New car owners have a haunting dilemma on them all the time: to lease or to buy? And if they’ve chosen the former option, the question that comes to their mind second (and the very reason why forums have this a favorite question) is, can you change your own oil on a leased vehicle?
Yes. Much to your relief, you can do the oil change yourself if you have leased a car.
People often service their leased vehicles by themselves for an oil change and pair it up with going to the dealer for the free ones. If your schedule doesn’t allow it, you can change the oil yourself; the only key is documenting it.
You also need to keep an eye out for the lease agreement where you can see the sequential maintenance you need to perform on that leased vehicle.
Can You Change Your Own Oil On A Leased Vehicle?
Yes. You can change your oil on a leased vehicle, given that you use the right oil specs. A good oil would be the Mobil 1 122094 5W-40 Formula M Motor Oil used with the Purolator PL14610 Advanced Engine Protection Spin-On Oil Filter. The only thing you need to do after that is to document it and keep the receipts with the date you did it as well as the mileage you changed on it.
If you have gotten the car for the first time, you can take your leased vehicle to the dealer for the first oil change as it is free. All the remaining oil changes you can do by yourself. For Jeep owners, the first 4 oil changes and tire rotations are on the house, so if you can, you should take advantage of that.
If you worry that it might cost you at the end of your leasing period for having performed maintenance with anyone other than your dealer, you’d be wiser to check the state laws prior.
Rarely, you’ll ever have to sign a lease where you are mandated to go to the dealer only each time you require an oil change. Also, no dealer legally mandates you go to them in any binding language.
So you should be able to perform routine maintenance work like an oil change through your local shop or by yourself.
Does The Dealer Do The Maintenance When You Lease The Car?
It depends on the type of maintenance your dealer is going to do it. It can be a scheduled maintenance type or a warranty-maintenance type repair work that needs addressing.
If it falls under the latter category of maintenance, then surely your dealer is going to do it for you and the vehicle without asking you to pay more money for it.
However, if this is a case of scheduled maintenance, which is an oil change per se, you will need to count your bucks unless it falls under the free changes that newly-leased cars usually have at the beginning. If you don’t want to overpay for each scheduled maintenance, then you can avail the prepaid maintenance packages that most dealerships offer.
Do I Have To Get My Oil Changed At The Dealer To Keep My Warranty?
No. You don’t have to get the oil change from your dealer if you want to keep your warranty. Throughout the entire length of your lease, you can’t possibly visit the dealership every single time.
So an oil change should not void your warranty if you get it changed elsewhere during the entire length of your lease as long as you have the dated receipts and are up to date with the rest of the maintenance of the vehicle.
However, oil changes differ from vehicle to vehicle, and hence, a change on a Mercedes will be different from your American cars so make sure you have that knowledge not to mess up future services to get from that leased vehicle.
How To Avoid A $500 Oil Change?
Given that you have just leased a car, frequent oil changes for a hundred reasons could be a load on your pockets. As you know already, oil to your engine is what blood is to you. So your car maintenance will go down the drain if you do not pay attention to your oil changes.
If you leave old oil in the engine for too long, it will damage its lubrication power. This can result in oil evaporation, and oil loss and leave you with less oil in the engine. All of this ultimately means you will have to change the oil more frequently.
When you are already leasing the vehicle, paying these exorbitant fees for regular changes, servicing, and so on can be very costly. This is why no matter who’s doing the oil change (you doing it does save the cost to a good extent) other than your dealer, make sure you check the car’s manual and the maintenance schedule to avoid overpaying.
FAQs:
If you do not change the engine oil on your leased car on time, you are not keeping up with the maintenance workflow your lease contract requires. This may result in you paying fines. To avoid this, you should get oil changes every 3,000 miles or every six months.
Yes. You can get the oil changed anywhere with a lease. You do not need to go to your dealer or the leasing company to do the oil change.
Yes. You will need to pay for the oil changes on your leased car. However, if you get the oil changes at the dealership, the first or first few changes may be on the house and will not require you to pay for them.
No. Prices at the dealership could be a lot higher than at your local garage. To save yourself money on the service maintenance packages, you can have the maintenance done elsewhere than your dealer’s. You or your mechanic can consult with the manufacturer’s list of what is required for each service reminder and keep dated, detailed receipts of these services for the end of the leasing period for your betterment.
