Why not a la carte pricing for oil changes?

[y_p_w]

I'm wondering how we ever got to "flat rate" oil change pricing. The vast majority of oil change pricing is a single rate for oil, a filter, up to 5 quarts of standard bulk oil, a crush washer (maybe), and the labor to do all this. Then they might add disposal fees and possibly extra charges for specific oils such as 5W-20 (I was charged $2 for it) or certain types of filters. And some older cars have lube fittings, with a chassis lube included in the price.

It sort of bugs me that I paid for all that for my wife's Civic even though it took only 3.4 quarts of 5W-20. I even paid more than the guy who took in a car that took almost 5 quarts of 5w30. Maybe you could specify that the filter not be changed every other oil change (says to do that in the OM). Some oil changes are more involved. With my WRX the under cover has to be removed and even though I've never had anyone but myself change the oil in that car, shops said there would be no additional fee for that.

I do remember getting stuff knocked off the price before, such as $2 off for bringing in my own filter or once at a WM getting them to install a filter from the store instead of their quick lube filters in the shop.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I wouldn't specify to not change the oil filter at a quick lube place; they tend to not change them on their own!

 

[bdcardinal]

It is easier in a higher volume to do the menu pricing. You might think "it only takes a minute to fix it" but over a few hundred oil changes that is a lot of lost productivity to reduce the price of a service.

 

[DodgeRamz2007]

I think a lot of companies do it because it is easier and faster to a have a flat rate fee. Most lube companies don't make their money on oil changes anyways, they want to "up sale" you on the other items. I really never understood the cost increase for 5w-20 except I guess it isn't bulk.

I couldn't tell you the last time I was at a lube shop. I just don't trust them to do the job correctly. Most of the time, the price isn't too bad either way.

 

[actionstan]

Better yet, I wonder what they would do if you took a jug in for them to put the remaining quarts in. I could only imagine the look on there faces.

 

[expat]

Because for 95% of vehicle owners Oil is Oil.

An Oil change is just something that you are supposed to get done occasionally, and the guys can check the Blinker Fluid at the same time for an All In price.

 

[Burt]

Originally Posted By: DodgeRamz2007
Most lube companies don't make their money on oil changes anyways, they want to "up sale" you on the other items.


+1

It's a loss leader to get you in so they can sell you air filters, transmission drains etc at higher mark ups.

 

[99Saturn]

An oil change for $xx.xx sounds nice to a lot of people, and they go wherever because it's cheap. I don't think many would want to remember or research that place A charges extra for 5w-20, but place B doesn't and place C doesn't charge for oil type but does for a crush washer.

It also explains to me why the indy shop I like to go to for work charges $10 more than other places right down the road.

 

[The_Jeff]

It would make many people mad in a petty way, like if every size up you go in clothes you have to pay another 30 cents "for the cloth."

Then you'd get some tool showing up asking to "only put in two quarts, I'll get the rest from walmart and fill it up in the parking lot."

 

[y_p_w]

I know of one shop that I consider to be one of the best in the area. I've never had my oil changed there, but I understand that when they do it they charge the same price for the motor oil by the quart, a retail price for the filter, and a clear rate for the labor. It probably costs more as a result, but this was a place where you knew it wasn't a guy who barely graduated from HS possibly messing up your oil change. When I took my car there for assorted maintenance, they charged an actual time it took them to do it, and not a full book time for every single thing they did to rack up labor charges. I remember my manual transmission drain was only 10 minutes of labor since they already had it up on the lift for a brake fluid flush. They charged me for 3 quarts of Castrol GTX (Honda transmissions spec'ed motor oil at the time). I think a typical dealer would have charged me maybe $50-70 to do it, while this place it was maybe $16. It's simpler than an oil change but lots of places charge flat rate when it's actually a much simpler job than an oil change. I like this place because their pricing is always consistent with the cost of their labor and the cost of their parts. They don't play games with pricing to hide anything.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
It would make many people mad in a petty way, like if every size up you go in clothes you have to pay another 30 cents "for the cloth."

Then you'd get some tool showing up asking to "only put in two quarts, I'll get the rest from walmart and fill it up in the parking lot."

A lot of T-shirts are marked up in price starting with XXL or XXXL. However, if you've seen clearance racks, there's often a lot of clothing in those sizes because of a lack of demand.

And why not a lower price for a 4 quart minimum? Between 3-4 quarts seems to be the lower limit for most cars these days. Of course it occurs to me that they may be trying to hide their cost of bulk oil, although they can't for people whose cars need more than 5 quarts.

 

[crazyoildude]

shop around there are good deals sometimes.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I remember back in the day if you went to an oil change place,they'd always use some generic bulk oil,and if you requested a specific brand (Valvoline,Castrol,etc) they'd always charge you more.