Most manufactures recommend that you change your vehicle’s oil and oil filter every 3 months or every 3,000 miles, whichever comes first.  You should consult your owner’s manual for the exact specifications for your vehicle or ask us for a Free Manufacturer’s Scheduled Maintenance Guide for your vehicle.  Some newer vehicles are programmed for up to 6,000 miles under “normal” driving conditions.  Your owner’s manual will have “normal” and “severe” recommendations.  Severe driving conditions include driving in stop-and-go traffic making frequent short trips (less than 5 miles per trip), lengthy high-speed trips, driving in extreme temperatures (over 90*F or below freezing), and towing and hauling.  The average driver probably considers his or her driving conditions normal, but the truth is that most of us drive under severe conditions far more often that we realize and should time our oil changes accordingly.

(For more information read our article Do You Really Need To Change Your Oil Every 3000 Miles?)

Personally, genuine positive reviews carry more weight for me than genuine negative reviews. It’s always easy to complain about cost and if someone was “rude” (when in reality they might have just been really busy). It seems rare that someone will go the extra mile to write a positive review. Online review sites seem to be a breeding ground for negativity and half-truths.

I take this in mind when reading reviews of oil change centers and, like Midas, I was impressed with the amount of genuinely positive reviews by real people.

Tuffy has lots of useful car care information on their website, printable in PDF format if you so desire. They seem to take an unusually high amount of care in making sure their customers are well-informed and up-to-date on the necessary care required for their vehicles.

As usual, oil change coupons and a dealer locator are available for their customers on their website, and are also obtainable at various sites on the web.

OilChangeCouponsList.com rates Tuffy as “Highly Recommended”

Pennzoil oil change centers are easily navigable through their website, where you can type in your zip code and find various locations. The location finder generally shows authorized Pennzoil oil change businesses, which can be as diverse as mom-and-pop stores as well as large franchises, like Tire Kingdom. Additionally, the company has Pennzoil 10 minute oil change locations that are also rapidly growing in popularity and usage. You can also often find oil change coupons available.

Reviews on sites like Yelp and others generally give the 10 minute oil change locations high marks, as they seem to be perceived as a more high end option than it’s other chain, Jiffy Lube.

Penzoil is a wise choice and is definitely a recommended option by this web site.

Relation to other brands

Through a series of mergers, acquisitions, and so forth, Pennzoil is also closely associated with Shell, Quaker State, and other popular oil brands. Jiffy Lube is a property of Pennzoil (actually Shell Oil Products).

In the Portland Oregon area, Firestone stores are the first in the United States to off an oil change service that is environmentally friendly. This oil change uses EcoPower quality motor oil. EcoPower oil is recycled and refined twice – which means it uses up to 85% less energy to produce than other motor oils. How is EcoPower performance-wise? It actually exceeds American standards for motor oil performance.

Reviews on sites like Yelp and others are generally favorable – moreso than many other comparable auto service centers. We highly recommend them.

STANDARD OIL CHANGE
Their value-priced basic service:

• install new filter
• install up to 5 quarts of Kendall® GT-1® Synthetic Blend motor oil
• lubricate chassis (if necessary)
• 3-month/3,000-mile warranty

HIGH MILEAGE OIL CHANGE
Designed for vehicles with over 75,000 miles:

• install new filter
• install up to 5 quarts of Kendall® GT-1® Synthetic Blend High Mileage motor oil
• lubricate chassis (if necessary)
• 3-month/3,000-mile warranty

FULL SYNTHETIC OIL CHANGE
Designed for newer higher revving engines that specify a full synthetic motor oil:

• install new filter
• install up to 5 quarts of Kendall® GT-1® Full Synthetic motor oil
• lubricate chassis (if necessary)
• 3-month/3,000-mile warranty

Firestone oil change coupons are often sent out via mailers as well as available in multiple locations online.

ExxonMobil has several recommendations depending on the type of oil used in your automobile.

The official ExxonMobil site states:

We recommend a maximum of six months between oil changes for Mobil Clean 5000, Mobil Clean High Mileage and Mobil Clean 7500. On Mobil 1 Extended Performance, we recommend a maximum of one year between oil changes.

Mobil 1 Oil Change centers offer incentives for regular care of your automobile at their locations. The official website states: “As you earn Rewards, you can either redeem your Mobil 1 Rewards immediately, or save them and build towards a bigger reward. You will earn $5 in Rewards for each oil change or purchase during your Reward Accrual Period”

Reviews for Mobil 1 Oil Change Locations are generally positive for customer service, complaints, and so forth. Highly recommended.

