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$16 for a 5-quart jug of Castol GTX 5w-30 at wallyworld, and $6 for the Purolator PureONE filter. So $22ish and 30 mins of my time. I have a lift, and use the opportunity to inspect various things like CV boots, brakes, exhaust, etc...so my oil changes are a time to see what's going on with my cars.
I've had bad luck at quick-lube type places. When i was younger, and didn't know how to work on cars, i relied on quick-lubes. Got an Automatic trans flush on a Ford AOD. Guy never put a gasket on the new filter. Made it 2 miles home on a slipping trans. Went back and the place was closed. had to get the car towed to another shop to discover their fault.
Sisters have gone to quick-lube places. I've tried like hell to get them to avoid them, but no avail. One place stripped the oil pan plug requiring a pan replacement. Another one left the drain plug finger tight causing the oil to drip out onto the driveway. The best was my sis's new 10K mile Lexus. Guy never put the gasket on the oil filter. a few miles after leaving several warning lights came on and the car was then towed to the dealer who found the error. After that, i've managed to convince the family...DEALER ONLY for oil changes...even if it's $40.
These experiences prompted me to learn a lot about cars, which peaked an interest in automotive design and later engineering as a career.
$16 for a 5-quart jug of Castol GTX 5w-30 at wallyworld, and $6 for the Purolator PureONE filter. So $22ish and 30 mins of my time. I have a lift, and use the opportunity to inspect various things like CV boots, brakes, exhaust, etc...so my oil changes are a time to see what's going on with my cars.
Wise move indeed! You are doing the right thing, and even if you lived 2 blocks from my shop I'd tell you to keep doing exactly what you're doing.
My local place charges $30 plus tax for and oil change and filter (up to 5 quarts of 5w-20, 5w-30, or 0w-20). I think they are making at least a 50% profit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GarageLogic
That depends on what you consider "profit."
While it's true that 5 quarts of oil and filter don't cost a lot, there's a lot of overhead involved in owning/renting a building, and having the equipment to service cars - even just oil changes.
I just bought a 5.1 quart container of 5W-20 yesterday and it cost me $26. With the filter, I paid a total of $33 bucks. And I did it myself. Who knows what a shop would've charged, but I'd say if you're paying $30, that's pretty reasonable.
What's the cheapest price you've ever gotten - in the last 5 years - for 5 quarts of oil and a filter? $15? $12?
Walmart currently has a price of $21.97 for Quaker State Q Horsepower Full Synthetic 5W30 Motor Oil, 5-Quart. That's $17.60 for four quarts, plus $12 for my shopman, $29.60 plus filter, say five bucks. $35, like I said in Post 16..
$16 for a 5-quart jug of Castol GTX 5w-30 at wallyworld, and $6 for the Purolator PureONE filter. So $22ish and 30 mins of my time. I have a lift, and use the opportunity to inspect various things like CV boots, brakes, exhaust, etc...so my oil changes are a time to see what's going on with my cars.
I've had bad luck at quick-lube type places. When i was younger, and didn't know how to work on cars, i relied on quick-lubes. Got an Automatic trans flush on a Ford AOD. Guy never put a gasket on the new filter. Made it 2 miles home on a slipping trans. Went back and the place was closed. had to get the car towed to another shop to discover their fault.
Sisters have gone to quick-lube places. I've tried like hell to get them to avoid them, but no avail. One place stripped the oil pan plug requiring a pan replacement. Another one left the drain plug finger tight causing the oil to drip out onto the driveway. The best was my sis's new 10K mile Lexus. Guy never put the gasket on the oil filter. a few miles after leaving several warning lights came on and the car was then towed to the dealer who found the error. After that, i've managed to convince the family...DEALER ONLY for oil changes...even if it's $40.
These experiences prompted me to learn a lot about cars, which peaked an interest in automotive design and later engineering as a career.
I change my own oil on my motorcycle, that's it. Used to do it on my 2001 Cherokee since it was fairly easy. My '12 and now my '14 Grand Cherokee go to the dealer, no questions asked, and I do it when the car beeps at me to take it in every 8K miles. I'm not trusting my $40K+ car to a quick lube place, they screwed up my '01 once. I'm positive there are good places out there, just like there are dealers that will ********* into next week. I like and trust my dealer (moreso the service advisor) and it's convenient to where I work. I just drop it off, they take me to work and come get me (or drop it off to me) later. Never a problem, and if something gets screwed up, I can take it back and let them deal with it. At least then I know they're using OEM parts and have some experience on my model.
