Some here have said they can get their oil changed at a shop for $17. That’s pretty good. Over here, shops charge $25 or more for conventional oil (3000 miles or 3 months).

I use Mobil 1 Clean 5000 and change the oil every 5000 miles or 6 months for the cost of $16.

If I go on a trip and the car is due for an oil change, I take it to a shop.

Let’s also not just gloss over the advantage of knowing the job is done right. This is a huge advantage. I once had some idiot mechanic loosen my radiator cap and it popped off on the freeway going 70 mph. Lovely. He was probably doing one of those useless 22 point inspections. C’mon folks, it’s not that hard to check your fluids, air filter, and tire pressure. Good grief, it takes 5 minutes.

Perhaps the one advantage that I love is the fact that I can do it whenever I want. I often get home too late from work and the shops are always closed. Who the heck wants to spend a lunch or a Saturday morning driving down to an oil change place? Not me.

Like many of the people here have said, many places will take the used oil and filter for free (there are AutoZones and Advance Auto Parts everywhere around me, so stopping it to hand off the old oil took me all of 30 seconds). You can probably even talk car dealerships into taking it for free (many use heaters that burn the used oil in winter, plus they have a lot of old oil to get rid of anyway). I don’t even need ramps to do it because I drive an SUV. I went to do it on my girlfriend’s Cobalt the same day I did mine, and the mechanic she went to last time completely stripped the head of the drain plug, so there was no way for me to get it off. She HAD to go to a quickie place for that one (I suspect the last place she went to intentionally stripped it so she wouldn’t have a choice but to go back). I didn’t need ramps to get under the Cobalt either – I just used a floor jack.

For anyone concerned about the cost of supplies to do it, they’re not that bad and (depending on the type of oil you run vs cost for a quickie place) they end up paying for themselves in savings. An oil filter wrench only costs about 6 bucks and that’s really the only tool you need that a substantial number of people wouldn’t have lying around already, and that’s only if you have a canister-type filter that’s been over-tightened. You can pick up a good floor jack or a set of ramps for around 50 bucks (watch the ads). I would suggest going with the floor jack instead of the ramps because you can use the floor jack for getting the wheels off, as opposed to a single function for the ramps. As for a container for the used oil, make an event of the oil change – get a few friends over and drink a few 40s while you wait on the engine to cool off some then put the old oil in the empty bottles (just don’t go out driving after having all that beer).

My oil changes are about to get a whole hell of a lot easier thanks to Smith’s suggestion of the Qwik Valve. I’m ordering one before my next oil change (November or so – I can get 5000 miles out of my 99 Olds Bravada on synthetic… probably more but I don’t want to push my luck).

It seems like the less money I want to spend, the more I learn to do by myself. I’ve done my radiator flush and my oil so far on this vehicle (had it since March) and the next step is to do my brakes. The only things I would really think about taking it to a mechanic for are just things that need a lift in order to do them (alignments, ball joints, bushings, anything having to do with the transmission, etc). As far as I’m concerned, if the job can be done with a floor jack and a socket set or less, it’s routine maintenance I can do by myself. And it’s saved me (a broke 21 year old college student) a fairly substantial amount of money over the last few years.