Cost of oil changes nowadays -- hoooly moooly

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My nephew was out of town and needed an oil change in his 2010 Corolla S 1.8L, so I checked prices for him.

He takes 4.5qts of 5W-20 or 0W-20. DIY I figured $15 for Supertech synthetic 5w20 and $6 for a K&N filter element so ~$24 out the door.

repair pal quoted $122-$165 !!!
shocked.gif

Toyota dealership wanted $95
Local shops wanted between 50 - 75

Only places that had a price near mine was Walmart or pepboys that was ~ $40 for synthetic. Even Jiffylube (not that I would ever use them) was way in the $50-60 range.

I thought oil changes were a loss leader to get you in the door and "find" other stuff to fix. Apparently not anymore.

I told him come over next weekend and we'll change it. Car was at 5K so he had plenty of mileage left on that OCI (Dealership toyota oil)

Could not believe the prices in repair pal.
 
Repair shops have to pay rent, taxes, salaries, insurance, advertising, disposal fees, tooling and equipment, etc. out of the prices they charge. Do you really think a repair shop can offer anywhere near the same pricing as someone who has zero overhead and who purchases store brand product from Wal-Mart and charges no labor? Thet's not very realistic.
 
I get the occasional coupon from my local VW dealer (Hatfield VW) for a $69.95 synthetic oil change-diesels not included. I've only had my oil changed by someone other than me once in my life. My Wife got an oil change coupon for her Audi for $89.95, regularly $139.95.
 
I changed the 2013 outback with motul ester core 5w30 "power racing" for aprox $15 5.5qts and filter
the oil itself retails for around $35 /2 liter can.

There are advantages to price mistakes, clearances, and rebate deals.

I change the oil in 5 vehicles and 4 tractors.. most of the stash was under 3$/qt syn and 1.5/qt conventional/blend.
 
I think it's all location dependent. Here the Ford dealers charge about $50 for an oil change, tire rotation, and various inspections. I think it's up to 5 quarts of oil. I'm curious what they will charge for the Mustang with it's 10 quart sump.

Walmart is considerably cheaper. Not sure what the local Monro, Midas, or Firestone would charge but I see they have coupons quite regularly.
 
I think oil changes *used* to be a loss leader that was a foot in the door to upsell other services.

But there have been enough undercover news investigations on how necessary, or unnecessary, some of the add on services they’re trying to sell are to make most consumers very shy about any upsells. They just assume it’s to separate them from their money, and they aren’t your fool.

You can still find $17.99-$24.99 basic oil changes around here with “brake inspection”, or sometimes a tire rotation, but if your car needs anything other than bulk one-oil-for-all-cars oil, it quickly increases.
 
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I had a guy request valvoline synthetic this week. I can't take off work to go to Walmart to buy oil. I had to have it delivered. It cost me $5.79/qt. His truck holds 7 QTS.
 
Yah when I bought my first BMW, I could do a oil and filter for 10$ myself. Valvoline wants 99$ to change oil and filter at their shops. Camry takes 0w20 and 5 qts was 30$ and Toyota filters were 10 for 34.50. I don't intend to change the oil again until 5/19. Not a thin oil fan, but thats what is specc'ed
 
You can’t get a synthetic oil change here for less than $50 now. If it’s a European car and/or diesel, double that. Even the Walmart conventional change is about $30 now. I remember when it was $10.99! I was in high school. My dad showed me how, but it wasn’t worth doing myself for that price!
 
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Originally Posted By: FowVay
Repair shops have to pay rent, taxes, salaries, insurance, advertising, disposal fees, tooling and equipment, etc. out of the prices they charge. Do you really think a repair shop can offer anywhere near the same pricing as someone who has zero overhead and who purchases store brand product from Wal-Mart and charges no labor? Thet's not very realistic.


Thank you for posting this. I don't understand how people can think businesses can operate at a loss and still be around.
 
The price of land is going up in the larger cities. Investors want the land the shop is on, not the shop. To keep a shop going requires a decent rate of return or you might as well bulldoze it.
 
Ouch. Changing oil on a rolla is supwr easy.. with the oil i bought for 2$ a quart it works out to under 20$ per change for syn oil and filter change. Teach him how to do his own changes. Learn a skill and save a few bucks..
 
Originally Posted By: FowVay
Repair shops have to pay rent, taxes, salaries, insurance, advertising, disposal fees, tooling and equipment, etc. out of the prices they charge. Do you really think a repair shop can offer anywhere near the same pricing as someone who has zero overhead and who purchases store brand product from Wal-Mart and charges no labor? Thet's not very realistic.


That's right and they can't compete with me and I don't ask them too. Full Synthetic with a 99% efficiency filter for under $25 and I see no reason to spend more I'm not disabled.
 
From the Mr. Lube website, the cash equity you have to put up for a a Mr. Lube franchise is $600,000 to $800,000.
The total cost including land and building is typically $1.8 to $2.2 million dollars. Think you can pay that off charging 30 bucks for an oil change?
 
Originally Posted By: Snagglefoot
From the Mr. Lube website, the cash equity you have to put up for a a Mr. Lube franchise is $600,000 to $800,000.
The total cost including land and building is typically $1.8 to $2.2 million dollars. Think you can pay that off charging 30 bucks for an oil change?


There are lots of folks here (and in general society) who would scream YES without blinking an eye.

It's like people are incapable of looking at the bigger picture..
 
Is it just me or WTH is this guy talking about. Oh what, with all the plethora of Discounted and even Clearanced or marked down oil, who can't score a BIOTG stash every Halloween or Christmas. If I'm not lying, those Idemitus are still out there, waiting to be claimed b the first BITOg-er to get there. Ami right. Heck they are practically sponsering my oils changes. and FRAM the filters, keep moving, nothing to see here..
 
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