1. Oil prices are determined by a economic term called supply and demand. Right now in the world the demand for oil is higher than the supply. It’s not that the oil companies are not pumping the oil its that the people of Earth are consuming more than ever.
2. The rest of the world is trying to act like Americans and Americans are trying to act like them. Places like Russia, China, India, and Brazil are all buying cars of their own now and everybody is trying to get to the point where they own their own car instead of sharing the family vehicle like they use to. In the United States it is common to have every person in the house over the age of 16 to have their own car.
3. Oil companies are in business to make money. Don’t blame them for trying to do it. You are probably invested with them one way or another in your 401k, stocks, mutual funds, or pension. This is good news when they are making money. Its just that with the increase in gas prices so dramatically our wages have not kept up.
4. The only way to lower gas and oil prices is to either not use it at all or everybody stop using so much of it. This goes back to the supply and demand theory.
5. We were raised and told to change our oil every 3000 miles. We all assumed this was what was best for the car and what was recommended by the car manufacturer. Really it was the marketing of the oil companies to use more of their oil. If they could get you to think that you needed to change your oil every 3000 miles or every 4 months than you would be going to your local instant oil change place 3 times a year. This is good news for them.
6. Since this was the unwritten rule for so many years nobody really questioned it. Its funny because back in the 1950s and 1960s you didn’t change your oil you checked your oil. That’s right, you opened up the hood, pulled out the dipstick and made sure there was enough in there. If it was low you would put a quart or two in there. This was just the same as changing the oil but you didn’t drain it all out or change the oil filter. No need to drain it because cars back then would burn oil a lot more than the cars of today. I remember my dad telling me stories of driving in his 1970 Ford Mustang and taking the oil filter off once a year or longer.
7. Over the past 20 years changing your oil and the oil filter have been said this is what any good car owner would do. Not only are they telling you to change the oil but the filter too every 4 or 6 months. Now you are getting charged for the filter which is more profits for them.
8. Do you think the car of today needs to have its oil changed every 3000 miles to maintain its peak performance? Could it be the oil companies just trying to make more of a profit? I believe that we need to make a stand and stop changing our oil every 3000 miles. By doing so it will help in lowering oil and gas prices. With all of the problems going on in our economy right now we need to question some of the unwritten rules. People are having to use their home equity lines of credit just to be able to make the payments on their 30 year fixed rate mortgage so their house does not get foreclosed on. This never ending cycle needs to be broke so we all can get back on financial track.
9. Some car companies have admitted that you do not need to change your oil every 3000 miles and 5000 miles would be okay. Thank you car companies for stepping up and saying so. Unfortunately they say so in your owners manual for the car and do not say it on TV. You still see the adds from big oil companies saying to change it every 3000. Do you remember the last time you had your oil and filter changed? Did it cost you almost $50 to do so. Think about if you changed your oil every 6000 miles instead of 3000. This would save you $100 a year just on oil changes. For some smaller cars like a Ford Focus you could even stretch it out to 7500 miles. The smaller cars get less wear and tear on them then do a let’s say a Ford F-150. Even with a truck you should still go to 5000 miles. Oil changes for trucks are usually $5-$10 higher than a car because they need more oil in the engine block. I own a Ford Fusion and took it up to 6500 miles before my first oil change. I always remember to look at the sticker they put on my window and add 3000 miles to whatever that number says. They always say that I’m way over do but I tell them that my miles per gallon have not changed and the car ran fine.
10. If all Americans started changing their oil at 5000 miles instead of 3000 miles this would help reduce the demand for oil. This is not the cure all of ideas but it will work. You would be consuming half of the oil you normally do in a year to operate your car. Your car will not perform marginally better or less with the older oil. Take that number and times it by every single person in America that changes their oil every 300 miles. There are approximately 143 million cars and trucks on the road in the United States as of July 2008. Let’s use the $100 a year in savings for the average car owner x 143 million cars = $14,300,000,000 not going to the oil companies every year just in oil changes. This is just in the United States. Think about that number around the world. Oil prices would have to come down because of supply and demand. Do you think it makes sense now to change your oil every 5000 miles?
Found your blog on yahoo – thanks for the article but i still don’t get it.