When To Get An Oil Change

An oil change is one of the most basic car maintenance services your car requires on a regular bases to maintain the working life of your engine. Having your oil checked regularly in your car, truck, van or sport utility vehicle is important but there is a lot of debate of how often you should get it changed. Some suggest that it should be every 3 months. Others simply rely on what their mechanic suggests when they put a new sticker on your car with the mileage at which it should be brought back to the shop. It is important to know what determines the best time to get an oil change for your car and for your lifestyle.

Time is not the best way to go about choosing when to have an oil change unless you are a reliable driver that has a solid schedule day-to-day, year to year. The three-month time interval is based on the notion that the average person drives a thousand miles a month. After 3 months or 3,000 miles, you should get yours changed. Not everyone, however, drives that many miles. Some may drive more than 1,000 miles a month, especially if they travel long distances to work or it’s a commercial vehicle that takes frequent trips.

Most mechanics will tell you that the most important way to figure out when you need an oil change is, therefore, mileage. For most Americans the average driver puts between 5,000 to 1,500 miles on their car each year. Mechanics suggest changes between 3,000 to 5,000 miles driven. For someone who commutes locally and takes infrequent trips, chances are you’ll only need to change your oil once a year. For the more adventurous traveler, you may be changing your oil 3-4 times a year, a national average.

The most important reason to change your oil is for quality. You can regularly check the quality of your oil to make sure you don’t need an oil change sooner than your mechanic suggested last time they took a look at your oil. Sometimes long trips or environmental factors can cause the oil to go down in quality. The oil shouldn’t be a burnt color or look gunky. If you’ve driven 2,000 miles since your last oil change but have low quality oil in your tank, you should go to your mechanic for a change right away instead of waiting.

Maintaining good quality oil and having regular oil changes on your car is the most important regular maintenance task to maintain your engine. Make sure you’re aware of how often you drive your car and how many miles you put on it regularly in a given month or year. This will help you make the best decisions when deciding on when to get your next oil change.