I’ve always changed the oil in my cars. I’m not a car aficionado; my motivation is to save money. Still, the ability to whip in and out of a lube shop in ten minutes was always inviting.

During my last round of oil changes I felt the time to switch to the professionals had come. Part of this was due to the oil running down my arm after accessing the oil filter on a ’96 Saturn. The engineers decided to put its oil filter in a safe place - fourteen feet from any side and cleverly tucked between the under carriage and tie rods. There is no way this filter comes off without getting oil everywhere.

Today I pulled into the local lube joint; two bays and only one car in each, however, when the attendant came he told me the wait would be 25-30 minutes. This was just to get to the bay. They were going to take an hour to get my oil changed? I think I surprised him when I backed out and headed to Checker Auto.

It took me an hour to change the oil for two cars; this included dumping the oil back into empty containers to be ready to take to the dumping station. I had my fifteen year old help me. After I poured the excess oil out of the old filters and dropped the filters in the trash, he informed me the environmental guest speaker at his high school auto shop said filters should be drained overnight. I told my son that sounded good and he ought to consider that when he changes the oil in his cars.

My son has his permit and he is one merit badge and a birthday away from being cleared for his drivers license. Apparently to solidify his driving privileges (he has two older sisters and a brother to compete with), he told me he would change the oil in the cars. I can't beat that, and neither can the local lube joints.