider that to start you’re going to need an initial investment of supplies. Drain pans, car ramps, filter wrench, oil, oil filters and of course the time spent on doing it yourself (say 1 to 2 hours).
Plus don’t forget you’ll need to take the proper environmental steps to dispose of the oil.
Crunching numbers the savings aren’t as great as one would expect. All things considered, you may be saving a few dollars each oil change which if you factor in how much your time is worth you may not.
What do you think? Do you think it’s easier to save money and change your oil yourself or do you value your time more? Let us know below and be sure to come to visit our location in Grande Prairie for all your oil change needs.