The Cost Of Common Automotive Consumables Skyrockets - Seek Out The Deals To Survive And Thrive 

When I price shop, the best price is NEVER at the “auto parts” store.

"People don't value value in a debt based economy" So true, and so scary.

UT, I worked in a tiny little privately owned gas station, way out in the country as a kid and teenager. It was so backwards the driveway was dirt, and we had a grease pit for working under the car. New can of oil was 50 cents, and Rev Oil brand recycled oil was 25 cents. We pumped gas, cleaned windshields and checked oil and coolant levels for free. The owners name was Alvin, one day Alvin told a lady in a Chevy she needed a quart of oil. She paid a quarter for the Rev Oil and Alvin put it in, closed the hood and away she went. Then Alvin says, "Man I've been working too hard, I need some rest, I just put a quart of oil in that lady's radiator!"

I know exactly what you mean. In my state 1990 average hose cost $54k, average income $26k. Now its house prices average nearly $300k, but the average salary now is around $50k. So wages doubled and prices increased 5x-6x. Back in around 2000 you could still by a decent car for $1000, that car now is 3.5-4K.

I remember as a kid of 10 years old in 2008-2009 watching the grocery cart get less full and the price go up. Going to the parts store became another clobbering and all of the once made in USA parts and accessories were either discontinued or were made overseas. Hearing my dad swearing about all of this burned into my psyche that the powers over us will create and use any crisis to afford average people less comfort.

Auto parts stores gouge their prices terribly. Walmart has transmission fluid for $17.97 a gallon for Valentine's dex/merc.

One perk of working in a automotive shop is that we always have half-full jugs of all kinds of fluids. A kind of unspoken shop policy of ours is that once a container is opened it's either used on that job, the remainder offered to the customer (most don't want it), or it's disposed of. Whenever it needs disposed of, it goes home with me. I don't remember the last time I bought any kind of ATF, PS fluid, gear oil, or coolant.

It's going to be interesting times ahead. I'm keeping things simple and reliable... stocking up on points, condensors, etc all the stock replacement stuff. Hope fuel will still be available at reasonable prices, governments here in Europe are going full retard on the EV's

About 5-6 years ago, I purchased 2 cases of Royal Purple synthetic oil @ 99 cents a quart. The business had discontinued the brand. I quit doing my own oil changes after I moved to a condo. I recently gave the 2 cases to a friend, knowing I would never use them. I had no idea the price had gone up so much. No wonder he was so grateful.

You just wiped out the LOWE's AFT supply! LOL. Last year when it was really hard to find Rotella, I was grabbing gallons from ACE Hardware. Just like you said: ACE isn't really known for automotive. All the jugs were dusty from riding the shelf. But, there they were.

In the early 70's I worked at a department store in that had a huge tire and service dept. They had sale and sold Quaker State 10W30 oil for 33 cents a quart, and it cost them 43 cents a quart and normally sold it for 69 cents a quart. We would sell an entire 44' trailer out from 8am to noon. The 10 cent loss was calculated against the other departments like appliances, men's clothing, housewares, etc. They would do that sale quarterly.

Just being able to fix our cars keeps us a little ahead of the curve.

Not only are things more expensive now, What You Do buy is junk and it doesn't last! A friend of mine had to buy three ignition coils till he finally got one that lasted.

I recently ran into a similar issue, on my 65 f100 the starter solenoid went bad, so I went to the parts store to pick one up, when I got the one I had a little over 2 years ago it was around 15-20. Well when I went to buy it, they wanted 40+ for the cheapest starter solenoid... I then went to a local feed store that sells tractor parts. They had the starter solenoid that the ford tractors use, the same one that is used on the F100.. 15.00. So I grabbed that one, working like it should.

In my experience, O'Reilly's is and always has been, consistently far more expensive than any other auto parts store. They came to my area about five years ago, and their price for a fuel pump module for my 07 2500HD was nearly 3X that of Rock Auto for the exact same Genuine GM part - even the local dealer was less. Price shopping has been the foundation of my car hobby, and for at least the last fifteen years, you will get hosed walking a brick and mortar auto parts store. It used to be that NAPA was the priciest shop around, but the chains have run the local guys out of business, and then jacked their prices up when the competition was gone. It's a sad state, but you MUST price shop, you MUST order online and use coupons, and you MUST plan ahead for big projects.

