Here are the most common oil change scams:
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- You need to change your oil once every 3000 miles
- The mechanic adds more unnecessary services
- The mechanic treats you like you don't know anything
- The mechanic does not do the right job
An oil change is one of the most common regular maintenance that you must perform between now and then. Depending on your vehicle owner's manual, you might have to visit the mechanic shop once every couple of months.
Understanding some of the very common scams when performing oil changes is essential to help you get the process smooth and avoid paying for unnecessary services.
This article highlights four oil change scams to watch for. We highly encourage you to keep an eye on any potential scams like this and avoid going through a specific place that might use all these scams.
Why do I need an oil change?
Before we highlight the four oil change scams, we must understand what the purpose of oil change in the first place is.
You might already know that oil is an essential fluid in your vehicle, and without it, your engine can break down in your time. However, if you have the right amount of oil, why do you need to change it between now and then?
Oil breaks down at some point, and when this happens, it stops lubricating the engine and stops snoozing to prevent engine overheating. However, when there is no oil in your car, the internal engine components interact against each other and cause friction that could result in excessive heat that your engine cannot handle.
Driving with oil that has lots of contaminants might seem even worse than driving without oil at all!
Therefore, it's extremely important that you keep up with the recommendations in your vehicle's owner's manual and follow one exactly you have to change your motor oil so you don't deal with engine complications.
How often should I change my motor oil?
It all depends.
There are examples of motor oils in the markets, and each type has its lifespan where it breaks down and requires change.
For example, the conventional oil might require change once every 6000 miles, if not before. However, I cannot if you're using synthetic oil; you might not need to change the motor oil up to 15,000 miles, if not more.
Therefore, the best location to the end answer for your vehicle's oil change frequency is your vehicle owner's manual. It should tell you exactly how often you should change your motor oil and what type of oil you should use for your car.
What are the different types of motor oils?
Some people might not feel very comfortable replacing their multiple oils that frequently. Therefore, understanding all the types of motor oil might help you select a better oil that doesn't require that much change with frequencies.
In general, in the world of motor oils, there are some common types that you will encounter, including:
1. Conventional oil
The traditional most, type of oil that you will see is conventional oil. It is the basic one that is not very expensive, and most people can't afford it without any issues. However, it is good enough to provide you with our acquired characteristics to cool down your engine and prevent overheating.
On the other hand, this conventional oil is not the best for oil change frequencies. You'll have to visit the mechanic shop and go for an oil change more often than any other type of motor oil. Therefore, this is a big issue for you; you might want to upgrade to another type of higher quality oil that does not require this many oil change frequencies.
2. Synthetic oil
Synthetic oil is the highest quality motor oil you will see in the world of motor oils. It provides the best quality and does not require frequent changes compared to conventional oil.
Unsurprisingly, synthetic oil is much more expensive than conventional oil, and not everybody can afford it. Therefore, you won't see that every single car is using synthetic oil.
Remember that synthetic oil also does not work for any vehicle because some older cars are incompatible with this type of oil. Therefore, synthetic oil for these vehicles might cause problems rather than solve them.
3. Synthetic blend oil
Automotive experts put together some oil. It is a combination of both synthetic and conventional oil. This oil is somewhere between the tool that provides great benefits from both types of oil.
For example, you'll enjoy much longer oil change frequencies when synthetic blood is used as compared to conventional oil. However, it's not going to be as long as when you're using full synthetic oil, but it's better than nothing.
Also, synthetic blend oils are much cheaper than full synthetic oil but are a little bit more expensive than conventional oil.
Again, you need to confirm with your mechanic before switching to synthetic blend oil if you're interested in this type of oil since it will not be compatible with every vehicle, especially the older ones.
4. High mileage oil
Finally, if you're driving an older car with more than 75,000 miles, you might want to consider switching to high mileage oil. This oil is designed specifically to take care of all our vehicles and delay major engine problems as much as possible.
Of course, no oil will prevent these major breakdowns completely bought at least you're not going to deal with them prematurely.
4 oil change scams
Since everyone will be changing oil all year round, they'll deal with some scams you should be aware of. We've been hearing lots of stories about people receiving false information about oil changes, and it is extremely important for you as a driver to be aware of these scams and avoid them.
Let's take a look at the four most common oil change scams that you will hear about:
1. You need to change your oil once every 3000 miles
The first and most common oil change scam you will encounter is when your mechanic tells you that you must come after 3000 miles. But, as we mentioned earlier, even if you're driving and using conventional oil, you don't have to go that frequently because that kid adult, even if oil change, will not cost a lot.
Typically, conventional oil might require you to change the oil once every 6000 miles, if not 7000 miles. First, you must confirm your vehicle owner's manual and research your vehicle type and condition.
You're not going to be asked to change the motor oil every 3000 miles no matter what, and it's just a scam by these mechanics who are just trying to make some more money.
2. The mechanic adds more unnecessary services
The second type of scam is when your mechanic starts to add up some services. Again, of course, you must have the mechanic shape your vehicle and confirm that every component has no troubles.
However, many mechanics might take it to extreme levels. In other words, they might thoroughly inspect every single component in your car, and at the end of the day, once you look at the bill, you'll see that it's extremely high!
There is no reason that you should perform all these unnecessary inspections unless your vehicle needs them. For example, if you know that your car has been behaving weirdly and ask for these inspections, that should be fine. However, if it's just a recommendation from your mechanic and you feel like it's happening that often, it could be a way to scam you and get more money out of your pocket.
3. The mechanic treats you like you don't know anything
You must always ask as many questions as possible to help yourself understand how your vehicle operates and what problems to avoid. However, if you feel that your mechanic is treating you like you're stupid or your questions are recent, you should walk away.
A good mechanic understands that not everybody knows everything about cars and he should be prepared to answer your questions no matter what.
Even if you want to get your vehicle changed the oil, it doesn't mean you should be afraid to ask questions and understand what's happening.
Treatment and customer service are sometimes more important than the service itself. Therefore, try testing multiple shops until you get to a point where you're happy and satisfied with how these mechanics treat you and how they respond to your questions, even if they're the simplest type of questions they might ever hear.
Once you have a good relationship with your mechanic and feel comfortable asking questions, you'll have good trust between the two of you. You can trust your mechanic to solve more complicated problems beyond oil changes.
4. The mechanic does not do the right job
Do you know that there are some situations where you go for a service at a mechanic shop, and the mechanic does not do it at all?! Yes! It happened multiple times. You go for an oil change and stay there, and then once you get your vehicle back, you'll see that the oil was not changed. Therefore, it doesn't hurt to take the dipstick out and look at your oil to confirm that it was changed.
That's why you must understand how the old oil looked in the first place so you can compare it to the new oil. Typically, the old oil looks dark, and it might have some contaminants as you look at it on your dipstick.
Being suspicious about everything is not that thing because it helps you avoid wasting your money on something that wasn't done for you.
At some point in time, and once you get to know your mechanic much better, you'll have a sense of how much you should trust this mechanic shop and whether you should switch it to somewhere else or not.
Final thoughts
An oil change is essential; no driver can live and drive a car without oil changes now and then. But unfortunately, there are very common types of oil change scams that you might encounter, and learn about them helps you identify them and avoid them as much as possible.
This article walked you through the coming oil change scams you should know about. Once you feel that you're experiencing a scam, you must walk away no matter how many discounts or offers the mechanic is providing you.
Some scams include asking you to come back after 3000 miles, adding unnecessary services, treating you like you don't know anything, and not changing your oil!
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