Why is an oil change ALWAYS more than just an oil change?

This is something has frustrated me for the past few years - oil changes! We all know this is something that has to be done, it's a fact of life. If you want your car to run for an extended period of time, it is imperative that you have the oil changed (I know from experience. My sister and I went quite a while in high school w/out changing the oil in the car we shared, and amazingly enough the engine blew - yeah, my dad was thrilled!). But it seems that every time I go in for just a simple oil change, it's never just that! It's "Ms. Crosby... you need a new air filter, you need new wiper blades, you need an engine flush, you need your radiator flushed, you need more coolant." Are they telling me the truth? Heck if I know! Maybe I have a huge stamp on my forehead that says "ignorant about cars. Come on - Sucker me!" so they take full advantage of that. I can't help but feel that a lot of it is because I'm a young female and they assume (rightfully so) that I will not know if they are being truthful or not.

I went in the other day for an oil change - the sign out front said "Special! $21.99 Oil Change" I thought to myself "Sweet, I'll be in and out for about $25.00" - I should have known better. I pull in and can see them eying me thinking "here we go guys! Let's get her!". They hand me the clipboard, I fill out my information and tell them I want the $21.99 oil change. The guy begins to tell me that I should consider going for an upgrade because the $21.99 is a very basic oil and isn't that great for my engine - I tell him that I don't care, I just want the basic. They then offer to vacuum out my car- "how much is that gonna cost?". It's Free - well that's a surprise! (I'm still convinced there's a catch there). So I go wait in the lobby - I'm about 2 or 3 pages into a magazine before I hear "Ms. Crosby, we'd like to show you something." AHA! I knew it! They proceed to tell me that evidently someone has put in green antifreeze when it should have been the blue and it's caused some sludge to build up - I have no idea if that's true or not so I just nod in agreement - and the list goes on. I tell them to price it out and let me decide. After taking a look at the sheet and narrowing it down to what I thought was crucial, I got out of there for about $100.00. Well, there goes my cheap oil- change.

I am such a trusting person (sometimes to fault) and I want to believe that people are being honest with me..... but I can't honestly believe that 9 out of 10 times I get my oil changed there is something else wrong. I wish everyone could just treat people like they want to be treated - Honestly!