That’s right, you could go through the hassle of changing your oil the same amount of times per year that you have to celebrate your Aunt Veronica’s birthday. This miraculous development, coming from the labs of ExxonMobil called Mobil 1 Annual Protection, might be the best thing to come along for cars since fuzzy dice or those family stick figure stickers.

Now I know what you’re thinking – if I wait an entire year (or 20,000 miles) to change my oil, my engine is going to explode! I feel you homie. But the team in white lab coats have created this fully synthetic oil to do one thing and to do it extremely well – to last 12 months (or 20,000 miles – whichever comes first) in an active engine and keep all your shiny bits gliding along smoothly. Even if you don’t believe them or me, ExxonMobil is willing to throw a limited warranty behind their Mobil 1 Annual Protection motor oil that covers the lubricant and critical engine parts lubricated by the motor oil. That’s pretty crazy, and tells me that they really mean one full year between oil changes. You can read the full details on the warranty here.

How in the world did they pull this off when all other motor oils require a change every three to six months? Some sort of fairy magic I would assume, mostly because I’m not a petrochemical engineer. Also, they wouldn’t tell me since it’s kind of a secret and I’m a known tattle. As if doubling the life of most available motor oils wasn’t enough to prove that they firmly own the cutting edge of technology, ExxonMobil is also hooking you up with a Virtual Reality cardboard viewer and an exciting VR experience.

If you pick up 5 quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil at your local auto parts store before 6/28/2107, ExxonMobil will send you a free cardboard VR viewer, and they’ve also got several videos for you to enjoy on your new future viewer. So if you’re tired of changing your oil as often as you get a haircut, and you’ve yet to jump on the VR bandwagon, this is the perfect time to be alive for you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go change my oil for the last time till 2018.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of ExxonMobil . The opinions and text are all mine.

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I am a man of routines. Of many routines in fact. From my morning routine (writing, breakfast, news, work) to exercise (start the week with legs, end with arms), to weekly meal-prepping every Sunday night – but we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about my oil change routine, aren’t we?

Now I hope you’re already on a routine of regular oil changes to keep your car or truck running right and true. You know I am, and you better believe I have a routine that goes with every oil change. It starts before I ever get dirty. First stop is to recycle the oil from my last oil change and at the same time pick up my new oil and filter from the auto parts store. Not only does this leave me with an empty oil receptacle, but the trip warms up my car enough to start draining the oil. The next steps are pretty standard fare – drain the oil from the sump or reservoir, then change the filter, and finally top it off with a high-quality oil.

You might think that’s the end of your oil change, but my routine is not yet done. Fresh oil keeps my engine’s internal parts moving smoothly (side note: did you know that in a properly working engine, none of the moving parts ever actually touch each other? Your oil is there to create an extremely thin layer between all the pieces of metal and prevent them from ever touching. Neat!), but my car does not run on oil alone. No, it needs fuel. Gasoline to be precise. And you can buy quality gas all day long, but you’re still going to accumulate deposits and contaminants in your filter & pump, inside your injectors, and on your valves and pistons. So as long as you are cleaning up your ride’s oil system, you better believe you should clean up your fuel system too!

I use STP Ultra 5-in-1 Fuel System Cleaner with every oil change to keep my dino juice flowing freely and all my components deposit-free. I like STP because it’s an American company that has been innovating in the petroleum industry since 1954. Also Richard Petty rocked that sweet STP car back in the 70’s. Who doesn’t want to feel like the famed NASCAR driver? I also use STP because it’s been proven to remove an average of 60% of harmful deposits from engine parts and restore 95% of original injector performance. 95%- that’s basically like new.

After a good oil change and fuel system clean, I always cap off the routine with a good carwash so I know my car is as clean outside as it is in the engine. Also, don’t forget the air freshener for a fresh scent. And that’s the full process until it’s time for the next oil change. Cleaning your fuel system doesn’t add any time to your oil change, and it will make sure your trusty steed will stay trusty for years to come. After all, some routines are called relationships…

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