Finding a good deal gets trickier all the time, especially it seems when it comes to costly auto maintenance. A coupon may not be the bargain it seems when you check the fine print–or ask what the bottom line is because sometimes they just don’t tell you everything on the coupon.

When I needed an oil change recently, I had no problem finding coupons but when I took a few minutes to call to ask the bottom line, I found that great coupon for, say, $14.99 wasn’t the deal I thought it was when you looked at the add-ons like the $2 oil disposal fee imposed by the state and the $2.50 “supplies” charge. What’s up with that? Supplies used to be covered in the price as part of the cost of doing business. Welcome to the new millenium.

It turns out I was better off by several bucks to get the BOGO at Dobbs using the coupon on their website. That comes to $20 and some change for each oil change while, with the add-ons, the $19.99 “deal” really costs $27.99.

The Dobbs coupon deal is good through the end of February–plus the website has coupons for fluid replacement, wheel alignments and front disk brake service.

The coupon for the “free” oil change must be used by June 30 so if you can’t find a spouse or friend to split the deal with, be sure to set an alarm on your computer for sometime in June to make sure you don’t miss out on that second oil change.