Paying Service Stations to Change Your Oil: The Smart Choice

I have found myself to be a very frugal person, and I tend to like to handle things by myself without throwing money at problems. So it would seem natural that I would prefer to change my own engine oil in my truck. In fact, I used to do it myself, which gave me satisfaction in all the money I thought I was saving. But when I sat down and thought about it, I wasn't actually saving money at all. It turns out that it is actually more efficient and cost-effective to just take it into a Jiffy Lube or some other reliable service station.

There are several reasons why I believe this is the case. First, if you do it yourself you still have to buy the oil and the filter. And unless you plan really well ahead, you probably don't have an extra filter just lying around in your garage. So most likely you'll be making an extra trip to the automotive shop anyway.

Second, changing your oil will get you dirty. You will most likely need a special tool to get the old filter off, and once it does come off, the oil tends to get all over you (if you're experienced you can probably confine most of the mess to your hands, though). This means that you will need to be wearing old clothes, and let's face it, a lot of people just don't like getting their hands dirty. And if you aren't careful how you place the drain pan, the oil could spill all over the floor in your garage.

Finally, once you've drained the oil, you have to dispose of it. But legally, you can only do so in a government-sanctioned disposal area. So this means either dealing with the hassle of transporting it, storing it up somewhere on your property, or pouring it out in your yard, thereby breaking the law.

Once you've put the new filter on and added the new oil (which hopefully, you know how much is ideal for your car to have), you have just spent a decent amount of money and energy doing something that could have been done for you at about the same price (a service station would charge about $30 to $40 to do it, whereas, when you do it by yourself, you have about $4 to $5 per quart of oil and about $10 to $15 for a filter.) Not to mention the amount of time you could have saved, which may be the best reason of all if you have a busy work schedule.

Of course, if you're not crazy about someone else working on your car, and you'd trust yourself more, then I guess you're mind is already made up about it. But other than that, I can give no reason for doing it yourself when taking it in is so much easier.