From the "former urban legend" dept.: Warning re: oil change shops

[liberalhistorian]

I used to think this was just an urban legend. Sure, there were oil change shops I didn't fully trust as far as the veracity of what they always claimed to be "wrong" with whatever car I'd take in for an oil change. Sometimes they were right, but usually they were skirting the edge, just trying to pump up sales volumes. And they never seemed to pull those tricks when my stepdad, son or husband took the car in on their own or when I was with them.

But holy hannah, you will not believe this shit. Hubby took my older car in for an oil change last week; I'd had it for eight years, since before we were together, and it was the car I brought from Ohio when moving out west and that I drove everywhere around the state for a couple years for the job I'd had. It was a very reliable, dependable Buick that only in the past couple of years had started to show its age, which was thirteen years. We no longer took it for too many trips outside town, although it seemed to do somewhat okay with it. Hubby had to drive it several hours to one of the few urban areas in this state to take care of some business and errands and see family. He takes it to an oil change shop and dutifully bides his time in the waiting area, until they come out and tell him the car was ready. He pays, gets in the car and drives merrily on his way. Nearly a half hour later, the car conks out about a block from my former mechanic from when I once lived in that city. Just simply dies, would not budge. He has it towed to the mechanic and they tell him they'll look at it the next morning; he gets a ride to his father's house, which is still in the area, but several towns away. When he called that night to let me know what was up, we figured the car had finally died on its own and started figuring out the finances of trying to replace it.

But holy shit. The next day, the mechanic determines that the car would go no further because, people, guess what the oil change guys had NOT done AFTER they drained all the damned oil from the car's engine? What would you think would be the next logical step after draining oil from an engine? It ain't rocket science, even to a non-mechanic, but I guess it was too hard for the gentlemen to figure out that once they drained a customer's oil, they actually needed to PUT OIL IN IT. That's right, kids, they drained the old oil and DIDN'T PUT ANY NEW OIL IN IT. Which, as you can guess what happens here, quickly and effectively ruined the engine, thus ruining the car. So hubby, being a few hundred miles from home, had to shell out the bucks to rent a car for a couple weeks and start dealing with the oil shop's insurance company.

Fortunately, they didn't fuss and were actually easy to deal with, paying for the rental car and offering a quick and very fair settlement after checking out the car. I think that was likely because it was an old, not-that-valuable car and not a newer, more expensive one. They likely figured that it'd cost them a lot less just to make a settlement than to dig their heels in. The only good thing is that it wasn't our much newer, "good" car, that would have been a real mess.

Yeesh. And you thought it was just an urban legend that they did shit like that! I know I once did. I almost feel sorry for the poor shlub who was rushed and likely somewhere down the line broke procedure, because he's more than likely now out of a job in a very tough market. And imagine him trying to explain why he lost his last job in new interviews!

[struggle4progress]

1. Moral: drive a block away and double-check the dipstick

[liberalhistorian]

2. No kidding. I'm gonna have a much harder time now

with taking cars in to get oil changes, no matter where it is.

I'd had that car the longest of any car I've ever owned, and we probably could have kept it going at least another year or so. I just find it really bizarre that of all the really good history I've had with that car, that this is how it ends. Oh, well, like I said, I'm grateful it wasn't our newer, better car, and that we at least got a pretty decent and quick settlement from them.

[krispos42]

4. That's why I change my own.

And I pour the old oil into the container that contained the new oil.

So it's impossible for me to forget to put the oil in... I'd have a full drip pan to put away!



Plus I can use synthetic oil for the same price of a regular-oil oil change. :-)

[MicaelS]

3. I hvae heard of this happening before...

But I'm surprised the Engine Oil light, or High Temp light didn't come on. And I'm really surprised the was able to drive for half an hour. Seems like the engine would have seized up right away.

[sammytko]

5. I always take mine to the dealer - costs the same as those shops

and they have nicer waiting areas and free sodas and wifi.

[flvegan]

6. I personally know someone that

went to an oil change place that was kind enough to NOT put the oil drain plug back in.

Engine? Kaput. They paid for it once a lawyer got involved.

[Rhiannon12866]

7. I read that, too, and it wasn't an urban legend, but it was in a car related article.

Wish I could remember which one. The main offender, if I recall correctly, was Jiffy Lube. I need to get my oil changed and friends have urged me to go to some "quick" place. But I'm not willing to take a chance. I'm going to the dealership. And they do have a nice waiting room, with a big TV and free coffee. :)

[liberalhistorian]

15. Well, it wasn't Jiffy Lube, but it was one of the major

competitors. But even dealers can cause problems, it's not a magic panacea. I'm just glad they dealt with it quickly and fairly. Of course, the fact that hubby's an attorney might have had something to do with it, but who knows?

