[alanmcorcoran]

Mr. N180iq,

If I did all the jobs around the house that only take 15 minutes, I would spend my whole life doing stuff I loathe doing. I guess by the semi third world standards that seem to apply to finances on here, I, too, am Mr. Moneybags (hell, I might even be Mr. Moneysacks or Mr. Moneyvan) but I spend most of my time either doing what I have to do or doing stuff that entertains me. At some point changing oil might be one of them, but so far, changing oil doesn't sound very entertaining.

Your analysis indicating the entire process, including the trips to buy and get rid of the oil, coming in at a total of 15 mins, seems a tad on the biased side. My nearest Suzuki dealer is at least 30 mins in one direction, making two trips there 2 hours min, not to mention doing the actual oil change. Of course, that would bump the time involved in the dealer approach as well, the main argument in favor of doing it oneself.

In any event, many of you are avid do it yourselfers and a few of us are not. I got no problem with the do-it-yourself approach, and I truly appreciate the generosity of those sharing their knowledge on how to do it properly.

I do get a little irritated when it's presented as if it is the superior (or "smarter") approach. For many of us, it's not. I don't mow my own lawn, I don't fix my own toilets and I don't hang my own Christmas lights either. Does that make me an idiot?

On this forum, probably. But trust me, it's not because I don't know how or can't figure out how to do these things. I just don't like to mow, plumb or climb ladders and am fortunate, at least for the time being, to have the option of not doing so.