I just ran into this same thing. I ended up buying the 5 gallon pail of ATF for $100 but I ordered it online and got 20% off. It ended up being about $4 a quart from O'Reilly's. Now I have extra fluid for next time. I couldn't see spending $30 a gallon otherwise.

Can't find oil for under $5 a quart. I remember for years it was $1.25 for years.

The weaponization of the prices of things has been a long term trend. This as also true with making everything specialized, where in some cases the type of fluid is specific to just one brand of vehicle. The major auto parts chains are taking advantage of their marketing that makes people mostly think of O'Reilly's, AutoZone, Advance Auto as the only place to shop - then they are charging a premium for their convenience. There are some things with lifetime warranties that I buy locally so that if I need a warranty replacement I can get the part the same day, but if that comes at too high a cost I'll wing it with online parts and put up with the downtime. It used to be that the cheap online parts were less reliable manufacturers than at the auto parts stores, but now it seems they are the same brands or manufacturers just with different package labels.

Whenever we part out and scrap cars I used to just let good fluids go in the waste oil heater. It’s gotten so expensive, now I save every fluid out of them in jugs for myself.

You hit the nail on the head when you talk about how many hours you have to work. Its the first thing that that goes through my head before I buy anything.

this inflation thing is out of control . it cost me around 25 dollars to make a peach cobbler from scratch , yesterday .

I remember back in the 80s when they gave rebates on oil and anti freeze. My dad was always well stocked and got lots of rebates!

I and my son did some standard work on a 4x4 truck,seals, balljoints ujoints and so on and the cost a brake clean and normal supplies are crazy..this hits home..it's crazy how high these standard products we need and use

Good thoughts here...thanks for getting the heart of the matter. Devaluation of the dollar is very serious and 100% a man-made problem. We need to bring manufacturing back to the US, and throw out any politicians claiming it's not possible. It IS possible and critically important.

It was maybe 10-15 years ago the O'Reilly's was doing the 9.99 oil change special. It's crazy just the store brand oil is over 20 a jug now.

I just went to my small town auto store last weekend. Bought a quart of oil for $10! I also bought fuel line, and a filter for my lawn mower. I couldn’t believe it when the bill was $45. Unless I have something that I need right away, I find part stores can be double the price of rock auto or Amazon and usually avoid auto stores. Thanks for your videos they always make me think.

It's funny how most of everyone i know runs their daily driver to 200,000 + and never once worries about the oil in their transmission. I buy cars with the fluid black in the transmission. I take off the trans line, start it up and let it run out while i fill it. Easy and cheap

This video hits close to home. I worked for a nationwide auto parts chain in college in the early 2000s. Our store brand oil was 94 cents a quart, an even dollar with tax. Today it's $5.79 plus tax. I bought a set of OEM brake rotors in 2018 for ~$80 each. Bought the exact same part number last month for ~$174 each. Insanity.

Mate , ozzie's pay $9 for a Big Mac ! No fries , just the burger. Pitchforks anyone?

I'm always watching for deals and comparing prices .I even took a part time job at an auto parts store so I could get the employee discount. Every little bit helps make the hobby cost less. When I'm at a wrecking yard, I fill my pockets with bulbs, fuses, relays and small clips and fasteners. They never sell these items so why not, but to buy them new can really add up.

Spent an hour last night at a local car cruise with some 19-20 yr olds who wanted to buy my truck. They were lamenting that even though I was selling it below market, they still couldn't scrape together the money to buy it. I was telling them about when I was their age I made about $4 an hour and the 69 Dodge Charger I owned took about $8 to fill the tank. I got the car for less than $1000 back in 1976. SO for 2 hours of my labour I could fill the tank and drive for a week. That truck now costs about $130 to fill and if I was making minimum wage ($15 per hour in Ontario Canada) took a days wages BEFORE TAXES. I had to service the transmission on that ruck last month when I lost reverse. Simple fix. Retaining ring on the Overdrive Unit (46RE) $8 for the ring. $20 for the tail stock and pan gasket/filter kit and $80 for the fluid. Would have been a $1500 repair if I'd gotten someone else to do it. I have the tools and knowledge. But I've been wrenching for 50 years. The kids now adays are NOT going to enjoy the sport like we have.

