My car needs an oil change, it's only a little 1.2 Fiat Palio. I asked mechanic up the road and he suggested 80 ytl (including a new filter), it seems to me that a little bit og 'beyaz vergisi' is being applied.

Are there any motorists out there that can give me an idea of what they have paid themselves.

That's better than most places in Istanbul. My place charges 93 for my 1.1 Hyundai. Oil is wicked pricey in Turkey (I guess with the same taxation scheme as gasoline). It's especially hard for me to swallow as the black stuff in the States will only set you back a $1 or so a liter.

Anywho, try to be sure they have the filter actually made for your car. I went to a less professional outfit which charged 70 YTL, unfortunately they tried a bunch of different filters until they found one that fit and sent me on my way. After asking advice from this forum and my dad I headed to the dealer to get the correct filter installed.

Cheers for that, it appears to be that pricey then?. I'd do it myself but there is nowhere to dispose of the oil etc properly

Mix it with your olive oil, nobody will notice.

That's why I buy litres of the black stuff in Greece when I visit with my car - much cheaper there than here. However it was an interesting conversation with the Greek gas bar attendant trying to figure out which kind to buy!

[quote user="Gilly" post="87441"]Mix it with your olive oil, nobody will notice.[/quote]

As you do with your cooking no doubt.

Today I called in at the local Total petrol garage and met a very nice (honest) man who explained the costs. Oil is expensive here 42 lira for 4 litres of quality oil. 10 lira for a new filter and 6 for his labour so 60 lira it is 25 % better than 80.

So the moral of the story is don't trust the first price, ask around and never go to Gilly's for a meal.

I just had my oil changed again.

This time I bought my filter at the Hyundai dealer for 7.50 ytl and brought it to a little automotive service. After some bartering, I had the oil changed (using Mobil oil) for 40 ytl.