I don't see them making that much off oil changes. Yes, maybe they'll make $12 after supplies but when you factor in labor, utilities, rent, insurance, etc., there doesn't seem to be much wiggle room there.
Personally, I've changed my own oil for the past 13 years. Since I use synthetic and change it once or twice (at most) a year, cost doesn't really become a factor for me. I usually use Amsoil, Pennzoil Platinum or Castrol Syntec along with a premium oil filter.
3,000 mile oil changes are a thing of the past, even dino oil can go 5,000 miles these days easily under most conditions. A lot of cars even have the oil life meters in them that calculate many variables to tell you when to change the oil! Going with my once or twice a year oil changes, I usually go around 7,500 miles or so on my daily driver. My Corvette isn't driven that much these days so I go once a year or even longer.
Garages are able to stay in business when they charge $80-90 an hour shop labor, and that includes paying wages to trained and qualified career mechanics and tooled for major mechanical work. I see no reason why a shop cannot have a similar bottom line with nothing but a lift and a wrench, and paying $10 an hour to people they can train in 15 minutes, if they can take in $60 an hour over their cost of the oil.
$25 for conventional, $30 for blend, $35 for synthetic. Old school. No gimmicks. No "half-price coupons" or other nonsense. For the price we grease any ball joints, tie rod ends, and/or suspension components that have a zerk - and at no charge. We inspect the cars, but absolutely do not pressure anybody into do anything, unless there is a serious safety hazard. We never up-sell anything, because most of it is just crap. We have one bay that has long-since become our oil-change only bay, because we average just over 18 changes per day.
Good for you, sounds like you run a sound business. Wow, 18 oil changes per day, that's a lot, isn't it?
My go-to shop (props to Bob Kern's auto repair) charges $19.99 for conventional oil changes but I'm in a very low cost-of-living area. They've never tried to up-sell me on anything...in fact, since my vehicles are older, they're more likely to offer work-around or inexpensive alternatives to expensive repairs as long as safety or the integrity of the vehicle isn't an issue.
I have to say I've never, in all my years of owning autos, had a bad experience at a lube/chain type place but usually I'd rather support independent businesses.
Army_Guy I know that the 3K change is going by the wayside but I've spent so much of my life adhering to that "rule" that it feels weird not doing so any more! (Also I've mostly owned older vehicles and generally use dino oil.) My three vehicles are currently 18, 10, and 14 years old.
I heard some places don't even drain the oil. They vacuum/suck the oil out of the dipstick opener.
This was due to drain plugs coming loose too often.
Actually you can buy one of these "topside" oil changers for yourself, I see them in Northern's catalog for about $50, there is nothing wrong with using one. But I would still DIY with one of these, to make sure I got the right grade and amount of oil. I have read on various forums where a guy would buy one of these, extract as much oil as the device will take out, then pull the drain plug as a test. Most report only a few drops more oil come out the drain.
A tip: When I do an oil change, I do drain the oil hot, but I let the car cool off completely before fooling with the filter. Makes that job a lot easier. Frequently I will pull the car into the garage on a Friday evening, drop the oil, then finish the job Saturday morning.
So even if the numskull outfit uses a topside extractor, they still have an opportunity to cross-thread the filter (and they always seem to feature the cheapest and least effective filters - never see them offer a Pure 1 or Napa Gold, which would actually be a worthwhile upgrade) and/or not get it tight enough, or leave the old gasket on the block surface so you end up with 2 oil filter gaskets stacked and will blow out once the car is at speed or the next day on cold start...plus the opportunity to use the wrong grade oil, overfill, underfill, or just plain space out and not put any oil in the engine...
"Stupid Lube" outfits are just not worth fooling with. DIY or go to a "real" shop.
Walmart currently has a price of $21.97 for Quaker State Q Horsepower Full Synthetic 5W30 Motor Oil, 5-Quart. That's $17.60 for four quarts, plus $12 for my shopman, $29.60 plus filter, say five bucks. $35, like I said in Post 16..
Your math includes 4 quarts of oil, not 5 - which is the norm for engines today. If you had a Volvo you'd need 6.1 quarts.
So... $22 for the oil, plus $5 for the filter, plus $12 for your mechanic to change the oil for you. That's a total of $39.
We do oil changes, with full-synthetic oil, for $35 - in and out. That's for 5 quarts of oil.
Bottom line: It's great to have choices!
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