4 ms·

I assume you're not in the US since your pricing is totally out of place with most US consumer spending on vehicle maintenance. $50 for an oil change is about r

I assume you're not in the US since your pricing is totally out of place with most US consumer spending on vehicle maintenance. $50 for an oil change is about right, but every other year? Even Americans who don't drive that often will generally change it about every 6 months. Not to mention things like tires have a lifespan. Even if they aren't worn out, most tires are not meant to be used for longer than around 5 years. As the rubber ages, its composition changes and it does not perform to the rated specifications. Even cheap tires are $100/ea for everything larger than a subcompact economy car. $400 for tires, divided by 5 years; you get the idea. Car ownership in America does not need to be expensive, but it's nothing like the European mentality. I took my car to a mechanic for an unrelated issue and asked them to change the oil and check fluids while they had it in the shop (I bought it about 6 months earlier) and they called to tell me they weren't going to change it because it wasn't necessary and had paperwork to prove it. This was in the Netherlands in a small town. But here I drive my car 50km a week vs 50km a day when I lived in the US.

oefrha 3y ago
> Even Americans who don't drive that often will generally change it about every 6 months. What? Back when I drove a Corolla (in the U.S.) I never changed my oil more than once a year, and no one ever pestered me about it. Where did you get that?
- e36 3y ago
  From what I can tell, the average American drives somewhere between 12,000-15,000 miles a year. The average oil change interval for modern cars is 7,500-10,000 miles, so using the higher interval you would expect to change your oil roughly twice a year.
  - saltcured 3y ago
    I believe these published averages are arithmetic mean and may be skewed by long-distance drivers and multi-car households. As reported, it seems to be just total fleet mileage divided by number of drivers. For this kind of question about maintenance, I wish I could find a histogram or at least quartile summaries of per-vehicle distances per year.
londons_explore 3y ago
Most manufacturers suggest 12,000 mile oil changes. By the time your vehicle is old and less valuable, 25,000 miles makes more sense as long as the oil from the last change didn't show signs of contamination by water/soot/particulates (since the cost of the oil change is fixed, but the additional devaluation of the vehicle by not changing the oil is much less). For a typical driver, that makes it once per 2 years. Things like tyres are normally bought part-worn. My last set was $25/tyre, inc fitting, with 5mm tread left. Degradation can be determined by visual inspection - rubber does degrade, but it isn't a safety hazard until there are cracks allowing light to get to the cords in the tyre (light degrades the cords, which is a safety hazard).
- e36 3y ago
  Your tire advice is pretty scary. Unless you are very certain of the sourcing of these used tires, and you live somewhere that doesn't see any precipitation or inclement weather, you are taking a serious chance.

oefrha 3y ago

> Even Americans who don't drive that often will generally change it about every 6 months. What? Back when I drove a Corolla (in the U.S.) I never changed my oil more than once a year, and no one ever pestered me about it. Where did you get that?

e36 3y ago
From what I can tell, the average American drives somewhere between 12,000-15,000 miles a year. The average oil change interval for modern cars is 7,500-10,000 miles, so using the higher interval you would expect to change your oil roughly twice a year.
- saltcured 3y ago
  I believe these published averages are arithmetic mean and may be skewed by long-distance drivers and multi-car households. As reported, it seems to be just total fleet mileage divided by number of drivers. For this kind of question about maintenance, I wish I could find a histogram or at least quartile summaries of per-vehicle distances per year.

londons_explore 3y ago

Most manufacturers suggest 12,000 mile oil changes. By the time your vehicle is old and less valuable, 25,000 miles makes more sense as long as the oil from the last change didn't show signs of contamination by water/soot/particulates (since the cost of the oil change is fixed, but the additional devaluation of the vehicle by not changing the oil is much less). For a typical driver, that makes it once per 2 years. Things like tyres are normally bought part-worn. My last set was $25/tyre, inc fitting, with 5mm tread left. Degradation can be determined by visual inspection - rubber does degrade, but it isn't a safety hazard until there are cracks allowing light to get to the cords in the tyre (light degrades the cords, which is a safety hazard).

e36 3y ago
Your tire advice is pretty scary. Unless you are very certain of the sourcing of these used tires, and you live somewhere that doesn't see any precipitation or inclement weather, you are taking a serious chance.