How often do you think average person gets oil changed?

[CKN]

Originally Posted by GMBoy
My regular customers, and I think this may go for most of the population, go by the oil change light. They usually make it to me shortly after the light is on.

In my opinion, folks may be changing their oil mostly on time but they are NOT checking the oil in between changes and that is the real bad issue. I regularly get cars for oil changes that are 2 and 3 qts low because they don't check it. Extended oil changes + not checking the oil = disaster. I also cannot count how many people, when asked if they checked their oil, will respond that yes it is 34%....they never pulled the stick. The think oil life is oil level. Stupidity runs amok.


I do think the percentage counter is a stupid system. I have many family/friends/customers that believe the percentage is also the oil level, and to be fair, unless you are mechanically minded or have read the manual to understand how the system works I could see how they would think that.

Something like BMW's system from the 80s and 90s where it had different color lights on the dash that would count down until service is due makes a lot more sense than a dumb percentage which really means nothing. I've had customers bring me cars that needed oil changes with 25% left because they thought on a longer trip they would cause engine damage since they only had oil that was "25% as good".

A maintenance light that comes on every 5-10,000 miles isn't as bad in my opinion.

The fact of the matter is most vehicles are not going to use more than a quart of oil between changes. And if you go in and you are a quart low-the question could be- "does it harm the motor"? This would be a good question for someone with knowledge- of oil systems, oil pumps and motors.

 

[Benzadmiral]

95% of the people in my family, and my circle of friends pay loose attention to their OLM, or windshield sticker, and get it changed 1-2 weeks after they notice they've gone over the mileage. It agitates my OCD when I think about it.

My mother-in-law is a car manufacturer's dream. The transmission just went out in her 2015 Silverado, and she's ditching it after she gets it fixed. I think she's at 120K. I am 95% sure she's never had the transmission fluid changed, and I'm not asking, because it makes her defensive. My nephew's 2010 Camaro has never had a tranny fluid change either, at well over 100K. My family's maintenance habits make me curl up in the fetal position.

These people . . . If they had to ride a bus everywhere or cadge rides from increasingly-exasperated friends for a year, they'd appreciate having a car and would take care of it.

 

[chemman]

I can only remember my dad taking his car in for an oil change once, and I was still in grade school. Fortunately for him, it wasn't that many years after that oil change that I learned how to do oil changes and I started doing them. Since my folks were divorced, I would drive my mom's car to the drug store where he was a pharmacist, get his keys, and then drive to my mom's house where I had all my tools (a drain pan, a socket set and an oil filter wrench) and change his oil, and then drive his car back to his work. That way his car got an oil change at least 4 times a year (this was from 1973 - 1980).

It was during the time when Fram had the "...you can pay me now or you can pay me later..." commercials and a couple of his coworkers would tease him whenever I showed up and asked for his keys. Lucky for me, my dad had a great sense of humor. After moving away from home, I would call him and remind him to get his oil changed every few months (not the only time I would call him, however).

 

[doublebase]

The average person?

I’d say twice a year, that’s about it. Think about it...the average mileage people drive a year is, what? 14,000? 15,000? Synthetic oil and oil life monitors will often bring you to 7,500 miles anyway...heck, Toyota will tell them 10,000 miles. So I think the average person is doing it twice a year. With some maybe even once a year, figuring, we’ll I only missed one oil change.

 

[R1jake]

Once a year or every 3,000 miles on all of my vehicles.

 

[eljefino]

I would drive my mom's car to the drug store where he was a pharmacist, get his keys, and then drive to my mom's house where I had all my tools (a drain pan, a socket set and an oil filter wrench) and change his oil, and then drive his car back to his work. That way his car got an oil change at least 4 times a year (this was from 1973 - 1980).

Sweet story.

My sister used to come over to cut my hair, and I'd change her oil. Yeah I got shaggy over three months.

 

[RedSpider]

Hopefully the average person doesnt use the OCI my sister goes by. I went to a Halloween festival in 2018 with her and her oil change light was on. In 2019 I went to the same festival with her and the light was on again and I said "You need an oil change again, that was on last year when we went we came here" and she said "What do you mean 'again', I haven't had time to change it since the last time". I said "WHAT? That was over a year ago." I just looked out the passenger window and started banging my head on it as she laughed. She lived in the northern suburbs in Cincinnati and worked in Dayton. Not a huge distance, but its a pretty significant daily hike. She was driving that five days a week, for over a year on an already overdue oil change interval. Then she drops this bombshell: "Actually Mike (her son) was going to change it, but we were getting ready to leave for Florida and we didnt have time so he just put a few quarts in to be safe". I said "How low was it before he pour those quarts in?" and she said "Welllllll….. the dipstick was stuck and he couldnt get it out, so he just poured a couple quarts in case it was low". OH MY GAWD. I guess word got back to her ex and a few weeks later he came over and changed it and replaced the brakes while he was at it. Yea, she practices medicine. Proof positive multiple bachelor and masters degrees don't teach you anything about car maintenance.

For me personally and the family members cars I maintain, if its under warranty or has a turbo and/or direct injection, I do changes every 5000 miles. Everything else gets M1 0w-40, Fram ultra filter, and goes 10,000 miles regardless of what it is with a stern recommendation to check the oil level on a regular basis and let me know if anything changes. Seems to be working well, been doing it this way as far as I remember.

