Oil & Filter change

benjus

I found quite a few threads on here about cheap places to get an oil and filter change done, but most of them were a few years old so I thought I'd bring it up to date.

I went to National in Greenwich yesterday to get it done. Cost me about £31.60 with a 10% off voucher available on their website to have it filled with Castrol GTX Magnatec (well, obviously you have to trust them on this one - they were Castrol oil drums at least - but then that's the case with any garage).

I reckon I'd spend about £16 on the oil (my car takes 3 litres) and £5 on the filter, so paying £10 for someone to do the messy part seems reasonable to me. No vacuum equipment in use - car was raised up on the ramp and the sump plug removed.

Oh, and no attempts to hard sell me exhausts or tyres etc. He did suggest that I had an engine flush on my next oil change, as it looked like it hadn't been done for a while.

KillerWatt

benjus wrote: »

I reckon I'd spend about £16 on the oil (my car takes 3 litres)

I wish our car only held 3 litres, but then again it has only needed £300 spent on it in the last 3 years (excluding servicing) so it kind of works out ok in the end.

Servicing is quite cheap at just under £40 for 10 litres of 10/30 semi synth, oil filter, air filter, and fuel filter - and the whole lot can be done in under 10 minutes thanks to not needing a jack to get underneath.

Road_Hog

benjus wrote: »

Oh, and no attempts to hard sell me exhausts or tyres etc. He did suggest that I had an engine flush on my next oil change, as it looked like it hadn't been done for a while.

Yeah, I've used them in the past, they seem quite good and don't try to sell you extra stuff. I think my last oil & filter change for a Mondeo, about two years ago was about £25. The cost of the oil and filter is near to £20, so paying a few quid more to save the hassle factor is worth it.

Stephen_Leak

Another vote for National Tyres. I always reckon that changing the oil & filter every 6 months was one reason why my old Mondeo saw 123,456 miles and never let me down. I plan to do the same with my new Fiesta. Using them also saves the hassle of handling and disposing of the old oil. OK, we all know that it's a "footfall offer", so they can check your tyres but you do get a printout of the tread depths, which enables you to look after them, too.

jase1

Yeah I've done this at the 5000 mile mark for years now. At £25 (still that price for my second car as it's 10W40) it seems churlish not to -- it gives me a chance to check under the car properly myself, which National are always happy to let me do. No hard-sell, although they have pointed out problems with the exhaust in the past and just advised "not to bother doing anything about it until it starts to blow". Can't say fairer than that.

bigjl

Indeed a decent price, and better than not servicing a car like some people seem to do in London these days.

I used to use the Kwikfit in Romford when I lived in a flat, it was a MK2 Mondeo petrol and they charged under £30, as it needed a the proper zetec oil.

I wouldn't use them for much else these days, but I used to get a small discount as one of the guys there was in the Johnnies and I worked with his brother.

Though if you have no tools then at least it is a cheap way to keep the oil clean.

Rolandtheroadie

Just done a quick check, apparently they dont have 5w40.

rev_henry

I used this for my last oil change. Booked online and paid £26something I think. Think it was just bog standard 10W40, but they do use Castrol as you say. National seems to vary from garage to garage. The one I went to for the oil change we've had other work done there before of a good, honest standard, but the next nearest one once tried to sell me 4 new tyres when I only needed 2. Needless to say I never went back to that other one, and strangely enough those other 2 tyres still haven't needed replacing about 2 years later.

Kilty_2

scotsman4th wrote: »

Just done a quick check, apparently they dont have 5w40.

Odd, I've looked before and they were offering it, now it says it's not currently available.

Inactive

Kilty wrote: »

Odd, I've looked before and they were offering it, now it says it's not currently available.

Perhaps it was sourced from Libya..

2010

http://www.national.co.uk/oil-vehicle-search.aspx

Here`s the link where you can enter your reg number to see how much oil and the cost for your car.

According to them I need five litres of Castrol Magnatec 5W30 Full Synthetic for my Ford Fiesta.


Quantity Part Code Description Price Online Discount
Total Price OCZETEC1 Castrol Magnatec 5W30 Full Synthetic
£31.00 -£3.10 £27.90

DISOIL Oil disposal charge (£1.70)
£1.70 £1.70
Total (inc VAT) £32.70 -£3.10 £29.60

It doesn`t mention the filter and there is no where on the site to add it to your "basket".
Would the £27-90 oil charge include the filter?