I remember my first car in the late 1980s. Penzoil was 99 cents per quart and a Fram oil filter was around a $1.50. A new car batter around $40. I also noticed that O Reillys seems to have done away with the free oil filter with whatever oil they are promoting that week.

Visited two local Autozone stores last week to replace a basic muffler/tail pipe saddle clamp. Neither store could provide me with a saddle clamp of any size. Female store manager who knows me, blamed the stock issue on me looking for parts for one of my classic 1960's Mopars. When told her it was for a plain Jane Jeep Cherokee, she quit talking.

There's a reason why I have been buying in bulk since I got out of the military back in 2005. I wanted it sitting here because town is 20 miles away. Now I have an O'Reilys 13 miles away, and I get ATF and cleaning stuff like brake clean in 5 gallon buckets, from Tractor Supply, Lowes etc...

Hi from the UK! I run 2 cars and 2 motorcycles as my 'toys' if you like. Yes parts are getting more expensive, but what makes it affordable for me is I do 95% of my own spanner work. Over here a regular garage would charge the equivalent of $80/hr and main dealers $140/hr. So what I save in not paying labour is my biggest saving and makes my hobby possible.

Batteries and fluids are extremely overpriced at these automotive box stores. I usually purchase mine at Rural King.

I would always change my own oil for my cars. My cars were always older and proven mechanically. I took my wife's car to get the oil changed a couple of years ago and was shocked as to much it takes to pay for a simple oil change on a car (Toyota Camry) that is 11 years old. It was like close to 80 bucks! My old girls would at max cost me 30 to 40 bucks total.

Videos like this is why I like uncle tony. The old car uncle I never had teaching me valuable lessons

I noticed this price gouging trend at least 20 years ago. Ridiculous prices on any kind of common thing. It's like they don't care if you're a return customer, they got you hard this time. Now, more than half the population lives off the government like a parasite. They buy things with their government benefits and don't equate the cost of things in relation to how much work or time it took to earn the cash. I think of things the same way you do Tony.

Our money is worth less every day.💵

I've been buying my oils at Walmart because they're so much cheaper but also have noticed the parts stores rarely run oil change specials with filter anymore, there use to be multiple oil change packages to choose from at every parts store

Dex Merc Transmission fluid gallons Here in Yakima Washington State, is $29.98 the cheapest is Walmart at $17.98 per gallon! Godspeed from the beautiful North West, be blessed! 🕊️🙌🏾🙏🏽🕊️✝️😇

A few years ago spray paint was 3-4 a can. Now it's $12-15

When it comes to oil, Amazon Basics did quite well in testing.

Just the parts I've bought the last two years have gone up in price. A Weiand Stealth cost like $325 a year ot two ago when I got it, over $400 now. The Summit K6900 cam kit I got early this year was $150, now its $250. My advice, if you're thinking about buying something for later, buy it today! By the time I get the 318 put in the 68 D200, I'll need to borrow money for the damned fluids! 😂

UTG...Economic Ninja style ♥

Biggest rip on the market lately is the premixed antifreeze. 13-15$ a gallon , where a straight gallon is 16-18$. Get yourself a gallon of distilled for 2-3$ and mix it yourself.

Way back, in junior high school, we made these R12 powered cars in metal shop. The motor was an aluminum cylinder with a 1/8” hole in the business end. Connect one end of the charging hose to the R12 can & the other end tightly in the hole. Once pressure inside the cylinder reached its max, the hose blew out and the car took off… leaving a mist of R12 vapor filling the hallway. We were setting so many of these things off you could not see the other end of the hall. If you were at the launch end your clothing was saturated. To get to the point… We burned through a crazy amount of R12. There was a local, small auto parts chain called Gatlings Auto. Normal price on R12 was three cans for a buck. On sale it was four. Once a year it was five. I was going through three or four cases (of 12 cans) per week. To have that in today’s money would be, not life changing, but life improving. I still have one of those cans.

