Quick Lubes Continue to Thrive

[Nodak]

I agree Zerosoma--Doing it yourself gives you peace of mind and it saves money. 100 dollars is 4 jugs of M1. And with some of the quicklube places you get a young man that torques your plug so tight that it almost or does ruin the threads-(happened to my neighbor).

____________________
97 Prk.Ave.-5-30 Havoline and Wix filter
03 Corolla-5-30 Quaker State Ultimate Durability and Wix filter
04 Rav 4 Mobil 1 High Mileage 5w30 and Wix filter

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: zerosoma
After tax and upsale it was around $50. I almost flipped.

I said I won't be changing my oil for a long time, ever. At least not for a couple years. Poor car.

I walk into a dealership now or a tire place and for synthetic it's almost always over $100. Makes me sick! What's sad is others probably have this mentality of not wanting to change for financial reasons too. One of the best decisions I ever made was learning how to do maintenance on our cars myself!

$50? That really is not a lot of money, in the big picture. Also, $50 won't even pay for a tank of gas.

Anyway, I have noticed a pattern on the demographics of service centers.

Quick lubes = a mix of new cars and old junkers.
Tire shops = almost always older cars (5-7 years old) and out of warranty. Cheap or not financially-sound customers.
Dealership = Newer cars, but even the older ones who go there are generally very well-maintained. Higher income, I would guess.

 

[zerosoma]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: zerosoma
After tax and upsale it was around $50. I almost flipped.

I said I won't be changing my oil for a long time, ever. At least not for a couple years. Poor car.

I walk into a dealership now or a tire place and for synthetic it's almost always over $100. Makes me sick! What's sad is others probably have this mentality of not wanting to change for financial reasons too. One of the best decisions I ever made was learning how to do maintenance on our cars myself!

$50? That really is not a lot of money, in the big picture. Also, $50 won't even pay for a tank of gas.

Anyway, I have noticed a pattern on the demographics of service centers.

Quick lubes = a mix of new cars and old junkers.
Tire shops = almost always older cars (5-7 years old) and out of warranty. Cheap or not financially-sound customers.
Dealership = Newer cars, but even the older ones who go there are generally very well-maintained. Higher income, I would guess.



Well, $50 went a bit farther 10 years ago than it does today. I asked for their basic basic service. Whatever would get me by. I assume that was White Bottle SL back then. Plus for a bachelor making only 12k a year it was quite a bit.

 

[RF Overlord]

From general observation, reading, and talking to friends, co-workers, etc, I've developed a theory:

Set up a table at any mall and ask 100 people if they know what grade of oil is recommended for their car. At least 50% will say: "I have no idea, I just take it to _______" (dealer/mechanic/JiffyLube). 35% will say with authority: "10W-30", and the remaining 15% will actually know the correct answer.

Similar results will be obtained if they are asked how often their oil should be changed; 90% will give either the first answer above or state categorically: "3,000 miles".

^^^All that is why I learned to do it myself.