Hit 1,000 oil changes today, nobody warned me about this

I keep a tally on the shop wall and today I crossed 1,000 oil changes in my 6 years at this garage in Toledo. What surprised me is how many of those were on cars over 150k miles that just needed basic upkeep, not major work. Has anyone else tracked their numbers and noticed the same pattern with high-mileage regulars?

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dakota4792mo ago

Man, I gotta push back on this. Those high-mileage cars you're seeing are the exception, not the rule. Most people bail on a vehicle once it hits 120k or so because they're tired of throwing money at it. You're probably remembering the few regulars who actually maintain their junk, but for every one of those, I bet you've got five cars that come in once for an oil change and then disappear because the transmission falls out or the frame rusts through. Track how many of those 1,000 were the same dozen cars coming back every 3,000 miles, and the story changes real quick. The average person doesn't want to sink $800 into a car worth $1,500, they just buy another beater. Your tally makes it look like basic upkeep saves everything, but that's survivorship bias. The real pattern is most high-mileage cars are one bad repair away from the scrapyard.

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