The world you grew up in no longer exists. The dollar is dead Rome is falling and the clown is advising the crowd of the fire in the theater but they just keep laughing. People actually believe whats happening around us is normal and continue to support the system.

They want to price us out of the hobby. Quality is also suffering badly.

I typically spend little to no money at the corporate auto parts stores. Orilley wanted $12.99 for 1 quart of Mercon LV. Ford Dealer charges $7.50. Oil, 5 quart jug $40. Menards, I get Pennsoil full synthetic for $19.99 for 5 qts. Walmart also sells consumables at a fair price. I reuse stuff as well. Run antifreeze through a paint strainer. Catch 1/2 used oil if it was drained for repair and put it back in.

Come to England. It costs me they equivalent of around 70usd to do an oil change on my xj cherokee. Shell rotella and lucas

Just paid $16 a gallon for antifreeze. Have been watching the prices go up on everything. So I bought full break kit, pads, springs, wheel cylinders and brake shoes even though I don't need them yet.

I paid ~$10 for a single lug nut, only one auto part place had it in stock. That was an eye opener.

Having worked for Advance I lost count of the number of people that laughed at walked out empty handed at the prices. $20 for a H11 headlight bulb, S12-$14 a quart for full synthetic oil, $30 each for RainX blades that are $16 each at Walmart, selling fuel Injection hose for 60 cents an INCH. I was constantly referring people to Lowes,HD,Sams Club. BJ's Wholesale Club is selling Interstate 30 month batteries for $129.

Here in Australia, the price of basics like bread and milk is what gets me wound up. Every few weeks it seems to go up, which happened again today, $3.55 for 2 litres of basic whole milk.

Thanks for sharing this. The ridiculous cost of fluid is just one more reason I am glad I swapped out a FMX for a 4 speed in my 69 Mustang (I mean, besides the fact it did not work right).

This is why I always buy a few of components shared by many of my cars, or ones I expect to be rare or expensive when NOS drys up.

I used to work for a company in Selmer TN called Spectrum (Phillips 66 now) that bottled Motor Oil, Transmission fluid and Bar & Chain lube. A lot of these "specifically designed for the motor or transmission" is BS. We'd be bottling say Nissan and on the label it would say "specifically designed for Nissan Transmissions." Then we'd finish the order, change the bottle color from silver to black and change the roll of labels from Nissan to Acura. That's it... Start filling with exact same trans fluid and on the Acura label it would say "specifically designed for Acura transmissions." and this was the same process for several name brands. Same for oil and lube too. Now if a order did call for a different formula we'd have to shut down and flush the lines several times with the new fluid and have it tested in a lab and the lab will tell us when it passes specifications then we'd be given the ok to run and start filling and packaging the bottles.

I was changing the oil in my 335d recently, which takes a little more than 9 quarts of 5w-40. Best price I could find on Rotella T6 was Tractor Supply of all places. I had never considered TSC for consumables but I'll definitely be checking there in the future!

Thanks for the heads up! I too have been noticing the ridiculous prices lately. My thought on the transmission fluid is that Lowes probably marks their merchandise up similar to Costco.

In high school a pack of Marlboro cigarettes was .50 cents. Minimum wage was about 1.68 so three packs in one hour. Now it one pack for one hour.

Another thing that has gone up by crazy is the cost to get a decent shop to do any work for you. I recently had some minor work done on one of my cars because I just did not have the time to do it myself, and I was shocked at how much I was charged. This is by the most reputable shop in my area too. Beyond an alignment, I will never go to another shop again. I'll make the time to do my own work at these prices.

Oriellys has been price gouging on " need it now" stuff for a few years now. I don't mind spending a few dollars more to keep my brick and morter open, but i draw the line at near double. Fluids, Brake pads and rotors are good examples.

The same is occurring for those of us in the reloading hobby. Cass Sunstein coined the term "nudge" to describe how to manipulate behavior and achieve a desired outcome. They will not initially outright ban I.C.E vehicles or firearms, but they'll make it too expensive for the masses to afford it. In the end, if they have their way, only the wealthy elite will enjoy the sound of a V8 or target shooting/hunting with your favorite firearm.

Thanks Tony I'm going to Lowe's now O'Reilly turned into a ripoff have a great day I'll keep watching keeps me inspired

It's corporate greed today. Several of the private shareholders meetings have been released recently and they are bragging in the Zoom meetings how they raised prices and thus profits well beyond real inflation. American executives are obsessed with short term quarterly profits. So they simply raise prices as high as they believe they can get away with. Japanese companies would rather slowly capture a market with low prices and good quality. But CEOs in Japan only make 60 times more than bottom workers. American CEOs after 1970's demand 400 to 4000 times more compensation than bottom employees. The only way they can get paid that much is to screw over fellow Americans with ridiculous prices.

I had a local parts store closing in my area due to building owner getting greedy raising the rent on a old rundown building. Very disappointing since it was a real old style parts store that had real counter people and had everything. They had a one day moving out sale big discounts, I bought multiple cases of oil for everything I own, engine and trans. I have been watching oil prices for a couple years going up, big retailers generally have their house brand which is a bit cheaper.

CVT transmission fluid and Allison fluid is unreal now

Last time I rebuilt my engine rod bolts were up to $18 PER BOLT. You know I took my Chances 😂

Any shop that uses bulk amounts of transmission fluid buy in 55 gallon drums they typically spend between 2.50 and 3 dollars a quart.

You will own nothing and you will be happy. This is how they will do it.

Napa sells bulk boxes that are a decently good deal. It’s a bag of oil in a box with a spigot. If you’ve got room to store it getting stuff in bulk is almost always cheaper. And, if you’re watching price it can give the ability to stock up when it’s cheaper. If all Tony’s stuff uses the same trans fluid and engine oil I’d be looking at getting it in drums if the math works out. Sometimes can even get it in 5 gal buckets for cheaper if you don’t want drums.

You know what they say deals wait for nobody!! Stock up when you see a screaming deal! 🤑

1972, I was 16 in Rapid City SD. GAS was 22.9¢ a gallon. Motor oil (30w) was 29¢ a quart, 20w was 19¢ a quart. It cost $1 - $2 to have your greased/lubed. You rebuilt not replaced generators, alternators, and starters. You can't get starter solenoids separate anymore.

2nd Chanel- Uncle economics!

I'd love to be able to change my own oil for less than 100 bucks. Crazy prices these days.

Oriellys sells a single wiper blade for $35... I about fell on the floor when the guy told me that. Walmart always has the cheapest prices on basic auto supplies in my experience.

Big business AKA federal government doesn't give a damn about your hobbies unless they can control them . Hunting , fishing , hotroding. Ect. People control is the name of the game 😮😮😮

Good video, Tony. I don't know when folks are going to wake up to this stuff- shop around, shop ahead online and pay the lower price so you have it when you need it - or be willing to wait for whatever it is to be delivered at some point and realize the savings. Further, folks don't seem to fix their own stuff anymore - plumbing, mechanical, electrical....they don't want to do their own house maintenance, e.g. painting - and they don't want to do their own lawn care, they hire someone to do it. Are they printing money or something? Up to their eyeballs in debt? Don't know, but I know what I'm teaching my sons.....

Yah, the auto parts stores never have the best prices. Walmart has been consistently beating them on consumables for the 15+ years that I've been paying attention. But there's something weird going on with the auto parts stores and I think Tony has been putting his finger on it with some of his videos. The level of incompetence and inability to find the correct parts is just insane these days. And the PRICES on parts... I would love somebody to explain to me how Rock Auto is able to sell parts for 1/4 of what O'Reilly/Advance/Auto Zone will quote you, if they can even 'get them' these days. It's almost like these auto parts operations are being internally sabotaged to make it increasingly frustrating for people to attempt to maintain their own vehicles.

