As well as a saving of money and oil, Lord points out, fewer oil changes will also save the vehicle owner's time, and that too depends upon the individual. He notes that GM has simplified the maintenance schedule on its new vehicles for 2004, and that allows customers to get all the necessary oil changes at the same time as their mandatory warranty work, which will save them time as well as money.
The environmental impact goes beyond the actual use of oil, Lord adds, since there's also the issue of disposing of the old oil.
GM dealers and other dedicated service chains are pretty good about oil recycling, Lord says, but that's not particularly true of do-it-yourselfers.
According to the American Petroleum Institute in a 1997 study, do-it-yourself oil changes poured more than a billion liters of oil into the environment, rather than into recycling centers.