[jmowreader]

8. The PX auto care center at Fort Drum did that to one of my guys

We THOUGHT we were getting ready to go to Somalia (as it turned out, my company didn't get to go) and one of my troops, who took good care of his car, took it to the on-post auto care center to have the oil changed before deployment. The fuckers drained the oil, left the old filter on and neglected to put the drain plug back in. He made it all the way back to the motor pool (where we stored our cars when we were deployed) before it seized. So the troop, me and one of our mechanics, who had looked under the car for about one second, went back over there... The conversation with the manager was a riot:

Me: "You owe my guy a new car."
Them: "Why?"
Me: "He paid you to change his oil, and you left the drain plug out. Now his car is ruined."
Them: "And how do you know WE did it?"
Me: "Because he has the receipt and..." (pointing at the bench) "his drain plug is right there."

They got him a new car.

[liberalhistorian]

14. LOL! Boy, would I have loved

to have been there for that converation!

[bluedigger]

9. Moral of the story: there is no "competence" fairy.

This could happen anywhere you get your oil changed: dealership, oil shop, or independent garage. Oil changing is considered an entry level task at a garage. I did it myself for a Subaru dealer about twenty years ago, and my brother has worked for one of the chains for nearly ten years now. And I've heard some stories, too. Including customers trying to fake damage to defraud the oil shops.

The advantage to a dealership is that they should have the correct items to do the job, as well as manufacturer training on your model. The new guy will still be doing the work, though, and supervision may be hit or miss depending on the shop floor workload at the time. It will usually cost more, but that may vary. Assuming your vehicle is running well generally it also gives them a chance to check for warranty updates, recalls, etc... if it hasn't been to the dealer for a while.

Oil shops offer convenience and competitive pricing. The big chains will track your vehicle wherever you take it and perform regular maintenance for common things, including topping your fluids for free, usually. They hire high school dropouts at minimum wage, but they also have pretty good training, procedural protocols to perform tasks, and good supervision. When the protocol isn't followed you have potential problems. Where they take you is in the upsells for "treatments" and "additives" - don't buy that crap. (I usually get my oil changed weekday afternoons when the kids aren't too hungover - never Saturday morning.)

You just can't beat a good independent mechanic - they are worth their weight in gold. But if they do screw up, they may not have the ability (or resources) to make it right in a timely manner, so you have to keep that in mind.

Given the number of vehicles getting their oil changed every 3-5,000 miles, it is easy to find anecdotal evidence of incompetence. I guess that's why we have lawyers.

[Frank Cannon]

10. That happened to a friend of mine. It's no urban legend.

The oil-change place fought it at first, saying that my friend drained out all the oil to try to get them to buy him a new car. But the car was literally only a few weeks old! They eventually ended up getting him a rental car and paying to completely replace the engine.

Always check your oil after you have someone else do a change, particularly in these "Jiffy" places where they try to get you in and out as fast as they can.

[Tripper11]

11. I go to Oil Can Henry's...

Sorry to hear about that, at least they were decent about it.

At Oil Can Henry's it's a little more expensive, but I sit in my truck, they have tv monitors with cameras showing the dude in the pit, and the other dude under the hood. You see everything that they do.
They check and top up all fluids, check lights, check tire pressure and fill if necessary, wash the windshield.
That said, one time when I had my oil changed, the dude in the pit put the old filter on the ledge of my skid plate, instead of wherever they normally put it.
The next day I noticed an oil stain underneath my truck and thought, "oh shit" they messed up.
I went straight back, told the guy about the oil stain. He crawled underneath the truck, fiddled around a bit, then came out with the filter.
He told me where it was, hence the oil stain.
He went back in, and triple checked everything, new filter secured etc.
He told me to wait a moment, went inside, came back out and gave me a card for a free oil change.

[Mopar151]

12. In general...

I go with the deal where one guy does the oil change and lube - whether it's me, my local mechanic, or the dealership depends on which car.

[NoGOPZone]

13. No Legend. Something similar happened to a friend of mine at Jiffy Lube

Although in her case, it was a loose drain plug and not forgetting to refill.

[NickB79]

16. I got a call once from the dealership to bring my car back right away

Turns out that, at the end of the day they had an extra oil pan lying around that never got re-installed in a car they had serviced.

The kicker was that, when I got in, my oil pan was right where it should be, on my car.

So, they didn't even know exactly WHICH customer's car they had just ruined!

[liberalhistorian]

18. Wow, but I'm sure they found

out pretty quickly which customer it was after it happened!

[LeftyMom]

17. The shop I go has cameras on the shop guys, and a monitor so I can watch them work.

I could do it myself (I already buy my own materials and bring them over, because I'm picky) but it's worth $8 to me not to have to put the used oil in a container and drop it off for recycling. It's messy and I'm busy.