So true. Currently building a ford 4.6 4v, and the price of a good gasket set (if you can find them, locally) is ridiculous. $500 for a decent set of valve springs. Not even the upper tier stuff. Crazy…

How about this one. A copy of a key used to cost $2. Now it costs $200.

I think one of the things I've noticed is now that all these " parts stores" have popped up, they are mostly for the do it yourselfers more than the professional mechanics like in the old days. You'd go into a parts store and get your professional discount whereas now it's the same price no matter what , and it has been creeping up. I still feel I get the best price and quality from Napa. O'Reillies has always shocked me with the prices and for that reason is the last place I will go.

Good video, Tony. Great topic with great analysis. One additional observation: Beware of lower quality that sometimes comes with lower prices. E.g., I had a string of bad 6 volt voltage/current regulators that I got online. I finally bought one at NAPA and it has worked properly SO FAR. It's the first one I've had in several years that works properly.

I'm 20 years old and I've already seen inflation in ammo prices, oil, and car parts. It's ridiculous

I always laugh when somebody forgets the fluids on a project. There's a couple hundred bucks you didn't expect.

I wish I would have stocked up on oil when it was on sale for about two bucks a quart back in about 2010. Oil used to be priced per quart somewhere near where a gallon of gas was priced. What happened?

Tony, One of the benchmarks I use is some of my friends play golf. a round of golf is $100. My car hobby driving and event participation is cost averaging at about $65 per interaction,, fuel, insurance registration. This is a very valuable economic discussion. The car hobby right not has become a moving target. One significant issue here in the west is registration by states DMV on older cars since the governments are clawing to stay afloat and grabbing any money from the disposable income community like old car enthusiast. Keep up the great content..

Thank you for bringing this issue to light.

TOTALLY ON POINT!!! Shits Fucked up Nowadays!! My 08 ford Explorer has a major leak every time I run it ,, I think it’s the torque converter.. And I gotta fill it from underneath because some DOUCE BAG engineer figured out NOT to put a fill tube under the hood ‼️‼️‼️😤.. O .. happy Independence Day 🇺🇸

You should do a guide for where to get the best price basic fluids for old cars.

Please keep doing these economic videos. I really dig them and I think they are helping more people stay in this hobby than you realize! Or you could start a second channel called “the Mechanical Ninja” (economic ninja spin-off) I think it would do well as our economy deteriorates more and more.

I just had this happen again buying latex disposable gloves few years ago $8.00 then $14.00 yesterday $25.00 a box same brand and everything Grant it I were 2XL but same brand and amount in box. Ridiculous

Last week at napa in big pine key florida i was forced to pay $5.15 for a cheap plastic small T fitting for the windshield washer hose...unbelievable b.s.

I went to buy ball joints for my old Chevy truck the other day. $62 ea for store brand upper ball joints. Rock auto had moog ones for $23 ea. still a little steep compared to last time I did it, ten years ago, but why is the premium brand 1/3 the price of the store brand at the local chain store?

I've got an older Trailblazer and it lost a coil pack a while back. The local auto parts store charged $65 for one. I needed it so I paid the price. I went online after that and found a set of six with free shipping for right around $65, for the whole set of six. I now have them sitting on the shelf for when the next one goes out.

Ford's earlier Type F ATF simply does not include the typical ATF friction modifiers. Therefore, it is grippier, which is why automatic drag racers loved it. Mopar and GM early ATFs were friction modified for smoother shifts. It has absolutely nothing to do with shellac, at all. No one puts shellac in their ATF.

I work at the "top chain auto parts" store. EVERY Sunday comes out "the price change" nearly everything gets marked up 50 cents, 75 cents more a week. Go price an alternator or starter now. It's ridiculous how much they want for a remanufactured one!!

It’s depressing. I have a good job. For the first time since 2008 I am loosing ground. Going into debt. Have to slow down or stop playing with the cars. This is by design. They are putting the squeeze on all of us. You must bring down the old system before you introduce the new. The Bible explains what is happening. Come Jesus come!