My daughter took her Camry to Ford fastlane...

Status
Not open for further replies.
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: jdelk69
I believe its 4.6quarts.


5 quart bottle of M1 0W-20 from Walmart $24.97
NAPA Platinum oil filter $11.25
Sales tax at 8.25%

For a grand total of $39.21


And somebody to do the work. Sounds pretty reasonable to me
21.gif
 
It spins me out. In OZ a new vehicle is usually the next most expensive purchase after a house and I guess that the same in the USA, and here we are debating, fussing and having a cry over a possible $10 - $20 cost.

Time to step back and get things in a proper perspective.
 
Daughters being daughters (I have one who recently graduated college) remembering to change the oil is not even in the thought process. I switched to synthetic a few times because I never knew when she would/could bring it to me for me to change it.

Provided the work was done correctly, paying $75 for an M1EP oil change is well within expectations at a lube place. About half the cost was the oil and filter and the other half was labor/disposal. If they had to go outside to purchase the oil, more of the cost could have been in parts versus labor. So much ado about nothing...
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Camry specs?
Let's see.
For the typical Camry owner, it's as follows:

1. Drive car until little lighty thing comes on.
2. Add fuel, which makes little lighty thing go off.
3. If car deserves a treat, consider an oil change.

That's about the amount of expertise the average Toyota owner brings to the table and is the reason that Toyota offers a period of free maintenance on new cars.
Having sold its cars as being maintenance free for many years, Toyota now has to deal with the inevitable backlash.
I base this upon those Camry owners I know and have known.
They're not usually car people, but rather people who use cars with no understanding of their functional requirements.
They often avoid paying for all of that overpriced nonsense that the OM recommends. After all, they didn't do the last scheduled maintenance and everything works fine.
Why pay for an expensive oil change using the recommended 0W-20 synthetic when the engine runs just fine on the oil from whatever was used the last time it was changed for twenty bucks, which would have been the last time the car deserved a treat?
We're looking at a group of owners who couldn't even figure out how to position the floor mats in some tragic cases.
Your post serves to illustrate this, selective quotes and all.
You seem to take issue with the notion that Toyota's oil recommendations should be followed and call this "internet arrogance".
Really?


This is more typical of luxury car owners, not quite Toyota owners. But? What do you care... just stereotyping blindly
 
Originally Posted By: jdelk69
For an oil change and it cost her about $75 plus. They told her that her Camry uses only Ow20 and that they used Mobil 1 extended performance. I told her that she could use 5w20 and for her to buy the oil and filter at Wally World and I'll do it for her! That's just crazy on the price.


The good news is, she is good to go for 15,000 miles of "guaranteed protection".

http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Oils/Mobil_1_Extended_Performance.aspx
 
Yeah, me too. That's the first thing I thought of, individual quarts purchased through a jobber (probably delivered) and labor... That's about right.

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
And somebody to do the work. Sounds pretty reasonable to me
21.gif
 
Overhead cost of a dealer is pretty high, for an easy/quick job such as oil change the $5-15 overhead cost should be added to the bill, so that $75-80 for 5 quarts Mobil 1 EP plus filter is not out of ordinary.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: jdelk69
I believe its 4.6quarts.


5 quart bottle of M1 0W-20 from Walmart $24.97
NAPA Platinum oil filter $11.25
Sales tax at 8.25%

For a grand total of $39.21


Why Napa Platinum? Thats a poor price for a poor performing filter. Just sayin
wink.gif
 
back to my original post, the dealers upsell for services that are NOT NEEDED, and are not required in the factory maint. manual...
 
Let me tell you a story of a Camry owner.
A woman who worked for me bought a Camry new in 1994.
Her husband had had a diesel Eldo, of all things, which suffered its predictable fate at well under 100K.
She vowed that she would never buy an American car again, never mind the early Astro van that they put well over 200K on with no real maintenance and no major work.
The Camry received the maintenance that she deemed adequate and its engine expired at 84K.
Now, these were very good engines and all that was needed to avoid the black death were regular changes with any decent oil.
Her husband found some guy who agreed to "rebuild" the engine for $1300.00, including R&R.
I told her that a good rebuild with labor for that kind of money wasn't possible.
She of course ignored my advice and had the work done.
The engine predictably expired again after another 40K.
She then had a junkyard engine transplant done.
The tranny then promptly gave up.
These were people who would buy a quality vehicle and then treat it to the cheapest tires they could find and would have any mechanical work done by the lowest bidder, without regard to the quality or completness of the work actually done.
These are the kind of people who don't grasp the disticntion between price and value.
They apparently thought that Toyota quality, which was certainly a real thing twenty years ago, would save the vehicle from their neglect.
True story.
 
Took my Matrix to Ford fastlane...

$20.81 with coupon after tax for 5w30 MC syn-blend, MC oil filter and inspection report. Get the same tech everytime since I pull up to door number two. I've had about 5 lof's done there. Sprayed the battery terminals with protectant at my request = NC. Cleaned off the power steering reservoir so he could see the level without me asking. Oil level is right on the full mark everytime.
 
Originally Posted By: satinsilver
Took my Matrix to Ford fastlane...

$20.81 with coupon after tax for 5w30 MC syn-blend, MC oil filter and inspection report.


Coupons are a good deal...got my cousin's last OC for her Camry for $10 at a Toyo dealer.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: cknight49090
They did it cause she was a young woman period.One of my girlfriends was quoted like 350 to put brakes on a escort I got it done and a oil change for 60.00


$75 is pretty standard for a full syn oil change. That's been just about an industry norm price for a while now.

Depending on what all was quoted for brakes (new rotors?) $350 may or may not have been a standard price.

A lot of people think labor should be free, but time is money and people have to be paid. If you want to pay parts price only, do the labor yourself. Some places are trying to rip off lil 'ol lady, but most are just trying to cover what they feel the time/labor investment is worth.

I kind of see where you are coming from, but having worked on cars, a lot of people are just cheap. They think they should pay parts price only and the labor is free. In what freaking universe does that happen? If you want to pay parts only, man up and do it yourself. Kudos to you for having done that. A lot of people who won't/can't, and couldn't even get as far as opening the hood on their own, think labor should be free. Nope. I have a hard time wrapping my head around that. Would they do their job for free?
 
I get the first 25k oil changes for free and I still do it myself. People don't realize the money they can save in all areas of their lives if they just take a moment and educate themselves. Even Walmart charges $50 for a synthetic oil change ($27 for dino).
 
Last edited:
DIY'ers is less than 10-20% of total drivers/owners. Vast majority of drivers rely on dealers/garages/quicklubes do it for them.

A good percentage of drivers never check their oil level, not talking about change the oil.

I do take advantage of free oil change(s) and other freebees such as brake flush, coolant flush ... all the time for all my cars, from MB E430 to Honda S2000 and anything in between, because I know how to say NO to up-selling from anybody, be it a dealer or an independent garage.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom