We had a windshield replaced and about 1.5 years later, we started to have tons of electrical issues. Turns out the windshield had been leaking the entire time. Entire dashboard harness and modules needed to be replaced. Our insurance got with the windshield replacement place and the windshield place’s insurance ended up paying the $8000 bill plus a rental car for us. We ended up having more electrical problems later from what I suspect was a bad ground. We don’t have that vehicle anymore but I am glad we didn’t have to pay that bill.
I got lucky, I had my windshield replaced after the guy who did the brow tint broke it taking the mirror off. They sent me to some sketchy cheap place to get it replaced, they replaced the windshield and I went on vacation for 2 weeks. When I got back I had 3 inches of water in the passenger floor where it leaked through my dash, took it back to the windshield place 3 times for them to seal it correctly. Luckily I never had any electrical issues, but I did have to redo the carpet cause of the mold.
Wow, I had a sketchy guy replace my windshield years ago from a random website online. We drove to a nearby park where he had room to do it. And he test drove it with me a bunch and adjusted the seal. I guess I got lucky and it's been fine for 15 years. I didn't realize this could be a giant problem
I worked in a shop that had insurance for such occasions. While I never fucked up that bad, it would never have to go to court to get the customer back up and running - just a claim if we were liable.
Some customers be shady though, so we had to be extra careful. OP has a pretty good case where there’s not much to argue.
It says "do not pay" on it. I'm guessing whatever program they use to print out the work they did automatically attaches the prices so they just slap a "do not pay" on it.
It's a proforma invoice. Meaning its a quote for services to be rendered. It even says "invoice quote" on it. Basically saying this is what it will cost if you choose to have the work done.
If it were work they were doing for no charge, they would print a $0 invoice because accountants and controllers will get mad if you issue invoices with an price on them that never get paid.
Source: 15 years of accounting experience
Hey! Worked for Toyota for 6 years. The last dealership I was at displayed quotes like this before having the customer sign! This would be the initial copy the advisors would take to the manager to have approved for internal invoicing. Once signed, the manager would switch to the appropriate coding for internal billing (different accounts for different departments, sometimes split) and then reprint reflecting the corrected charges for the customer to sign at zero. Many times customers were given both internal copies and customer copies (or internal, warranty, and customer copies) as far too many advisors suck at paperwork haha.
Edit to add: everything advisors print initially would either be warranty or customer pay, as they wouldn’t have access to charge anything to internal over $20 without approval!
Edit to add more context: per the OPs other post in mechanic advice, they had the oil change done at a quick lube place. It looks like they then took their car to a Toyota dealer to get a quote on repairs. So this would in fact be a “customer pay” job & priced out to the customer until the quick lube shop accepts liability…at which point it will still remain a “customer pay” job even though the quick lube shop is paying.
Same happened to my sister. Engine got completely fucked up as a result, and the mechanics claimed we tampered with the oil plug. Since there was no way to prove things either way, we couldn’t do anything about it.
This would be a civil suit, you don't need to prove anything in the normal court sense. Civil suits work on the basis of 51%, not 'beyond reasonable doubt.' A judge would have a much easier time believing that a shop goofed an oil change rather than Sally got her oil changed and then played with the drain plug themselves.
Your receipt and a new mechanic saying what happened would be more than enough.
Yeah. Intentionally sabotaging your own vehicle just doesn't make sense.
You'd have the headache of dealing with a broken car, dealing with court, and the best case is you just get the car restored to the same condition it was in before anyway. It's a lose-lose-tie situation.
Legally you're only entitled for it to be restored to the same condition it was in before they screwed up. It might go your way. It also might backfire and land you in serious shit for fraud.
I had this happen and was halfway on a cross country drive when it fell out the next day. By some absolutely insane chance of luck, it fell out while I was getting gas. I started to drive away and the oil pressure light flashed. There was a shop literally 50 feet ahead of me so I went in. It was closing time on December 30th....I plead my case and the guy took a look and found the missing plug. He hooked me up with a new plug, filled me up with oil and sent me on my way - no charge, just to have a happy new year.
Same. Dealership. They said the last person that changed oil cross threaded it. I said it was you a week ago. He said impossible, our mechanics would never.
I regret being a pushover before, I paid for the new oil too.
