how come Costco doesn't have oil change, car wash or gas while-u-shop

[T2urtle]

not every can nor has the time/energy to do it. If you make decent money it's no big deal.

Agreed. Someone broke it down to me once, it was something like. As a lawyer or w/e he does, his time was valued at like $xxx/per hour. So he rather spend one hour doing that and paying someone 50% of it to get dirty and do his job. It made sense to me. some people don't take pride in doing their own work and I don't fault them.

I however like to do my own oil change, not because of cost savings (I don't save money at all) but I like know it was done right 100% and I visually inspect other parts of my car as well. It's my way to unwind and relax. Yea I can knock out oil changes in 10 minutes but I rather take an hour or two.

 

[Strk]

Agreed. Someone broke it down to me once, it was something like. As a lawyer or w/e he does, his time was valued at like $xxx/per hour. So he rather spend one hour doing that and paying someone 50% of it to get dirty and do his job. It made sense to me. some people don't take pride in doing their own work and I don't fault them.

I however like to do my own oil change, not because of cost savings (I don't save money at all) but I like know it was done right 100% and I visually inspect other parts of my car as well. It's my way to unwind and relax. Yea I can knock out oil changes in 10 minutes but I rather take an hour or two.

The doing it right part concerns me more than anything else. I used to have an Oldsmobile Aurora and it took 6 quarts of oil. There were a few times where I had to question them putting in 5 and saying they gave 6 (since I had to point out that they wrote 5 on the slip). It was also questionable if they actually changed the filter. On that car it was a cartridge that was always a pain to get out. Oddly enough, I knew whether not they changed it just because the mechanic would bitch about how it was a pain in the butt it was (which it was).

 

[pcgeek11]

Holy shit, 20 bucks a quart? Royal purple is 10 bucks a quart and mobile1 is around 8.

To be fair i have a 2011 toyota sienna minivan that i have to take to a shop to have its oil changed around $75 for full synthetic. thanks to toyotas engineers to change the oil i have to put it up on a lift, buy a special tool to drop the cap (internal oil filter), then buy another special tool to get the filter out. once that is done use the old filter to figure out how to put the new filter together then put it in with the special tools.

Fuck you Toyota

I have my old 2000 toyota sienna and i can change the oil in it in 15 min. no need to lift it and the filter is right in front of the engine and easily assessable from the top. same deal with my 2004 camry.

You only need one special tool for the filter housing.
https://www.google.com/search?q=new...#q=new+toyota+filter+canister+wrench&tbm=shop

You don't need a lift either a jack and jack stand. The Highlander has the same cannister type filter and it is no more difficult than any other oil change. Cleaner actually as the filter comes with a drain so you drain the housing before you take it off...

 

[pcgeek11]

Holy shit, 20 bucks a quart? Royal purple is 10 bucks a quart and mobile1 is around 8.

To be fair i have a 2011 toyota sienna minivan that i have to take to a shop to have its oil changed around $75 for full synthetic. thanks to toyotas engineers to change the oil i have to put it up on a lift, buy a special tool to drop the cap (internal oil filter), then buy another special tool to get the filter out. once that is done use the old filter to figure out how to put the new filter together then put it in with the special tools.

Fuck you Toyota

I have my old 2000 toyota sienna and i can change the oil in it in 15 min. no need to lift it and the filter is right in front of the engine and easily assessable from the top. same deal with my 2004 camry.

You only need one special tool for the filter housing. You don't need a lift either a jack and jack stand. The Highlander has the same cannister type filter and it is no more difficult than any other oil change. Cleaner actually as the filter comes with a drain so you drain the housing before you take it off...

And if you can't figure out a couple of O-rings to reassemble the new filter into the canister then I don't know what to say...

 

[brainhulk]

You only need one special tool for the filter housing.
https://www.google.com/search?q=new...#q=new+toyota+filter+canister+wrench&tbm=shop

You don't need a lift either a jack and jack stand. The Highlander has the same cannister type filter and it is no more difficult than any other oil change. Cleaner actually as the filter comes with a drain so you drain the housing before you take it off...

I think he may be referring to the plastic tool to drain the oil from the housing prior to removing the cap. I just save my old one

 

[pcgeek11]

I think he may be referring to the plastic tool to drain the oil from the housing prior to removing the cap. I just save my old one

It comes in the box with the new filter along with two new o-rings. All the ones I have purchased did anyway.

 

[brainhulk]

It comes in the box with the new filter along with two new o-rings. All the ones I have purchased did anyway.

