Do I Need To Change the Oil in My Rental Car If I Drive It Enough?

Perhaps you’re taking a cross-country road trip. Maybe you’re on a long vacation. Or perhaps you got into a wreck and you’re driving an insurance company-provided rental for a long time.

Whatever the reason, it’s common for people to keep a rental car for longer than a few days or a few hundred miles.

If you do, do you need to start worrying about basic maintenance and oil changes?

That’s what a listener of the Clark Howard Podcast recently asked.

Do I Need To Worry About Oil Changes on a Rental Car That I Drive Thousands of Miles?

Should I change the oil on my rental car if I drive it far enough?

That’s what a listener wanted to know on the July 18 podcast episode.

Asked Sam in New Jersey: “Recently a listener reminded us to check the vehicle registration papers and emission stickers while renting a car. Occasionally we take a two-week family road trip to the West Coast. The round trip often exceeds 7,000 miles, which is more than typical engine oil change intervals.

“Are we supposed to check the maintenance papers and fluid levels of rental cars and change the oil ourselves? We don’t want to get stranded in the middle of our trip on a desolate highway.”

Clark was astonished by the amount of driving Sam and his family undertake. The math works out to 500 miles per day for 14 consecutive days. That’s a lot of driving!

“For people that are doing mega miles on a rental car, the thing you should do is just check the levels for the oil. As long as you haven’t let the oil run low, you’re fine,” Clark says.

“And it would make perfect sense to check oil levels and add a quart of oil if you need to and keep on going down the road.

“The recommended intervals for oil changes doesn’t mean that the engine is going to seize up on you because you put those 7,000 miles on it. But if you didn’t check the oil levels and the vehicle ran out of oil, then you destroy an engine, then you’ve got a problem with the rental car agency.”

Rental Car Advice: Always Re-Shop Rates

You want to make sure you take care of the rental car while you’re driving it, especially if you’re going to put 7,000 miles on it.

But you also want to protect your wallet. Keeping a rental car for 14 days means that the daily price matters even more than it would for a few-day trip.

Clark’s advice? Book a rental car reservation well in advance. And then re-shop your reservation as you get close to your trip.

“A week before my travel date, I re-shop the car rental rate,” Clark says. “At least 90% of the time, I find that I can book a new car cheaper at the last minute, so I just let my old reservation go.”

Here are some other rental car tips:

• Cheapest Way to Rent a Car
• Best and Worst Rental Car Companies in America
• Should I Buy Additional Insurance From a Rental Car Company?

Final Thoughts

You don’t need to change the oil in your rental car even if you drive it more than 5,000 miles, Clark says. But he does think you need to keep a close eye on the oil levels.

If they get low, simply add a quart of oil. That way you don’t get to the point where you cause any engine damage.