Cheapest place for oil, air, fuel filters and eng...

[SethJohnson555]

Hiya, in order to save a bit of cash, my plan is to get an oil filter, fuel filter, air filter and engine oil all myself and then ask my local mechanic to fit them all and change the oil (yep they all do need doing).

My question is I'm in south of Manchester and surrounded by car places but looking online I can't seem to find any decent supplier for those sorts of things. Lots of car breaker yards but I just want the basics for my Honda accord. I can get them locally (not including oil) for about £35 but thought a decent online supplier would be cheaper.

Does anyone have any tips on the best places to buy those sorts of things?

Cheers,
~Seth.

[Quinny]

Why pay someone else to change them?

I did all mine,on my Peugeot 406 HDi on Wednesday,and it took me less than an hour.

Ken.

[Quinny]

If your car falls into the years listed below,then the price inc p&p,isn't bad.And you get 4 spark plugs as well:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HONDA-ACCORD-S...em280077202430

Sorry about the long link.

Ken.

[avantra]

What you want to look for is ' motor factors' these are large suppliers of automotive parts and consumables see in yell.co.uk. Try to get your oil from.. Tesco it usually the same stuff for 10-W40 as you would get in Halford. Last time I changed my oil I've paid £6.5 for 5 litres in Tesco, £3 for an oil filter in Motaquip and £6 for air filter also from Motaquip.

And than if you don't want to get your hands dirty, I think national.co.uk does oil change for £15.

[Stephen Leak]

Originally Posted by avantra

And than if you don't want to get your hands dirty, I think national.co.uk does oil change for £15.

Firstly, its national-tyres.co.uk, and I recommend leaving this job to them as well. I've done oil changes myself on previous cars, but on the modern ones the oil filter can be just this side of impossible to find, let alone wrestle with to remove. Then there is the hassle of the envoironmentally-friendly collection and disposal of the old oil. In true MSE style, there is a 10% discount, if you book it on the website. It is a "footfall " offer to get you through the door, so they can check your tyres, but if they are OK, so what?

[Keith]

National Tyres did our last oil change, we were there nearly an hour as they couldn't free the old filter, they recommended that we have two tyres changed. We got those fitted elsewhere, but the oil change was £15.

[avantra]

Originally Posted by Stephen Leak

Firstly, its national-tyres.co.uk, and I recommend leaving this job to them as well. I've done oil changes myself on previous cars, but on the modern ones the oil filter can be just this side of impossible to find, let alone wrestle with to remove. Then there is the hassle of the envoironmentally-friendly collection and disposal of the old oil. In true MSE style, there is a 10% discount, if you book it on the website. It is a "footfall " offer to get you through the door, so they can check your tyres, but if they are OK, so what?

http://www.national.co.uk/ is also a live link to National, but it seems that the 10% online discount is presented at main page of www.national.co.uk .
www.national-tyres.co.uk got an offer for MOT for £35

[beaker141]

I have just used Motor Factors Altrincham quite close to Tesco Altrincham and found them reasonable. I havent compared prices anywhere else but the guy nearly strung me up when I asked him to confirm he was cheaper than Halfords !! The oil filter for my corsa was £1.77 + vat which I thought was pretty good. Keep meaning to pop in to Halfords to compare.

If you are more Stockport way then I found a motor factors on an industrial estate near the Rising Sun in Hazel Grove.

If you don't/can't fit them yourself then I would suggest just finding somewhere that does an all in parts and labour oil change, I can't see them giving you the labour only very cheap if you arrive with a bag of goods for them to fit (A bit like ready steady cook ! ! )

[Jamp]

An independant garage will get the parts cheaper than you can as they will have loyalty deals with motor factors. You won't save anything taking your own parts (for a basic service anyway) as they'll just charge more labour to cover their costs that way.

The exception is if you want to use genuine parts and some quality oil - independent garages tend to be best at getting the cheapest, not getting the best for the cheapest price...

[SethJohnson555]

Alright guys, thank you all for your input. I'd never heard of motor factors before so that's all good stuff!

Basically my plan is this, feel free to comment at will.

Firstly, I'm going to tell my local mechanic to do a full/major service soon as. I haven't done one since I got the car a year ago (Honda Accord, 7 odd years old) as it was in impeccable condition, drives like a dream and it's just passed an MOT with no issues. However, I just want the peace of mind that it's all been checked over. I don't really plan on getting a full service every year, maybe every two depending on how it sounds/feels?

Secondly, every six to eight months when I need an oil change (if it's started to get low or look a bit dark and murky) I'll either go to a national-tyres to get the air, oil and fuel filters changed and the oil changed or to my local mechanic depending on who is cheapest.

Thirdly, when I finally move somewhere that I've got a bit more room to park than just on the main road, I'll get a hayes manual and sort out learning how to change all those things myself as I'm fairly good with my hands just haven't had the chance to get much car experience. Obviously I'll get a mate to help but if it's just too finicky to do an oil or a fuel filter then I'll leave that little bit to a mechanic and will at least have the satisfaction of doing most of it myself.

Thanks,
Seth.