I think only the toyota filters come with them. I bought some mobile and bosch filters and they didnt come with them

 

[Muse]

tires are easy and its easy to train. The margin is good as is the support they get being such a large retailer from the mfgs. There is zero money in oil changes. Only when you get to more complicated repairs is the margin good. Costco would spend alot of money to enter a saturated market with loads more risk.


They smartly said no thanks.

This, for sure.

 

[Muse]

There has to be money in oil changes, there are 3 shops around here that do nothing but them. My GF paid $109 for a full synthetic oil change. Took all of 15 minutes. The place she goes stays pretty busy. I don't know the profit margin but I bet they're making a lot on that $109. I pay $60 for a full synthetic and the shop I go to isn't losing money. The jiffy lube up the street charges I believe $40 for a standard oil change.

$109! I started doing my own oil changes a year ago and will continue doing so. I do full synthetic, pick it up on sale at Costco. Doing the change is real easy, I bought a set of ramps. The first time I was uncertain, now it's easy. My car takes 3.7 quarts. The cost including tax for those 3.7 quarts was $24.80. The oil filter cost me $5, got it off Amazon. I have the oil and filter I'll be using end of May this year.

I'm pretty sure I've never brought any of my cars to a car wash in my life. My current car (Mazda '97 coupe), I don't use soap, I just blast with a nozzeled hose, wipe down and blast again, done. It has a great paint job! I've stopped waxing it (did a few times), don't see why I should.

 

[brainhulk]

$109! I started doing my own oil changes a year ago and will continue doing so. I do full synthetic, pick it up on sale at Costco. Doing the change is real easy, I bought a set of ramps. The first time I was uncertain, now it's easy. My car takes 3.7 quarts. The cost including tax for those 3.7 quarts was $24.80. The oil filter cost me $5, got it off Amazon. I have the oil and filter I'll be using end of May this year.

Check walmart for the oil, i find it cheaper than costco

 

[Muse]

Check walmart for the oil, i find it cheaper than costco

Will do, thanks. That's where I got my battery. It's a much longer drive, but sometimes worth it. I've been ordering some stuff from Walmart online lately. Some qualifies for free shipping if order is at least $50. :awe: The stuff I've been ordering is hell of cheaper than Costco.

 

[SearchMaster]

I laugh at your $109...2015 Audi A3...$180 oil change and the nearest dealer is almost 50 miles away.

Before the next one, I'll research and see if I can get the tools to do it myself but I just didn't have time right now. My wife has a mechanic she's used for several years and trusts, he said he had to order a special tool then realized the filters were not available yet. I find that hard to believe because that 1.8T has been used by VAG for several years but again I have no free time right now to do due diligence.

My last three cars have been pretty simple to work on, and my current Focus ST is really easy to change the oil on though I'm using fairly expensive synthetic and the undercarriage shield is a bit of a pain to remove.

 

[Genx87]

tires are easy and its easy to train. The margin is good as is the support they get being such a large retailer from the mfgs. There is zero money in oil changes. Only when you get to more complicated repairs is the margin good. Costco would spend alot of money to enter a saturated market with loads more risk.


They smartly said no thanks.

+1

 

[evident]

Holy shit, 20 bucks a quart? Royal purple is 10 bucks a quart and mobile1 is around 8.

To be fair i have a 2011 toyota sienna minivan that i have to take to a shop to have its oil changed around $75 for full synthetic. thanks to toyotas engineers to change the oil i have to put it up on a lift, buy a special tool to drop the cap (internal oil filter), then buy another special tool to get the filter out. once that is done use the old filter to figure out how to put the new filter together then put it in with the special tools.

Fuck you Toyota

I have my old 2000 toyota sienna and i can change the oil in it in 15 min. no need to lift it and the filter is right in front of the engine and easily assessable from the top. same deal with my 2004 camry.

get a set of rhino ramps, buy the special tool from amazon for 20 bucks, quit your bitching. it's a breeze on my RX350.

 

[Muse]

... buy a special tool to drop the cap (internal oil filter), then buy another special tool to get the filter out. once that is done use the old filter to figure out how to put the new filter together then put it in with the special tools.

Fuck you Toyota

I think it makes sense to have ease of working on your car one of the priorities when you buy one. Even if you don't do the work yourself, you are bound to save yourself some money in labor costs if the car is designed with ease of maintenance in mind.

The complexity of working on some cars (special tools and knowledge) is obviously one reason Costco doesn't want to add a side business of servicing people's vehicles while they shop. There are so many nightmares involved, including trying to keep their shoppers happy.

I bought my car's battery pretty recently at Walmart and installed it myself in their lot and brought them the old one for partial refund.