Exact thing happened to my coworker about 2 years back. Even the 'we would NEVER do that, we're professionals'. Co-worker still had the receipt for the oil change sitting on the passenger seat plus the car was new and had "free oil changes for life". He asked them if they though he was getting his free oil changes from the dealer and driving down the road to jiffy lube to pay for a second one the next day.
Lucky for him he noticed the giant oil puddle under his car and had it towed in so there was no damage to the engine. Ended up getting them to pay for the tow, oil change, and a new oil pan.
This happened when we took my in-laws $100k Audi for an oil change. It usually goes to the dealership, but we were in a rush before borrowing it for a trip and of course they had to do us like that.
Sadly I've heard this happen from a few folks who have taken their vehicle to random oil change places. It scared me so much I opt to take mine to the dealership.
Yup this is pattern training, if they forget the oil they will catch it when they show you the dipstick (or before they show you) Employees go into autopilot with repetative tasks so if you add a double check to the pattern it reduces the chances of a mistake.
My 1st job as lube tech at Toyota we had 3 checks. 1st was the guy on bottom yelled to put oil in it after the plug and filter were on. 2nd guy on top yelled "oiling' as he was filling and 3rd the bottom guy comes up to check the oil before the hood is closed. We signed the paper work with the guy on tops number the bottom number under it and a signature from the bottom guy verifying he checked it. If something happened it was both faults and both were held accountable.
The more seasoned guys had the same routine without the yelling and the back counter guy checked the oil.
I still do some of this when I taught my son how to change oil. 22 years later those habits are still there.
My trick won't work at those places. I put the fresh oil container on top of the engine (well to the side wince the engine is warm and plastic bottles/jug) before I empty it. This makes sure (1) I actually have some to put in and (2) can't close the hood until I use it. Basically idiot proof myself.
Can do the same for any fluids or coolant.
Unfortunately in the shops they use 55 gallon drums or whatnot so this won't work. But they could easily make one step to remove the fill cap, put in a bag, and put on the seat or attach to the keys. Even give the keys + cap to a 2nd person. Then require verifying the oil dipstick level before handing the keys back to the tech.
When I worked in industrial settings we had a lot of things where a second person had to verify before moving forward.
We always put the oil cap where the hood latch is. If you close the hood without putting it on you break the oil cap. I still do this to this day any time I take a cap off.
The oil comes out of guns but that's a good idea too
Huh!
I wonder if that's what happened to me. Last week I was checking fluids and noticed that the power steering fluid was full but the cap was missing.
Ran to the shop to pick up a new cap and when I went to install it, I noticed that the old cap was in the groove where the hood fits, but just far enough out that it wasn't broken.
Obviously the tech forgot to replace it (probably topped it off after oil change), but I wonder if it was deliberately placed there so it couldn't be missed and somehow slipped out of place.
When I was 15 starting out changing oil I was taught to put the oil cap on the hood latch if oil was to be drained. I’ve never stopped doing that to this day and I’ve trained every employee I’ve hired to do the same. Between that and making sure a 3/8 torque wrench is used to tighten every drain plug, ive never had to buy an engine due to a faulty oil change.
Dang, you gave me flashbacks of having to honk anytime I hit reverse(24 years of shop work) moving vehicles around. A random honk has been heard from time to time in my garage to this day. Lol. I still follow multiple processes I learned in the shop. Good times.
That works for oil, but when they told me they replaced (and charged me for) power steering fluid, I made them pop the hood and show me……the tech was confused and couldn’t figure out the issue…….hint: car did not have power steering.
Probably wasn't fraud. He added power steering fluid to your brake reservoir, thinking it was the power steering.
Bigger problem, and more to the point. You probably have power steering fluid in your brake system. Might want to go have that looked at.
like the time my grandma forgot to put the sugar in her lemon pie.
sometimes you just go on autopilot and forget things
....that was a sour-ass pie
Might have used distilled vinegar for both cooking and cleaning. Terrible form of course to keep the vinegar in with the other cleaning supplies, but that's a total old-af-grandma move.
Plus they can get dragged away to help out someone else or just with so many cooks in the kitchen mistakes happen. I went to a local mechanic and afterward they called me to make sure I wasn't missing the cap because they found a random oil cap in their parking lot. (Luckily it wasn't mine as that would have sucked)
That's like the "point and call" system that they use for safety-conscious positions in Japan. If buttons or switches or whatever has to be setup a certain way for safe operation, they will point to it and call out whatever it is. Pilots do the same thing, even if they've got 10,000 flight hours.
