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Cost of Oil Change

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by jetsaviator, Aug 29, 2010.

  1. jetsaviator

    jetsaviator New Member

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    Found the best buy for an oil change in the Indianapolis area for my 2010 Prius. Beck Toyota, Greenwood, In. $45.04, including tax, for Valvoline 0W20 and filter. Great service and to top it off they have a $15.00 rebate coupon from Valvoline that can be used at the dealership or redeemed for cash. Most Indianapolis and surrounding area dealers charge about $60.00 for an oil change.

    With the rebate my out of pocket cost is $30.00 Have always changed my own oil in the past, but I won't crawl under the car for $30.
     
  2. ksstathead

    ksstathead Active Member

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    Great deal. Suggest you double check the oil fill level and the tire pressure, as some shops tend to over fill the oil and under fill the tires.
     
  3. stream

    stream Senior Member

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    Great deal. I just paid $39.88 at the dealer for Toyota 0W-20 oil & filter service.
     
  4. practica

    practica Junior Member

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    Not all synthetic oils are the same, even if they are rated the same for lubrication viscosity and temperature range. The issue is the additive contents used to condition seals and what not besides just lubricating. To last 10,000mi long life, the right package is required. Some synthetic oils have recommended shorter replacement intervals, the idea being they are good for the temperature range but not the longest interval. So which matches Toyota's formula is a question, and Toyota obviously is not in the oil business itself but buys this from someone; it could be Mobile for all anyone knows. The oil company websites may show replacement interval specs on their different synthetic oils, which have multiplied into a large number of different formulas offered by each company.
    Oil change retailers obviously have an interest in more frequent oil changes.
     
  5. vinnie97

    vinnie97 Whatever Works

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    And some synthetics are rated for 20,000 km or more. ;) Toyota would be silly to rebrand oil that could cause premature damage to the engines of their own vehicles.
     
  6. Colonel Ronson

    Colonel Ronson New Member

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    Valvoline is garbage. Read everything on Bob Is the Oil Guy, and Valvoline always gives back horrible UOAs. It just thins out too quickly.

    $50.00 standard price at Camelback Toyota. 4 quarts Toyota 0W-20, Toyota Filter Gasket, Toyota Filter Media. Free Car Wash.
     
  7. practica

    practica Junior Member

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    Tricky comparing change intervals with regular cars, since the hybrid engine is not running as long over the same mileage. City driving required to get much difference, lots of red lights. Not much more than 25 per cent I'd guess -- based on mileage gains. They could be stretching a 7500 mi rated oil to 10,000.
     
  8. cossie1600

    cossie1600 Active Member

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    Think start ups!
     
  9. Colonel Ronson

    Colonel Ronson New Member

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    Synthetic has been shown over and over again to go 10,000, 15,000, even 25,000 miles. Ill agree that a 10000 OCI on regular oil is a horrible idea, but synthetic? a-ok.
     
  10. practica

    practica Junior Member

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    Never heard of any non-synthetic oil rated for more than 3-5 thousand mi., they don't have the additive package required and why should they, as it breaks down otherwise. The III comes with synthetic, and when you use that stuff Mobile 1 original tests years ago when first came out showed absolutely no wear on the engine after thousands of miles, with original scratch marks still on the parts. The main point against synthetics was failure to dope with sufficient additives to get a long interval, raising the cost from frequent higher priced changes. With a long interval the higher unit price is balanced out, so you get the wear reduction for the same price as regular oil. It's been a long time coming to get these long change intervals. Guess they couldn't sell the higher priced synthetics otherwise in the end and finally did what they were supposed to -- and maybe increased capacity to make it up in volume.
    But I expect Toyota gets some mileage gains out of the particular viscosity, is why they use it. Supposed to be easier starting, too, important with the on-off hybrid engine. But it seems a real plus for the consumer to get longer engine life.
     
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  11. Colonel Ronson

    Colonel Ronson New Member

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    Okay, if that was true, then Europe wouldn't have 10,000 mile OCIs. If that was also true, no car manufacturer in the United States would list 7500 mile OCIs like my old infiniti did. And nowhere in the owners manual did it say anything about synthetic. Just API-SL rated Oil. I could either do Schedule 1 Maintenance at 3750 miles or Schedule 2 at 7500. So yes...there are oils that can go 7500 miles or more. Just look at Europe.

    And the viscosity has nothing to do with how the engine works. The Gen II prius used regular 5W-30. The only reason new Toyotas use 0W-20 is because of CAFE standards. Why else did the 0W-20 recommendation get put into place for 2010 model year cars.
     
  12. cossie1600

    cossie1600 Active Member

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    0W-20 are all synthetics. You can eat McDonalds everyday and live 40 years, what happen when you are older. I can't believe you guys are pissing over each other over $50 bucks
     
  13. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    My synthetic oil changes At the dealer cost over 70 dollars. It's about 45 dollars For standard oil changes
     
  14. Colonel Ronson

    Colonel Ronson New Member

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    im curious how they justify that? the MSRP Price for Toyota 0W-20 is like $4.77/qt. And you only need 4 quarts. So do they charge additional labor for the synthetic oil change or what?
     
  15. stream

    stream Senior Member

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    Last year, when this whole synthetic oil thing was new to Toyota dealers, my dealer tried to charge a $35 premium for synthetic--until I pointed out to the service manager that the difference between synthetic and conventional oil (which of course is included in the standard oil service) is ~$15. That's what they charge me. I just paid $25 + $15 = $40.
     
  16. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    9.99 a quart and billed for 5 of them. But price does include a surcharge for hazardous zwaste disposal of something or another per quart. I thought it was like$ 1..50 but that would still make the price pretty high
     
  17. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    That is an outright rip-off
     
  18. stream

    stream Senior Member

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    FWIW, on the invoice for my recent oil service, 0W-20 single quart is $6.94 list (I paid $5.17). Hazardous waste charge was $1.22 total.
     
  19. Capt Pat

    Capt Pat Junior Member

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    Just came back from my local Frederick MD Toyota dealer:
    5 quarts 0W20 at 6.94$ per quart for a 34.70$
    Oil filter 7.00$
    now a 4.00$ environmental charge
    then 1.99$ for documentation retention !?!?
    and this one is the weirdest of them all shop supplies 0.05 $. i guess it must cover part of the Lava soap bar needed to wash his hands, or maybe the latex gloves he was wearing.
    Obviously tire rotation and all this, if I had to pay for it, added up to 46.09$
     
  20. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    Its really strange they break it all out. My dealer charges $72.99 for synthetic change and doesn't break it out. On the sheet they said 4 quarts 0w20, so if they charge for 5 make sure its not in the car, that is majorly overfilled. I did have something strange on my sheet that I have never seen before. They measured my brakes and marked 8mm by each on the inspection sheet. Just a few notes about pricing, I don't consider this a rip off, the dealers rip you off a lot more in other ways. My dealership gave me 3y36k miles free oil changes, so I don't pay. Toyota had called earlier and said they were giving me a free oil change at 5,000 miles, when I went to the dealer they told me corporate didn't have its act together and they wouldn't change it for free until the 5000 miles which I was fine with. The price is about the same price as the lexus dealer charged for my lexus, but at lexus they hand wash your car, vacuum it, and condition the leather.

    If you don't want to pay, just buy the proper oil and take it to one of the chains. They always have sales.