What's Your Number?

Even if you have no idea what turbochargers, an alternator, or any other mechanical part of your car does, odds are you know that your oil must be changed regularly. But the question is, how regularly? Most people, including myself, would say once every 3,000 miles or roughly three to four months. I don’t know why that number is ingrained in my mind, but it seems to have become the general rule of thumb for most automobiles for quite some time.

The state of California, however, has decided to fight against this assumption with their new “Check Your Number” ad campaign. The purpose of this campaign is to encourage drivers to check with their car's manufacturer before heading over to Jiffy Lube for their next oil change. With today’s advancements in technology, an oil change every 3,000 mile can be excessive and they want every driver to check for the recommendation specific to their vehicle. Some BMW vehicles, for instance, don’t need an oil change until they’ve driven another 15,000 miles! These drivers could be changing their oil up to four times more than necessary, wasting both money and oil. Other cars pushing the 3,000 mile benchmark are the Toyota Tacoma only needing an oil change every 5,000 miles and the Chevy Malibu at 7,500 miles.

The campaign is actually a clever one because not only will it save drivers money and time, it helps protect the environment and conserve resources. If Californian drivers alone started changing their oil according to manufacturers’ specifications, oil demand would decrease by about 10 million gallons a year. Now I know you’re all curious about what your number is, so head over to checkyournumber.org to find out. I just found out “my number” is 10,000 miles, making me feel MUCH better about how lazy I’ve been when it comes to changing my oil.