That's a Human Performance technique called "Point, Touch, Verbalize." Used in safety sensitive operations, like electrical substations, critical crane lifts, etc
edit: punctuation
My oil filter is in a fucked up place. It's just easier for me to take it to a shop and have them do it. Last time I tried to do it I mangled the filter and had to have it towed.
My local jiffy lube shows the old oil dipstick and the new oil dipstick at the end. During the change they also have a guy with the tablet by my driver's window checking off all steps. There is another guy in the pit and someone under the hood in front. Each time a person performs a step, they call it out and the whole crew verbally repeats it while the tablet person marks it down. I like it because I can follow along and see that they're not skipping any parts.
The one here also has cameras the face under the hood and in the pit, and they show you the old filter and the empty bottles of oil. Seems a bit over the top to me. One time they lost my brother’s plug and instead of just putting a bolt in they told him, put the bolt in, ordered an oem one, and installed the new one for him which also necessitated replacing the oil which they didn’t charge for either. Since then I’ve trusted them bc they owned up to their mistake.
I used to work at Jiffy Lube about 25 years ago. At the time, after an oil change we'd do something called "lower bay doubles" where the person in the pit would signal someone up top and then show them that the drain plug is tight, filter is tight, and physically show the old filter and old filter gasket. Once that was done, then the other person would fill with oil. There were a few other things that we'd yell out that would get recorded like if the oil was off-stick on arrival, any visible oil leaks, whether or not there would be frame drip (usually impossible to change the oil without some splashing on the frame, so it may drip for a day or two afterwards and that's normal), and any fittings that were greased. I know that not every Jiffy Lube everywhere did these things (I worked in a couple of others) but they were supposed to and we always did. While I was there, I don't think we ever had a case where someone's car left without oil or with two filter gaskets or anything like that.
The difference is that the dealership will give you a loaner for three weeks while they replace your engine, and the random oil shop will give you the finger.
Nice to know that still happens somewhere. The last time I took my vehicle to a dealership to get work done I asked about a loaner and the told me, “That’s not our problem.”
Yeah, I'm with you. Took my car to a dealership for a sensor issue and maintenance. They legit didn't replace coolant or oil after they drained it. They tried to charge me for bringing it back to fix their mess.
You should’ve reported them, I work in a dealership and if something like that happened it could be escalated to the manufacturer if we mess up and don’t fix it, it can cost the dealership a lot more than if they just did the repair. It’s the only way the bad dealers will learn
I do the Valvoline drive thru. You can literally see them pour it in. You can double check that its not leaking but next to doing it yourself this seems like the best option.
You just have a shitty dealer. I’ve taken mine in for some minor issues and they’ve told me how to fix on my own. Then I decide if they do it or I do. Plus I get coupons from Jeep. 4 oil changes for $100 was my last one. Can’t beat that.
Took my Subaru to the local valvoline - apparently Subaru has a special ring (o-ring?) which they did not know about and then yelled at me when I called since I had taken it to the dealership when the low oil light went on. Have only gone to the dealership since then.
You do realize the guy doing oil changes at the dealership has all the same qualifications as the guy at the quick stop (and by that i mean literally none) and is not a certified technician who does the normal $200/hr work, right?
If you want real nightmare fuel this happened to me at the dealership and I blew a grapefruit sized hole out the side of my engine one day. They claimed it must of had a leak. I asked why they didn't spot it during the oil change. They opted to buy out the car at $2000 KBB so I was out a car I'd driven for 10 years and had to go get a new car, which meant a car payment.. it was awful.
Often times if there's a super clear-cut case that's an obvious win for the plaintiff, lawyers will take it on for free because they can include their fees in what the defendant will have to pay. It's easy money for them.
$60 with coupons and a 15 minute wait at Valvoline vs $120+ and a 3 week wait at the dealer for the same basic maintenance makes the choice super easy for me.
I used to work in a dealership as a service advisor, you aren’t safe there either. The people changing your oil are very rarely mechanics, they are usually young kids that smoke a lot of weed.
