I’ve got an uncle who has worked as Director of Operations or some similar title for Amoco, Clark, Shell, and one other oil refining establishment in multiple places in the US. He also rebuilds auto engines for “fun”. He says that oil change recommendations are a scam, standard oil is good for 5-6k, and he recommends synthetic for 12-15k.

Really, the cell providers all do suck no matter who says they have the best coverage.

I have to probably disagree with the quickie oil change places, depending on your car. My wife has a Honda and the local Honda dealer will do an oil change for less than Goofy Lube or those other places. And they wash the car too. It’s maybe not any better but is is less costly and you can walk in and have it done, no appointment needed.

For my truck, forget Goofy lube. They seem to think every car takes 4.5 quarts of oil. Some cars take more (mine takes 7) and the people at Goofy Lube can’t read to figure this out.

Plus, they screw with your tire pressure and again, not all cars have the same pressure in their tires or even have the same pressure in the front or rear. (My previous car recommended about 2 lbs less in the front than the rear). Goofy lube just puts 32PSI in each tire and away they go.

Oil change, I’d have to disagree with you on interval. In my maintenance manual, there are 2 schedules: Regular and Extreme conditions.

I’ve come to understand that there are very few places that DON’T fall into the extreme category. Unless you’re a lil’ old lady driving around town on Sundays, I’d recommend the extreme conditions for everybody.

Ditto about medical care and dental visits, although I do ask my doctors for free scripts or samples since I don’t make much money at all.

Most other things I don’t care about since I’m practically New Order Amish anyway, and I’d love to get rid of my car. Then I’d be in better shape too. :)

I’m still looking for a good cheap haircut. I’ve tried several places and have yet to be pleased with the results.

My hair looks way better without the butcher, I mean barber. I mostly got fed up with all the ugly haircuts I was receiving…but hey, I’m saving $13 every month now…bonus!

http://frugalzeitgeist.blogspot.com/2007/09/delightfully-subversive.html

I’ve also heard that business class it worth it for long (e.g., international) flights.

I mostly think I don’t pay much for service because I prefer self-service. However, of course it turns out there are plenty of services I do pay for.

Medical – yes, I would pay more for better service if I saw such a connection.

Auto repair, house repair, appliance repair, etc. – paying more once for something that works is better than paying less repeatedly. But often I find that I can trade wait time for money–I don’t mind waiting or letting someone work me in where he or she can if it saves me money.

Education and training – mostly I teach myself, but for things I can’t teach myself, like ballroom dancing, I will pay a bit more for someone who can really help me.

Utilities – Yes, I will pay more to have services that actually work (and nothing for cell-phones; I still hate how crappy the connections can be). I will pay more for faster internet.

Babysitting – if I had kids and I couldn’t find anyone I trusted at a low rate, then I’d pay a higher rate.

But I prefer self-service for things like cooking (restaurants), cleaning, laundry, hair cuts, shopping, finances, etc. I do fantasize about hiring someone to mow the law, though, especially when it rains enough to make the grass grow, then becomes 100 degrees, then rains, then is 100 degrees–all summer long, with all the mosquitoes that such weather breeds.

Too much service, like in hotels, restaurants, and airplanes, kind of freaks me out. I’m afraid someone’s going to wipe my mouth for me or bring over a tissue and say, “blow into this” at any moment. They do like to snatch my plate away before I’m done with it (to get it out of my way). I’m just better at knowing what I want than some stranger is.