 

[Hermann]

From someone that has been inspecting vehicles for 4 years I can tell you I see quite a few people over extend what their window sticker says to change at. The worst offender is young people in Nissan Sentras, altimas, some maximas, that's got to be the most neglected vehicles I've seen on a regular basis. 10K+ on bulk oil. Some college kids have no clue.

Probably like Penny on BBT who "check engine" light was always on.

Most cars since mid 2000's have service reminder lights, so they are just being ignored and the neglect aways catches up.

 

[madeej11]

Once a year or every 3,000 miles on all of my vehicles.

Please with the 3k oci, that's neurotic and also a waste.

 

[jimbrewer]

People may own third cars so “average” is tricky.

I think that the practice of selling the first two years of maintenance with new cars must help. I think that it probably trains people who aren’t willfully neglectful at least. ( A lot of people who are that way are really showing off that they are too important/ affluent to be bothered.)

Most people who lease are conscious of their maintenance obligations.

A third car is more likely to be neglected.
I don’t bug my grown daughter about much, but every month she gets a “check your oil” text. (Manufacturer recommendation.)

 

[justalubetech]

Service tech here...a good majority of the cars are usually in the negative "past due" on the maintenance minder ... i've seen a few at -9999mi past due(and thats where it stops on a Honda..) so who knows how long they've gone

 

[justalubetech]

This was many years ago, but I had an uncle that drove almost 100 miles a day to work. He was driving a 59 ford with the 6 cylinder engine and 3 speed manual trans. He NEVER changed the oil on purpose. Every 100000 miles he and his brother would drop in a new rebuilt short block, and be ready for the next 100k.

He surely changed the oil once or twice somewhere in there? Most cars i've seen that never had an oil change were locked up around 40-50k

 

[Andrew1972]

Easily 1-2 times per year.

NH seems to be once because we have yearly inspections anyway.

 

[FordMan59]

With some still doing 3K mile OCI's and some doing 10-20K OCI I'd expect average to be 7500-10000 miles. My longest ever without an OC was 31K miles on an old work car that used/burned a quart about every 300-500 miles. I was topping it off using oil I drained from my better cars that got 3K mile OCI's at the time. The person I sold it to drove it another year or two after buying it from me.

 

[gregk24]

I think most people are somewhere between once to twice a year. My Honda gets driven about 6,000 miles per year so mileage isn't much of a concern. It normally get an oil change every 6 to 12 months depending on conditions. The VW will get an oil change every 6 months / 5K miles whichever comes first.

I can tell you from hearing conversations from co workers that some of their cars are lucky to have one every 15K miles. One girl said..."yeah, Im about 7K miles overdue".

 

[dishdude]

I think the bigger issue is not checking the oil level. 10k-15k between changes and not ever pulling the dipstick in that time?

 

[Bird's_Garage]

Most people I talk to do it by the OLM. Had a buddy buy an EcoBoost F150 earlier this year and it took a lot to convince him to change his oil before the OLM hit 0.

I know I change mine more often than I need to, but somebody's gotta bring the average down.

 

[blufeb95]

My mom usually gets hers changed when the Odyssey OLM gets down to 5-10%
My dad was taking his Bravada to Walmart and having them do the cheap $20 oil and filter only change service about every 6 months.(for 7qts I'm surprised they weren't charging him extra)
If my mom or I didn't pay attention my half brother's dad would probably never change his, he toasted an engine in his old car because he didn't keep up.
I get my anal-ness from my maternal grampa so he changes his at a reasonable interval, if he weren't an 80 year old man that doesn't care to spend much time on the computer he'd probably fit in well here.
I think my sister changes her Jeep with the OLM, I think her fiance does it for her now.
I think my uncle follows the OLM on his Impala.
To the experience I have, I think the average person follows the OLM on their car now, although probably the bigger problem these days is the set it and forget it mentality of the OLM people don't bother checking the oil level and topping up.

 

[Cerjed]

Lived in NYC before and was not able to do my own oil changes living in an apartment with no garage and had to park on the street. I could not find a trustworthy shop and I always hated bringing the car to a mechanic or quick lube place knowing how easily they could mess up even a simple oil change, if they ever did change the fluid at all. Add the incessant upsell to this and it was common for me to just put off getting an oil change to avoid the unpleasant experience. Regularly went to 8-10,000 miles on Dino oil and jobber filter. Usually just added the oil change when I had to do the yearly state inspection. Now, I do my own every 4-5,000 miles or every 6 months with full synthetic or synthetic blend with wix or Napa filter. Less stress for me doing it on my own and I know it is done right.

 

[joekingcorvette]

I purchased a 1986 Chevy Blazer with the 2.8 engine and it only had about 28,000 miles on it and looked like brand new. Red with a red interior. I bought the vehicle from the person who bought it brand new. I asked him when the last time he changed the oil and he didn't say anything. It ran very good but when I changed the oil which I did immediately it was black. I ran my finger underneath the fill cap and it was full of sludge on the top of the valve cover. I did several early oil changes and didn't have any problems at all. I drove the vehicle up to around 100,000 miles and it still ran good. For some reason when I drove it on the interstate and would come to a stop the vehicle was quite a bit quieter. I imagine the old oil may have had a little long term effect on the engine or maybe they all run more smoothly after interstate driving. Anyway it was a neglected engine at first and I bought it for about $3000 under book price because it had a manual transmission and nobody wanted a manual transmission. I learned from that vehicle to pull the cap and check for sludge with a flashlight before buying a used vehicle. BTW I had zero problems with that little red Blazer and bought a couple 4.3 Blazers after that one. Great vehicles.