 

[Ns1]

Will do, thanks. That's where I got my battery. It's a much longer drive, but sometimes worth it. I've been ordering some stuff from Walmart online lately. Some qualifies for free shipping if order is at least $50. :awe: The stuff I've been ordering is hell of cheaper than Costco.

The secret to costco oil is to only buy when you receive $8 coupons in the mail.

 

[purbeast0]

There has to be money in oil changes, there are 3 shops around here that do nothing but them. My GF paid $109 for a full synthetic oil change. Took all of 15 minutes. The place she goes stays pretty busy. I don't know the profit margin but I bet they're making a lot on that $109. I pay $60 for a full synthetic and the shop I go to isn't losing money. The jiffy lube up the street charges I believe $40 for a standard oil change.

then your gf is an idiot and that is why they are making money off of her.

and jiffy lubes try to upsell you on anything and everything. and most people will purchase it because they are idiots like your gf.

 

[Belegost]

Last time I did synthetic on a Mercedes, I think list price was almost $10 a quart for Mobil1 0W40 'Euro' oil. For some reason that probably has zero real justification, it's much more expensive than the 0w20 Mobil for Toyotas.

And it was 8 or 9 quarts.

So the shit does get pretty expensive, depending on the vehicle.

^This. My Benz takes 7 quarts, and there's a short list of MB approved oils (Mobil1 0w40 being the easiest to get in the US.) So yea, if the car was an import with a big oil reservoir it could easily cost $70 just for the oil.

I pickup mine in the 5quart jugs at Walmart for around $25 - so 5 bucks/quart isn't too bad, and the difference compared to non-approved synthetics isn't high enough to make it worth using them to save maybe 30 bucks a year (oil changes are about 7500 for me, and I only drive about 10k/year or less) And with a MityVac and a top mounted filter, and an oil change is a 20 minute job I could probably do in a tux. So it's just worth it to do myself.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I laugh at your $109...2015 Audi A3...$180 oil change and the nearest dealer is almost 50 miles away.

Before the next one, I'll research and see if I can get the tools to do it myself but I just didn't have time right now. My wife has a mechanic she's used for several years and trusts, he said he had to order a special tool then realized the filters were not available yet. I find that hard to believe because that 1.8T has been used by VAG for several years but again I have no free time right now to do due diligence.

My last three cars have been pretty simple to work on, and my current Focus ST is really easy to change the oil on though I'm using fairly expensive synthetic and the undercarriage shield is a bit of a pain to remove.

I'd drive 50 miles for $180..

It probably costs less than $10 to travel 100 miles in that car.

 

[SearchMaster]

I'd drive 50 miles for $180..

It probably costs less than $10 to travel 100 miles in that car.

Uh no. We are paying the dealer $180 AND driving 50 miles for the privilege of doing so.

But again, no time in the foreseeable future to do it myself, hopefully in a few months things will settle down and I'll be able to take care of it when it needs another change.

 

[Ns1]

then your gf is an idiot and that is why they are making money off of her.

and jiffy lubes try to upsell you on anything and everything. and most people will purchase it because they are idiots like your gf.

$109 is more than Toyota charges for my Prius and they'll at least throw in a car wash.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Uh no. We are paying the dealer $180 AND driving 50 miles for the privilege of doing so.

But again, no time in the foreseeable future to do it myself, hopefully in a few months things will settle down and I'll be able to take care of it when it needs another change.

Wait what? Audi doesn't cover oil changes on their cards?

 

[pcgeek11]

I think only the toyota filters come with them. I bought some mobile and bosch filters and they didnt come with them

I have purchased Bosch, Fram, Toyota and Purolater filters and they All had the filter drain plastic drain nipple in the box along with the filter and the two o-rings.

Maybe someone removed the ones that you bought or you overlooked it. This is a picture of the Mobile 1 filter.

http://images.oreillyauto.com/parts/img/large/mob/m1c-251.jpg

 

[pcgeek11]

Uh no. We are paying the dealer $180 AND driving 50 miles for the privilege of doing so.

But again, no time in the foreseeable future to do it myself, hopefully in a few months things will settle down and I'll be able to take care of it when it needs another change.

Shit. For 180 dollars they should come pick it up change the oil and deliver it back with a wash and wax thrown in. That is insane.

 

[phucheneh]

Um. Audi guy, you'se gettin' raped.

That's like a five or six quart oil change. Pretty sure filters are available aftermarket (as in, probably Mahle or Mann, as in, German companies who probably make the OE filters). If not, I'd be willing to be that a filter from the a dealer is not in the goddamn triple digits.