2nd Gen R56 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: $114.00 Oil Change?

Just paid 9.99 qt for Royal Purple so that's 50.00 bucks for the oil and 10-12 bucks for filter, and I do it myself so I just have to buy me a beer.

 

A word to the OP, saving $20 on an oil change is not worth losing an engine over, is it? Your dealer will use a factory oil filter and the correct weight and type synthetic oil, Joe's oil change service may not cost as much, but will they use the right stuff? Cause if they don't you could be in for a hell of a lot more cost than that oil change. Your dealer also won't strip out your oil drain plug or the oil pan's threads and they won't break the filter housing by overtightening it.

And for god's sake don't take it to Iffy Lube or one of the other fast oil change places, not if you like your car!

Going back to costs at the dealers for a moment, there's a lot more to it than a causal conversation might suggest - there's the cost of the facility itself, the cost of employees - not just the tech but also the SA, the lot boy, the cashier and so on. there also is a cost associated with disposal of the oil and the filter. I'll bet 99% of you who change your own oil just dump the filter into the trash - and thereby send a nice dollop of old nasty used oil into your landfill - now multiply that times all of the people in your city who might do this......every day..........

What you should do is take your used filter to the closest oil change place and ask them if they'll let you add it to theirs for proper disposal. They have a crusher that squeezes as much oil as possible out of the filter, then they send the remains to a plant that disposes of it by remandering the components and/or burning them. But there's a cost to that too, isn't there - driving it over to the closest place?

My point is, stop complaining about what the dealership charges, it's not going to change by you bitching about it here. Either you can afford to own a car and take care of it properly, or you can't. It costs what it costs and no, the dealership is not ripping you off..

If you can DIY, more power to you (I certainly do my own - but I use MINI oil and filter) just make sure you use the right stuff and dispose of the old oil and filter properly.

My dealer sends out coupons to it's regular customers for all sorts of service specials, maybe the OP could get on their mailing list and save some $$$ that way?

 

My Amsoil cost about $70.
Filter $12
2 six packs of good beer for my buddy that owns his own auto shop. I don't do the work or get charged any labor and I get to have a few cold beers with him.

 

Depends on how much beer I have to buy myself, lol.

 

30 minutes is not a lot of time, you want the oil to drain thoroughly.

 

FWIW, all my numbers are assuming that one is using the proper oil and filter. It's absolutely not worth saving a few dollars to use crappy oil and filters.

There are definitely pros and cons to doing it yourself or taking it to a dealer. For me, though, at some point the labor costs ($50+ at my dealer) outweigh the benefits of doing it myself. It's all personal preference. Personally, I like changing my own oil and don't like the 2-hour round trip drive to the dealer, so I save $50 labor, gas, and time by doing it myself.

If the new dealer 20-minutes from me does ~$75 oil changes, I may take it there because I won't be saving as much time, money, etc. in fact, I'm going to have them do a brake fluid and coolant flush this weekend, probably.

I'm not against people having the dealer do oil changes or anything else for that matter, just suggesting that people look at the actual numbers, time, etc, and make an educated decision.

 

$71 out the door would be pretty good indeed.

I will do my own, and just bought supplies for my first break-in oil change, $49 at MINI STL with the club discount. 7-something for the filter, and 7.50 a qt for real MINI oil, less than my Autozone charges for Mobil 1 (unless they have a deal of the week going).

So $50 for materials, then another $20 something for labor/overhead? Yes, not bad at all.

I'd do mine anyhow, it helps me "bond", I can check other stuff while I'm under there, and I know it's done right when I'm finished.

 

Lessee... on the R53:
- 5 quarts oil at $7 each = $35
- Filter $10
- Craftsman 36mm socket: $9 (less at Harbor Freight or equivalent)
- Harbor Freight socket handle $10 (ish)
- Good 13mm 6 point socket so you don't strip the &%$ stock oil plug $5
- Replacement 19mm VW oil plug and washers, with magnet, to FOREVER not have that problem $10 (or Fumoto valve at $29)
- Oil drain pan $10
- Finding a curb or hole to drive over to change oil, if you're creative, along with ample paper towels for cleanup (essentially free).
- Disposing of used oil at a reputable mechanic using it to power their oil furnace, or dropping off at Pep Boys/WallyMart (free)

I'm at $89 so far, leaving $25 for beer after the first oil change and if I take care of the wrenches and oil pan, the next oil change is $45 (leaving $69 for a set of nice ramps and a roll pf paper towels).

If I go Fumoto, I essentially break even at the first oil change and still save $69 the next time.

Pays off for me, but I get your point - not everyone is cut out to do their own maintenance, but $114 is a bit steep. The Mini is far easier to change oil on than even our Honda Odyssey or Kia Soul with the cartridge filter, though both of them take dino oil and are cheap to have a dealer do ($20 for the Kia - in that case hardly worth it to get my hands oily).

 

$85 before our club discount. So a little less than your experience.

Dinner for the SA, it appears.

Don

 

Wow... what a rip. Live and learn. I've always heard they charge around 90 usually

 

LOL. My V10 M5 requires 8.5 litters of 10w60 which I can only find the dealer at $15/per minimum. That's $135 just for oil. Hehehe.

 

I think it might be on the high side.

A filter retails for about 12 bucks.

Oil goes for about 7.50qt - 37.50 That's in the bottle, not bulk like the dealer has.

They did you no favor, but then again I don't think you were robbed.

 

There is an incentive cupon that my SA let's me have it get's me my oil changes for $60.

 

My last one was $51.00 Labor, $99.00 total, before the 15% discount.

Jim

 

So no matter which way you look at it, it's a $100-120 for an oil change?

 

I pay approx. 37-38 for oil and 8-10 for a filter. It takes me maybe 30 minutes to do the job.

 

Hell, I'll do 'em all day long in my garage for those kind'a bucks. :lol:
Oh and beer too... :beer

 

Excuse me?

$62 labor is 1/2 hour at my dealer which charges $125/hr.

I don't think 1/2 hour of labor is "a rip" for an oil change.

$35 for oil and filter, add tax and "shop supplies" and I can easily see it running that much.

So no, not a rip, just what things cost these days when labor rates are as high as they are....

 

My argument would be that it won't take them nearly 30 minutes. Well, it shouldn't anyway. That being said, for some people it's worth the ~$50 to not have to do it themselves.

Personally, I'll have the dealer/shop do a $25 oil change on my F-150, because I'd only save $5 by doing it myself, but $50 labor? I'll do it myself. Then I know it's right, too.