'This Thing Has 16 Drain Plugs:' Man Takes Bugatti for an Oil Change. Then the Mechanic Says It’ll Cost $30K

For most of us, an oil change is a coupon special; $69 if you spring for synthetic.

But for a Bugatti Veyron owner, it’s a line item that could equal the cost of a year of college tuition.

That’s what one enthusiast learned when his local garage broke the news: “It’s about 27 hours of labor. Sixteen drain plugs. Probably around $30,000.”

That was part of the quote from Austin Paseka, video and media specialist for Minnesota-based Apple Autos, for a longtime customer—typically a Ford GT or Shelby GT500 guy—who’d recently spent close to $1 million on a 2008 Bugatti Veyron. In an Instagram clip viewed more than 100,000 times, Paseka struggles to believe the parts and labor costs for the job, while the unidentified owner reacts nonchalantly.

Paseka checks the system for labor times and pauses before saying what every car fan would think.

“Man, that books for 27 hours of labor,” he says. “It has 16 drain plugs, and it requires removing a significant amount of bodywork. Underbody panels, the rear fender and deck lid need to come apart to do an oil change. That’s insane.”

The Engineering Behind a $30K Oil Change

Sixteen drain plugs is not an exaggeration. The Veyron’s 8.0-liter quad-turbocharged W16 engine uses a dry-sump lubrication system with multiple oil reservoirs and drain points, spread across complex plumbing to keep it cool at speeds exceeding 250 mph. The process involves dropping the rear bumper, wheel liners, and multiple carbon panels—basically, half the car.

Bugatti itself confirms that ownership of the Veyron comes with world-class complexity. According to Bugatti’s official maintenance guide, regular service includes not only oil and filter changes but also inspections of hydraulic lines, specialized gaskets, and proprietary fluids that must meet strict viscosity and pressure tolerances. Each drain plug is torqued to a precise sequence, which alone can consume hours of shop time.

It’s not just the number of drain plugs that makes a Veyron service marathon-worthy, but the choreography. Bugatti’s 8.0-liter W16 engine holds more than 15 quarts of synthetic oil, and the plugs are scattered across the crankcase, gearbox, and auxiliary tanks. Every plug must be torqued to spec, then refilled and rechecked in sequence, often with the car running between steps.

The rear subframe and aerodynamic panels have to come off for access, meaning most of the labor is akin to surgery. Even swapping the oil filter involves partial disassembly of the rear deck lid. It’s overkill by usual standards, but that’s what allows the Veyron to safely hit 250 mph without cooking its internals.

That helps explain why a routine oil change can climb well into five figures. Reports over the years from outlets like CarScoops have pegged the average Veyron oil change between $21,000 and $25,000. A handful of Bugatti-certified service centers, primarily in California, Florida, and Europe, are the only ones authorized to perform it correctly, and the process can take up to a week, including disassembly, oil refilling, leak checks, and reinstallation.

The Veyron’s engineering pedigree is a big reason for the price. Built between 2005 and 2015, the car was designed as a technological moonshot: a 1,001-horsepower masterpiece capable of 253 mph and later refined in the Super Sport variant to exceed 267 mph. That performance came with a cost in complexity. Even basic service jobs often require the use of Bugatti’s proprietary diagnostic software and specialized tools, all of which are closely guarded by the factory.

Gallery: Bugatti Veyron 20th Anniversary

Top of the Line Everything

For comparison, a typical Lamborghini Huracán oil change runs about $1,200, a Ferrari 488 comes in around $1,500, and a McLaren 720S can push past $2,000 at some dealerships. Even at those rates, the Veyron’s 27-hour labor requirement makes it look like it belongs in another universe.

For the cost of one Veyron oil change, you could buy a brand-new Toyota Corolla, take a month-long luxury cruise, or get roughly 400 quick-lube specials. At Bugatti prices, you’re paying about $2,000 per drain plug. Even the tires can cost $30,000 a set, and Bugatti once required them to be shipped back to France for remounting. In that light, a $30K oil change starts to look almost reasonable, at least if your garage already includes a Ford GT and a few supercharged Shelbys.

That level of precision explains why even Apple Autos, a well-equipped performance shop that handles GTs and high-end Mustangs, had to stop and think twice. In the clip, Paseka jokes that they’d have to call their insurance company before touching a car “valued around a million.” The owner, meanwhile, takes it in stride and simply replies, “Yeah, I paid somewhere around that for it.”

It’s that calm reaction that gives the clip its viral charm. Paseka sounds both amused and terrified, while the caller treats a $30,000 oil change as just another day in the life of someone maintaining a million-dollar machine. In a sea of social media car content, the exchange resonates because it feels authentic: a regular shop guy reacting honestly to the rarefied world of hypercar ownership.

Still, for many car fans, the number sticks in the mind: $30,000 for an oil change. Twenty-seven hours of labor. Sixteen drain plugs. In a way, it’s proof of just how far Bugatti went to make the Veyron what it is: a statement of ultimate performance that ignores every rule of practicality.

And for everyone else? It’s a reminder that while a $69 oil change may not feel glamorous, it’s a bargain compared to the price of keeping a legend road-ready.

Motor1 reached out to the dealership via phone. ​​We’ll be sure to update this if they respond.