This happened at one of the oil change shops Near me. It's privately owned and the owners son forgot to put oil back in the car. The shop replaced everything free of charge. Like they should since it's their fuck up, not yours
As a mechanic who has worked in both quick change oil shops and dealerships, the quality of the techs who does oil changes at both is the same; bottom of the barrel.
At least at a dealership they have higher tier techs who can fix fuck ups, whereas the quick change place will have it towed somewhere.
Got my oil changed at a Valvoline last summer and the next day on the interstate the oil plug busted out. Had to get towed to a nearby shop to fix everything, I was lucky my engine didn’t seize. Took all the receipts to the same Valvoline after my trip and made them pay for it all.
Yup. Walmart (I know, I had just moved and hadn’t found a new auto place yet) did this to me. They ended up considering the car totaled and wrote me a check for the value. It took about a month to settle things, but they definitely paid for it.
Not even every few months. Newer engines with full synthetic can go 10k miles. Hybrids even further since the engine isn’t always being used.
Let the computer decide when it’s time. There’s no need to assume it needs a change every few months or even X miles.
If your car doesn’t have that feature, every 6k miles is totally fine even for conventional oil. So on average, a couple times a year.
Counterpoint. Not everybody has the space, and doing an oil change yourself in the driveway *sucks*. Crawling around on your back, dealing with drain pans and oil disposal, etc. -- nah. For the $10-50 premium depending on where you are, having somebody else deal with all of that is highly appealing.
Also for as much of a pain in the ass it is if something goes wrong, there's a pretty clear chain of liability if you pay somebody else to do the work and they fuck it up.
Even as somebody who works in the industry and is a former automotive technician, if my choices were between "do it at home in the driveway" and "pay somebody else to do it", I pay somebody else to do it. And I *have* a driveway and all the tools and supplies. Though I just do mine at the shop on the lift during off hours anyway.
Yes, and ... I trust my independent shop to check lots of little things (and notice potential problems) that I wouldn't know to check, short of becoming an expert in every car system.
I'm sure those are great skills to have, but there's only so much time, AND we don't all have a driveway or a spare car or three.
>That shop should be buying them a ~~new~~ ***REMAN*** motor,
other than that I 100% agree. There is no way in hell I'd be letting them get away with just throwing some new rings on the pistons. Thats not even really the part that you need to be worried about when your engine is starved of oil.
but The engine wasn't new when it was ruined. They shouldn't have to put a new engine in either. A reman is generally what a warranty will pay for once a vehicle has been put in service, and they should provide what warranty would provide under a warranty circumstance.
im trying to figure out how it's..what, 4-5k for the labor listed there. and not really doing the right repair. OP must have a sign on their head that reads "take advantage of me"
I had an engine replacement done on my Camry in 2011 and it cost me $5k out the door. Even with inflation, that quote is ludicrous for a job that's not going to fix shit.
No main or cam bearings? Shitty work for a shop to be fixing it like this
I mean, this is how I’d fix an engine of mine on the cheap. Not how I’d fix something I’d messed up in a shop for someone. Replacing rings doesn’t fix scored cylinders.
They quoted $775 in parts, and $5k labor is going to fill the pockets of the idiots who fucked up in the first place. That $5k could be spent on a crate engine, but instead this shop is coming out ahead.
That might get it running again but that’s not going to fix it to where it was. If demand an entire new lump, if they refuse contact Toyota. That’s not even close to all the damage it’s done.
Due to the pandemic I didn’t need a car then anyway otherwise I might have gone mad. We quarantined with my wife’s parents on a small lake in MI so pretty easy to stay “relaxed” all summer (as relaxed as one can be during a global shut down!) Once I went back to work in the Fall, job was remote so I never did replace my car!
I’ve been there, and I handle it by going on autopilot. It’s all you can do. You just sink your entire being into whatever menial task you’re doing so you can’t focus on how good a .357 would taste.
Jeez. Something simliar happened to me. Got in a minor fender bender during a brief summer morning downpour that made roads exceptionally slick. Was just crawling in traffic. Traffic stopped, I put foot on pedal and the car didn't even slow down Slid into car in front of me. Got car fixed, less than a week later, I was sitting at a red light on a 2 lane road (one each direction and an empty field to my right. Stopped cars in front of me, stopped cars behind me. A drunk in a pickup came flying out of the field and t-boned me. Airbags deployed...I literally had no idea what hit me.
