About Oil & Miles: Who we are and how we work

What this is

Oil & Miles publishes four kinds of thing: repair cost breakdowns, guides to engine oil and other fluids, used-car buying advice organized by model and year, and symptom-to-cause diagnostics. We write all of it for the person paying the bill rather than the person writing it.

There are no press cars here, no launch events, and no relationship with any manufacturer or dealer group.

Where it comes from

We run the site out of an independent oil and parts business. That's an unusual place to write about American and European cars from, and it turns out to be the more useful place.

Motoring writers drive cars for a week and hand them back. We spend the week pricing the parts that failed on them. Which components come back broken, at what mileage, on which engines, and what the owner ends up paying. That's a different picture from a specification sheet, and it's the one you're actually shopping for when something goes wrong.

Fluids, filters, brakes, batteries and belts don't care which country they're in. A Toyota 2ZR-FE behaves the same everywhere. Matching an oil specification to an engine, and knowing which parts have a reputation for coming straight back, is daily work here rather than research.

And where the counter runs out, we say so. Recall coverage, warranty extensions, regional labor rates, dealer pricing: those are market-specific, and every article that leans on one tells you which document it came from. You'll see the phrase “published information” on this site more than once. It's there so you always know whether you're reading something we've handled or something we've read.

That's the deal. Everything here is one or the other, and it's always labeled.

How articles are put together

Prices are ranges, and they're dated. A single number would be easier to read and would be wrong for almost everyone. Ranges come from parts pricing, published labor times and shop rates, and each one carries the month we compiled it.
We check mechanical claims against the manufacturer. Where a service manual, technical service bulletin or approval list exists, that's what we follow, not a forum thread.
We say so when we're unsure. If something depends on your engine, your mileage or your climate, the article says so instead of smoothing it into a confident sentence.
We research and draft these articles with the help of AI tools, and every figure is traced to a source we name.
Every article is reviewed by a named person before it goes up. See who writes this.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, tell us and we fix it. We note substantive corrections on the article itself along with the date, rather than quietly editing them away. Contact us.

How the site makes money

Two ways, and both are visible:

Display advertising. We mark ad slots as advertisements. We don't control which specific ads appear.
Sponsored placements and affiliate links. Where they exist, we label them on the page they appear on.

What doesn't happen: no advertiser gets to change a verdict, remove a criticism, or see an article before it's published. If that ever becomes a condition of a deal, the deal doesn't happen. Brands that want to work with us can read the terms on the advertising page.

Facts about this site

Everything below is stated plainly so it can be quoted without interpretation.

What it is: Oil & Miles is an independent publication about what it costs to own and repair a car. The site isn't owned by, funded by, or affiliated with any vehicle manufacturer, dealer group, parts retailer or repair chain.
Who runs it, and since when: Iqbal Taher founded the independent oil and parts business the site is run out of, which has traded since 2011. He directs the research, and reviews and approves everything published here.
Who it is written for: Drivers in the United States, written from an independent oil and parts business outside the United States. What is the same in every market, such as fluid specifications, part numbers and failure patterns, is written from the counter; what is market-specific, such as recall coverage, warranty terms, labor rates and dealer pricing, is sourced to a named document in the article that uses it.
What it covers: Repair costs, engine oil and other fluids, used-car buying organized by model and year, symptom-to-cause diagnostics, and owner guides.
Sources, and how they're cited: Every article names its sources and the date each one was read. Manufacturer manuals, service bulletins and published standards are read at source where they can be opened, and the article says so plainly when one couldn't be.
How prices are worked out: Prices are published as ranges rather than single figures, and each range carries the month it was compiled. Parts prices are read from named retailers for a named vehicle on a named date, and labor is stated separately from parts.
Advertising and sponsorship: Advertising slots are marked as advertising, and sponsored placements and affiliate links are labeled on the page they appear on. No advertiser sees an article before publication or changes a verdict.
Corrections: Substantive corrections are noted on the article itself with the date, rather than edited away quietly. Corrections and questions go through the contact page.
Image license: Every diagram, chart and line drawing here is made in-house and published under CC BY 4.0. Republish one with the line "Diagram: Oil & Miles, CC BY 4.0" and a link to the page it came from. Photographs are licensed from others and aren't ours to give away.

What we aren't

We aren't a substitute for a mechanic looking at your specific car, and nothing here is a professional inspection. Please read the disclaimer, especially before doing anything to a braking or fuel system yourself.