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For a lot of us, setting up to service our cars isn't worth it when you look at the cost and time involved, versus the cost of having someone else do it. It's just that the tipping point differs.
And then that rag you've now used to wipe your oily hands, is officially contaminated waste, along with old oil and fuel filters, and should not be disposed of in normal waste.
Then people wonder why garages have to charge as much to cover costs. Waste disposal is quite a significant cost, if you do it correctly.
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
I used to think the stories you heard in the trade about counterfeit and poor quality parts were bullshit, but since our clueless management decided they'd be our first call supplier, there is truth to the stories.
I've seen Mann filters that at best were a grey import, as they were a white filter with a very blurry Mann logo and didn't have that great a fit (our previous supplier was a Mann distributor, and the same part number they supplied was painted differently and fitted far better). Talked to one guy who had a transit engine fail, and found various bits of oil filter in the sump/oil galleries.
Then there's their quality suspension parts, which has put us back on our annual part replacement cycle, which we thought we'd finally left behind after the shambles that was Unipart, and were back to using OE parts.
And don't dare mention timing chains. Record was 1700 miles from fitment, to the timing jumping because the chain had stretched that much. Initial excuse was we were using the wrong oil, but the original chain had lasted over 70'000 on the same oil and hardly stretched. The strange thing is, the company who's name is on the kits, whose kits we've used in the past without issue via another supplier, has never asked to investigate, yet ECP are paying for all remedial work without question...
If you're lucky enough to have a job with a daily rate that would pay parts and labour for something (and have money left over), why do it yourself?
In the OP case, there's disposal of the oil too.
Life really doesn't have to be too complicated.
I can understand people not wanting to get involved though plus to work on modern motors you need a lot of tools, the stuff I own has taken 30 years to collect and there's still the odd tool I have to buy here and there
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
Joking aside, there's really nothing else to do in there these days, just get on with your life.
However, it is one area where a bit common sense is applied, and that carrying it illegally to an approved disposal point in small quantities is a lesser evil than tipping it down the drain.
Plus you'd be lucky to ever see somebody capable of prosecuting you, as environmental enforcement is well down council priority lists, and to be seen prosecuting members of the public trying to do the right thing, really isn't going to go down well.
Even for businesses, enforcement is a last resort. Generally as long as you can demonstrate you're making a real effort to comply, and do things as recommended, you won't have any problems. It's when you blatantly flout the law, and/or manage to dump vast quantities into the drainage system, that you're going to get a very large bill.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
I was answering that question, and illustrating with examples.
From the sounds of it you have made a very sensible decision; you have a vehicle that you can confidently service at very low cost. This does not apply to everyone, so for some people paying more might be the more sensible option.
I didn't intend any criticism of you; I apologise if it came over that way but I don't think I was mean in any of my responses.
My mum's previous car - a Peugeot 307 had 1 reverse light. Mum thought it odd and to pop into the dealership on the way to town, they said it'd have to be put into the diagnostics at a cost of £80. It sounded a bit steep so she declined, did shopping and popped into the small garage she gets her car MOT'd at.
Bloke came out, had a very brief look and said "of course it's only got one reverse light, it was built that way, the other is a fog light". She left having payed no money.
I don't trust the main dealerships, I've had bad experiences with them (Bad experiences being VW, Peugeot & Citroen. Toyota seem good on the fleet vehicles even if they get confused). I've known people who work (or have worked) for them and there's certainly a lot of stories of bodgery, pretend to do the work, and nick the part from someone else's car as a quick fix.
You can check a hell of a lot of stuff yourself (bearings, bushes, belts, electrics, brakes, tyres, fluid levels, etc). In fact a lot of these checks should be done on a regular basis by yourself.