Before the Breakdown: Common Questions and their Answers
First off, why would someone do an oil change at home?
Doing an oil change at home is a straightforward and low-complexity maintenance task that can save people money. For me personally, another benefit is control as I know exactly what oil filter and oil is going in my car which gives me a certain level of confidence that my car is getting the best quality parts.
Is doing an oil change myself safe?
How safe the oil change is depends on whether the person doing the oil changes is being safe. Generally speaking, an oil change is safe to do at home. However, there is always a risk involved when getting underneath a car so following certain precautions is important.
What are the rules that make an oil change safe?
First and most important to being safe is not skipping the jack stands as they are essential to supporting your car and a jack alone is not enough. I have seen two jacks fail due to the jack oil leaking out of them. Now if you are using a car ramp then a jack stand could be avoided but I would still use them for an extra level of safety.
The second precaution is to put wheel chocks behind the rear tires. The last thing a person wants is the car rolling back on them. While a parking brake seems like enough I have had a car roll back on me because unknown to me was a disconnected parking brake cable. The last precaution pertains to the car which is to not overfill the oil and likewise please use what is recommended in the owner’s manual.
Oil Change Service Centers Versus Do It Yourself Oil Changes
Initially Cost Invested
Taking your car to a place for an oil change has no initial cost needing to be invested other than the gas to go to the place. However, a person doing their own oil change will need to invest in either a pair of car ramps and wheel chocks for the rear tires or a jack, jack stands, and wheel chocks. The rear tire chocks are less than $10 but even the cheaper option of the ramps are starting off at $60. For the jack and jack stands the price is around $100 for both and that is on the low end.
Winner: Oil Change Service Center
Oil Change Cost
The oil change from a shop for full synthetic is anywhere from $60 to $100. Unfortunately, oil change service centers do not post their prices online so a person would have to call to find pricing. While calling is not a huge hurdle it does make it harder to shop around for the best price.
Unlike oil change service centers, the oil filters and motor oil prices are posted online and can be easily shopped around for the best price. Oil filters range from $5 to $20 and the motor oil ranges from $20 to $35. Taking the medium price for both the service center costs $80 and the at-home oil change costs $40.
Winner: Do it Yourself Oil Change
Convenience
The oil change service center can get your car done in as little as 10 minutes. Doing an oil change at home is not convenient as it can be messy and the oil has to be taken to an auto parts store to be recycled. The oil changes also take me anywhere from an hour to three as I do not have car ramps.
Winner: Oil Change Service Center
Quality of Service
The quality of service is hard to give an objective analysis of. Either the oil change service center or you could do a really good job and use high-quality parts or do a really bad job and use the cheapest parts. However, I would still say the winner is the person doing the oil change at home because a person cannot control the quality of service from the oil change service center.
For example, I have gotten an oil filter with metal shavings inside it most likely due to being poorly produced. While that might not have ruined my engine I was able to notice the problem and buy a different filter and not risk it. However, there is no guarantee that the problem would have been noticed by the technician as they do have to move through the job quickly.
Winner: Do it Yourself Oil Change
The Results
The results are a tie and so doing an oil change at home will depend mostly on two factors. The first factor is if you have the tools and skills to do the oil change at home safely. The other factor is if you have the time necessary to do the oil change at home. If a person does not have the skills, tools, or time to do an oil change at home then going to an oil change service center is likely a better option. However, let’s say you want to get into doing your own oil changes because you are allured to the money savings. The next question then is how much are you really saving.
Some Considerations and Tips
Below is the Savings Analyzed
I drive around 10,000 miles a year which means that I will do 2 oil changes in a year. While I could go 10,000 miles between changes, I play it safe and stick to the 5,000-mile interval. Each time I do an oil change I save $40 (on the low end) to $60 (on the high end) which is $80 to $120 a year. For me, I have owned my car for five years so I have saved $400 to $600 in those five years. The jack, jack stands, and wheel chocks reduce the overall savings to $250 to $450 for those five years.
Although $250 to $450 in savings seems like a lot, if a person were to make coffee at home once a week instead of buying a coffee out the savings would be $5 x 52 weeks= $260. In other words, if a person buys one less coffee or finds a way to save $5 a week for a year they would save nearly the same as five years of doing an oil change (on the low end of savings).
A Reason other than Savings
A person is saving some money but not in a significant way, but here is my reason for still doing my own oil changes. The reason I do my own oil changes is because I can control the process. I have talked about controlling the type of filter and oil but there are other things that I can control such as how tight the oil filter is or making sure to replace the oil drain plug gasket. In addition to control, there is also a joy that comes from doing the oil change myself that I do not get from taking it to the oil change service center.
A Helpful Tip
I will be honest I had no idea that the drain plug gaskets were single-use. Replacing mine has made a huge difference in how tight the drain plug needs to be and will ensure the oil pan does not get damaged. Here is the brand I use: https://amzn.to/4hdOQDK
Why Control Matters to Me
Just like how some mechanics will use air tools and over-tighten lug nuts I have the fear that the drain plug or filter will be over-tightened which could result in a costly repair of a drain pan. Unfortunately, I do not have the numbers to confirm or deny my fear being legitimate but doing an oil change myself at least eliminates that fear and is why having control over my oil changes is important to me.
Recommendations
I would say that if a person only cares about saving money then oil changes are not worth it. Instead, I would suggest finding a subscription or something one buys every week and cutting back on it like the coffee analogy above.
Suggested Alternative
If a person cares about the best for their car and wants to save some money then doing oil changes at home could be worth it. That said there are safer and better ways to save money and be rewarded for working on one’s car such as doing the spark plugs.
However, doing your spark plugs is only straightforward on certain cars but it is safer as a person does not have to get under a car. As for cost savings, here is a personal example: the shop I went to quoted me $255 to do my spark plugs. I instead bought 4 spark plugs for $40 and I did them myself. By doing the spark plugs myself I saved $215 which is close to five years of savings from doing my own oil changes.
Another Helpful Tip
The NGK Ruthenium plugs are great they increase my MPG from 33 to 36 compared to NGK Iridium: One can find the spark plugs from Autozone.
Closing Words
To conclude, with the reservations mentioned above I do still recommend doing your own oil changes. Not because of the savings but rather the control and joy of working on one’s own cars (so long as safety is first and foremost). This is a new format and topic for my blog so I hope you like it. Leave your thoughts on this post in the comments below. Thank you for reading.