My husband has been a mechanic for 33 years and runs his own shop. He recommends changing every 3-5000 miles partly because he knows people. Some customers are calling for an appoimtment 500 miles before the 3000 but the vast majority forget, put it off, or just don’t have the time so we get a lot of people coming in way past the 3000 mark. And he will tell people if their oil was unusually dirty or bad and advise them to get in sooner next time.
Then theres the synthetics & synthetic blends that let you go longer. My husband puts the synthetic in my Bonneville so he doesn’t have to change it so much (mechanics hate working on their own vehicles!)
I have been reading a lot about oils and oil change intervals since my 5/75 bumper (which included oil changes and inspections) ran out in June. I have decided that two changes a year with a synthetic oil should be fine. I dirve ~16k miles per year. My ford dealership will change the oil for <$20, so I can’t be bothered to get under the car.
Yeah, my 98 ford had 3,000/6,000 oil/filter, at 5,000 I would have the oil and filter changed as that’s typicly (from what I’ve heard) what the rental companies do.