Walmart is one example. They do not have any oil change coupons at this time, but most Walmarts will match other coupons.

Again, this is usually on a location-by-location basis. So, you should call your local Walmart to see if they will match a competitor’s coupon and then get the best coupon price from other local oil change companies, or use a deal site online to search for oil change coupons.

A popular promotion this year (2009) is that people getting their oil changed at Walmart will receive $15 gift cards. Check your local Wal-Mart for details.

The Instant Oil Change division of the company was created in 1986 after they purchased a chain of Rapid Oil Change centers in New Yor and Minneapolis, as well as additional chain acquisitions in Michigan – primarily DipStick and Instant Oil Change chains.

They claim to be the second largest Instant Oil Change chain in the United States and focus on being quick, easy, and honest with their customers.

They offer a toll-free number as well, so you can call instantly and at no charge to rate your oil change experience.

Valvoline is one of the most aggressive oil change coupon promoters online, in fact there is a good chance the advertisements provided by Google at the top of this page will link directly to a “Location Finder” from Valvoline as well as links to their latest oil change coupons, offers, and specials.

Reviews on Yelp.com, and other review sites generally tend to give Midas high marks in the service and reliability departments. In one review a customer said:

“I’m proud to say that Midas in Berkeley took the title of “first non-dealership work” for my little Audi. At first I was scared, but after talking with the mechanics and getting the ultimate deal, I couldn’t be more pleased.”

Another customer wrote:

“I got a coupon for a free oil change and thats what I got.  No upselling and Don said everything looks good on my car.  I was shocked …”

This pledge to take care of customers is supported by, among other things, their multi-point Midas Touch Courtesy Check, which includes a visual check (under  the hood and under the vehicle) of all major systems and components , as well as tires and fluids.

Contrary to our Jiffy oil change review, the Midas oil change centers are constantly lauded in reviews, blogs, and opinion sites.

We at Oil Change Coupons List highly recommend Midas Auto Centers for your oil change needs.

Midas also regularly offers oil change coupons and special promotions with no strings attached – as evidenced by the testimony above.

Please see below for dealer locators and oil change coupons:

For 30 years, Jiffy Lube has grown from a local chain in Houston to one of the largest oil change chains in North America with over 2200 locations. They claim to serve over 27 million customers each year. A Shell Oil subsidiary, they are definitely one of the largest players in the United States.

Jiffy Lube pretty much pioneered the quick oil change business model. On their website, they claim their model was “created to fill a gap [in the 1970's] left by the departure of full service gas stations and the emergence of the self-serve model.”

They have a few other unique claims to fame. Jiffy Lube introduced the now-ubiquitous window cling reminder sticker to help drivers keep track of their oil change intervals.

Whether it’s just PR spin or not, Jiffy Lube claims to recycle all their motor oil from oil changes. This oil is re-refined and used for industrial applications, such as concrete manufacturing, electricity generation and heating asphalt to pave roads.

They also appear to be very active in philanthropic pursuits, the Jimmy Fund at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and many local children’s hospitals to name a few.

Since 2004, Jiffy Lube has been making aggressive expansion into China and other foreign countries.

Scams and Expose’s

This site isn’t designed to be an expose site, but out of all the oil change centers we have reviewed, Jiffy Lube seems to consistently have a line of disappointed, and even angry publicly commenting former customers. Take this example of a Southern California TV station investigation, via this summary from Snopes.com:

The report was entitled “Is Your Mechanic Cheating?” and detailed the results obtained by the news team when they took cars to various Jiffy Lube locations around southern California. Through the use of surveillance, surreptitiously marked parts, and tiny cameras hidden within the target cars, the team discovered that at the preponderance of Jiffy Lube locations where they left cars for routine maintenance (e.g., oil changes, fuel filter replacements, transmission flushes), they were charged for work that was never performed. They also encountered a good deal of obfuscation and prevarication from Jiffy Lube employees and officials whom they confronted about the unperformed work, including a district manager who flat-out lied to them about his identity.

Personally I have never had any problems at a Jiffy Lube regarding oil changes, and it is quite possible the complaints may stem from regional attitudes or practices – not company wide policies designed to fleece an unsuspecting public.

Ultimately, you will need to follow our steps outlined in our oil change scams article. In that article we have listed things you can do at an oil change center to detect whether they might have a tendency to scam you.