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Comment by ghaff | Hacker News Reader

There was never regular tipping in this case in the US as far as I can recall.

It really went out during the gas crisis in the 70s. Before that, it was the norm to have full-service which also included washing your windshield and offering to check your oil (which needed to be done more frequently early-on). You were also often paying cash although oil company cards were definitely getting more common at that point.

(But as something of an aside, I recall getting turned down for a gas card in the early 80s because I didn't have a credit history but was able to get an AMEX or something along those lines which helped me establish credit.)

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> which needed to be done more frequently early-on

Americans seem to love checking and replacing their oil.

They have whole retail chains devoted to it, when everyone I know in Europe gets it replaced once a year at their annual dealer service, with no checking in between.

Americans drive more than Europeans. Oil checking is based on mileage.

On a whim I dedided to double-check, you're right at least for residents of the USA and Germany (~21500km vs ~13600km average).

https://www.kba.de/DE/Statistik/Kraftverkehr/VerkehrKilomete...

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm

Which is pretty consistent with the context of the comment in general. I'm guessing Germany has a relatively high amount of driving relative to Europe on average and that's within the range where the average driver in Germany is probably fine with a once-per-year oil change. Whereas, in the US, they should be getting one more frequently.

The context of my comment was that cars used to pretty regularly leak oil to some degree so oil could get low on long drives.

As the sibling comment said, oil changes are (mostly) distance based although, arguably, various commercial interests suggest oil changes more frequently than they are needed. But, if you drive 15,000 miles a year (as is common in the US), you probably want to change your oil more than once a year in any case.

> They have whole retail chains devoted to it, when everyone I know in Europe gets it replaced once a year at their annual dealer service, with no checking in between.

Those retail chains will actually do the full periodic servicing that a dealer would. We just refer to that service generically as an “oil change”. And we get that service based on mileage rather than annually.

Also, all Europeans go back to the dealership for periodic maintenance? There are no independent shops that do this? Nobody does it themselves? So if you have a BMW you have to take it to the BMW dealer in particular? Sounds like lock-in to me.

Sorta IMO. The nationwide oil change places, in my experience, check a few high margin parts that they like to replace but don't do any sort of comprehensive periodic servicing like you'd have done at either your dealer or an independent mechanic.

Sure, at least that’s what the dealers and mechanics would want you to think ;)

I’m sure in principle there are many forms of periodic maintenance that need to be done for a car. You’re also supposed to drain your hot water tank every 6-12 months. But getting the oil changed (and the air filters and whatnot) seems to be the important bit.

> Sounds like lock-in to me.

But there’s multiple competing BMW dealers. You can shop around. If you go somewhere other than a dealer where do they get the training, parts, diagnostic codes to work on your car?

Yes, it does seem like they have a sort of "tradition" about it, possibly due to their larger "classic" engines and to different type of oils.

In EU modern engines with modern oil are (of course it depends) more like to need an oil change every 20.000 kms or more, in practice once per year (and this is a good idea anyway, besides mileage).

Old relevant posts:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14969605

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14551506

Yes, boomers who haven't read an owners manual since 1985 often like to change their oil at 3000 miles.

We have the same oils you have. The same bottle of oil on the shelf here often meets the requirements of both API and ACEA.

But still, the average American drives more than 20,000km per year. The average American male age 35-54 drives 30,000km per year. Most people today are not changing their oil on a whim, they are doing it when their vehicle's maintenance reminder tells them it is time to do so.

My hybrid Toyota tells me it's about time to change my oil about every 12000km

Yep, but there is still something different, as I explained in the linked thread, on my last-before-current car, diesel, board computer reminded me of oil change (actually maintenance "A") around 30,000 kms (which meant - with my mileage at the time - a little over one year), and it is not like the engine suffered in any way as I sold it with nearly 300,000 kms (and 12 years) with the engine still going nicely (it had suspensions to be replaced and a few minor unrelated issues and I had an occasion to get another car with far less kms from another member of the family for a very cheap price).

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