Renters ... Where do you change oil???

[calvin1]

Originally Posted By: NateDN10
My old apartment complex "didn't allow" auto maintenance in its parking lots, but that didn't stop me or others. I did oil changes there and nobody said anything. There was another guy down the row who did an engine swap in one of the back parking lots.


That guy's my hero for the day.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: calvin1
Originally Posted By: NateDN10
My old apartment complex "didn't allow" auto maintenance in its parking lots, but that didn't stop me or others. I did oil changes there and nobody said anything. There was another guy down the row who did an engine swap in one of the back parking lots.


That guy's my hero for the day.



yeah I know right ?

 

[Norm Olt]

Under the car?

Cheers!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Roger
we took it to an oil change shop and the bill was over $40. Ouch!

Hmm... is it really that expensive? What does dino oil cost these days? $3.50/qt? 5 quarts of oil and a filter will probably cost you $20-25. At this price, I'd just let the shop do it, considering he's got no place to do it himself.

If you insist on him doing it, then like others said, just have him find a friend with a garage or an apt complex that does allow it. It just sounds like it's not worth the hassle at this price. I guess I'm too used to our MB dealer reaming us with a $200 oil change, so the $40 sounds like a steal by comparison.

 

[RacerE7773]

Here they gripe only if it's after dark and it cannot be left until the next day. I have one of the big drip pans, and have the drain pan on that, so usually nothing gets on the (low quality) cement.

 

[xxch4osxx]

I take my vehicle to the shop at work where there is lots of room and tools and anything else I need. Oil changes are a breeze, I dump the used oil in the holding tank for the used oil burner for heating the shop in the winter.

 

[SevenBizzos]

When I lived in a non-garaged apartment, I'd change in a spot at the end of the lot. I'd run synthetic over the winter, so I never got stuck with a sub 10 degree change. I had my own 5 gallon jug to store the used oil in. I kept it and the drain pan in the side of the small laundry closet.

 

[SZR48207]

See if your son can drive around neighborhoods and find a "dead end" street. Typically this looks like a portion of a road that was supposed to start a new section, but was cutoff before anything could begin.

If it is deep enough, those are usually vacant and nobody is going to question him changing his oil there. Even better would be trees overhead to provide some shade in the summer time. Some spare cardboard would be good to put on the ground and some paper towels to clean up any mess.

 

[mva]

Originally Posted By: eljefino


Can get creative, use a "curb cut" to run one side of wheels up higher on a sidewalk and you might not need ramps etc.



I also did this when I used to rent. Very quick easy and safe to drive one side of the car up onto the side walk curb and then crawl under to change the oil. I would find a location where no one could park in front of my car so that my legs wouldn't get run over.

 

[sciphi]

Working on cars was forbidden in my lease. The maintenance staff at my old apartment didn't care after I chatted with them about fixing up the apartments and their own cars. I did oil changes, transmission pan drops, tuneups, etc. there. Other people worked on their cars too, just not on the same scale as I did. For the big stuff I used my friend's garage 10 miles away.

Now I use my parent's garage. Taking care of their cars is a small price to pay for using an enclosed space I can leave the car immobile overnight.

 

[Jeepster_nut]

When I lived in an apartment I was leasing a Jetta at the time (1997) and for the 4 years I had it I didn't change the oil at all. When I turned it in the dipstick was rusty and tarnished.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: Jeepster_nut
When I lived in an apartment I was leasing a Jetta at the time (1997) and for the 4 years I had it I didn't change the oil at all. When I turned it in the dipstick was rusty and tarnished.


Well that's one way to get around parking lot maintenance.

 

[The Critic]

I was getting close to 3,000 miles, but my new apartment lease also forbids oil changes. So, I just took it to the local Cadillac dealer (an authorized Saturn Service Provider) and they did a mini detail and oil change for $19.99. Not a bad price at all, considering that a decent wash and vacuum costs $17 here.

Heck, since I don't have a place to wash my car in this apartment complex, I may just take the car in for an oil change every other month considering the price!

 

[caprice_2nv]

I change mine at work since I'm a service adviser at a garage. When I go back to school in the fall I'll be changing my oil at my parents house or my girlfriend's mom's place again.

Last time that I did have someone else change my oil though (I was going to sell the car soon and didn't have time to do it) I took it to the GM dealer across from the one I used to work at, lol. My 83 Delta 88 was the oldest and probably the most beat up car they'd seen in a while. I had no problems with the service though.

 

[Mr Nice]

How about changing it at a friends's house that has a garage/ramps ?

When I was living in an apartment 20 years ago I would do my oil changes at my girlfriend's parents house. As long as there was no mess it was OK with her dad.

 

[PandaBear]

When I was renting the followings were my options:

1) Friend's garage
2) Work place parking lot (lunch hour)
3) Parents' place
4) In the dark ignoring the rules at night
5) School parking lot
6) Someone else's apartment complex (what are they going to do if I got busted?)


Basically, anywhere you can think of.

 

[VNTS]

Years back I just did what I wanted and to heck with the landlord.

What are they going to do, throw you out? Your paying the rent on time, and nice and quiet. Heck we had drunken bums throwing partys in our unit and the police would have to come to deal with it and the landlord and management wouldnt toss them, but would get upset over some one washing their car????

I used to wash my cars once a weak, used my own hose and did it near the dumpster. So they took the spigot handle off to deter that , no problem I went to the hardware store and bought one.


Oh, the local drunk in our building was so hammered he came back from a party one night and tried to get into the unit next door(all buildings looked the same, he was too hammered to notice and his key wouldnt work to get into the stair well. So he tried to climb up the side of the building into "his" unit on the first floor, and ripped all the siding off and the cops had to come. SO they finally evicted him but took 6 months before the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts finally gave the OK to ditch him. Landlords in MA are considered to be the bad guys in the courts and the non-paying deadbeats are the 'Victims"; so it takes quite a while before anyone can be eveicted, in the mean time they can trash your building and good luck getting any money from the layabouts.

Anyway per the cars, their was a two year old 86 Honda Civic a guy owned, it snapped a timeing belt and grenaded the engine. He got estimates to fix it and said to heck with it and just abandoned it in the lot when he moved out LOL The property magager wasnt happy since they couldn't just have it halled off without a Title, they had to deal with the idots at the Mass registry and that took like a year before they could have hauled off to the crusher LOL

 

[ARB1977]

In the parking lot....wasnt supposed to though.

 

[RedDart]

According to the lease I am not supposed to work on the car either (except for "emergency repairs"). I time my work for the evenings and weekends when maintenance guys are not around. The rental office staff on the weekends do not venture out of the office and we have good relationships with our neighbors so they will not make a fuss. In addition, it helps that I do not mess up the parking lot and some of the maintenance guys are DIY types who fiddle with their vehicles on the weekend.

 

[scurvy]

Originally Posted By: RedDart
According to the lease I am not supposed to work on the car either (except for "emergency repairs").

Sorry, had to change my oil - it was an EMERGENCY! UOA trending showed Fe ppm/kilomile count approaching SEVEN! DANGER TO THE MANIFOLDS!!!!!!11

What's an 'emergency' to you might just be 'routine maintenance' to them.

Nice that they've given you an out if anyone complains.

I've got a couple buddies with garages or big driveways around here I use for maintenance. I probably could do most of this stuff in the alley, but most of my neighbors are nosy arseholes and who know how many of my tools might walk off if I wasn't watching like a hawk.