Oil Change

Oil Change Time. Last time I had my oil changed it cost me $45. FORTY-FIVE DOLLARS! for a little Mazda. You know how they reel you in with their teaser rate of $39.95, which is not so great anyway. Then you get in there and it's "well Ma'am, with your car it needs a special kind of  oil filter which costs more, so. . . .". Here's what's funny:  Seems as though every car I've ever owned, be it a Saab, a Pontiac Grand Am,  a Pontiac Montana van, a Chevrolet Astro Van, a Pontiac Bonneville, or my car right now, the cute little Mazda, has always been the odd car that requires a special "this or that" that's of course more expensive than the one they figured for in the ad! Hmmmmmmm . . . anybody else ever had this experience. I mean, where is that car that's only $39.95 for the oil change?



So, anyway, I have been needing another oil change but have been too cheap to pay the $45.00 at Kwik Kar or Kare (not sure which it is). Lo and behold, a guy comes to my door selling a wonderful deal. I pay $89.00 right now and I get a card from their business (Eagle Transmissions) that entitles me to 5 oil changes and a few other free wonderful deals. I hesitated and was "having to talk to my husband" when he throws in another card for 5 oil changes to use for our truck. All for the $89.00. I was even allowed to post-date the check. I know, you're thinking this is all too good to be true! I went ahead and did it, and today I got my first oil change. Guess what? It worked.



Now, I wasn't born yesterday, so I know an advertising gimmick when I see one. The fine art of  "get you in the place and upsell you like crazy".  Sure enough, he wanted to sell me the upgrade to synthetic oil for only $29.95 more. The synthetic oil lasts longer so you don't need to change your oil as often. I know this, but you see I currently hold in my hot little hand, oil changes for a year for two vehicles in my household for only $89.00. Soooo.  . . . . no thank you. Next thing, of course is "you need your air filter changed. It would be $28.00 to do that. Would you like us to go ahead and do that for you?" "No thank you" I say, because I just drove past Pep Boys and changing the air filter is one of the easiest things to do, maybe even easier than pumping your own gas. So I went to Pep Boys and purchased my air filter for $17.00 which I still thought was a little bit high. Anyway, saved myself $10.00 on that one.  When I went to check out, I wasn't too surprised to find that everything was included except "shop supplies". That was an additional $3.50. Well, they had me on that one, so I paid my $3.50 and happily drove away with fresh oil in my car and a smile on my face for not folding under the pressure of the dreaded "upsell".