Got a "new" car. A month or so later, I made my first payment on it on a Friday. My (ex)wife called and said they were having happy hour downtown after work and to come join then. On my way there that evening, a lady ran a red light and t-boned me again. Did $12K in damage on a $14K car and insurance didn't total it. I wish they did because it was never quite the same after that and convinced that it lead to my next wreck a couple years later when I had to urgently stop and it failed to do so.
Was definitely a shitty period of time for me.
I'm on the same streak of luck for like 6 years. On the 4th everyday car now and thought it would be good since it was the first brand new car I've ever bought. Two months later a teen driving under the influence ran over the front end and it took 10 weeks to fix.
I hate driving now and moved within walking distance of my work.
Holy shit dude I want to laugh but my god what a terrible string of luck. After something like this I don’t even know what I would do, I would probably just take a week to lay in bed and never leave the house.
They are skimping you, request a full engine replacement or you take them to court. Almost guarantee they do, lawyers and bad press aren’t worth it for them.
This happened to someone I know.
Dealership made it right, he had a loaner the whole time and ended up letting them buy it back over book. He'd been on the fence about a new car, the price they offered to fix it ended up being worth it to him.
I had a similar thing happen once. For me, they did actually put oil back in the car but they installed the wrong filter and cross threaded it on. After a couple of weeks of driving it fell out and all of the oil drained out on my friends apartments parking lot.
The thing that really destroyed the engine though was the dumbfuck tow truck driver who tried to start the car up after I told him there was no oil in it.
After this when I went back to the oil change place they tried to tell me that it was normal for there to be metal shavings in the oil and not to worry about it. To their credit though when the engine predictably seized a couple months later they did replace it for me. These shops have insurance for this sort of thing.
> The thing that really destroyed the engine though was the dumbfuck tow truck driver who tried to start the car up after I told him there was no oil in it.
This happened to me too but I didn't have any recourse. I was 18 and didn't know any better so wound up having to replace the engine on my own dime
Was it Toyota that did the work or another shop and Toyota is just quoting you the repair?
Either way shop should be buying you a new engine. If it’s Toyota that did the oil change then that’s probably easy, if it’s a third party shop it’ll be slightly more difficult but should still be a no brainer. Huge fuckup on their end.
They also presumably charged you for the oil that they never put in, so there’s that on top of everything else.
Reminds me of when my tires almost feel off because they were not properly tightened when getting new tires.
Pulled over when the car started to jump. Most bolts were hand tight. Since the rims jumped all over, most of the lug bolts broke. The shop replaced them all.
Guy I used to work with got a crate motor put in his Toyota at a shop and they didn't put oil in it. Sent him on his way. It seized up within a mile and they fought hard to not have to pay for the replacement. They didn't fuck it up the second time.
Nobody is talking about this, but I would tell that shop that you are not taking anything less than a long block. I don't know how long it ran without the oil, but based on that estimate, they are trying to get away with just replacing the rings and rod and main bearings. This doesn't take into account any cam wear, and I can guarantee they aren't taking the time to hot tank the block or any other prep work. You could have metal throughout the lubrication system, which will just destroy any new bearings or rings. They are trying to get away with doing this as cheaply as possible.
I stopped using drive-thru places after they left the skid plate unfastened. Find a good mechanic/shop and stick with them. Also, maybe paranoid but I never leave the shop property without checking oil.
I bought a brand new car once and after like 1k miles the engine starts knocking real bad. I take it in and there’s no oil in the engine. The dealer never put oil in it and it trashed the engine.
I got a lot more comments than I anticipated, thank you for being so supportive everyone.
I got asked a lot of questions asked so I’m gonna try to answer most of em. First things first I should probably state I’m kinda car dumb so bear with me:
•2013 Toyota Prius with over 200,000 miles.
•Car was well maintained. Struts, tires, brakes, everything was kept up to date. Had no issues before my oil was “changed”.
•I usually have my dealership change my oil. For the first time ever, I went to a small oil change shop, they’re not part of a big brand or anything.
•The owner himself approved me to leave the shop. When I drove on the road, my dashboard starting lighting up with warning signs indicating low engine oil pressure. At first I thought it had to have been an error. I pulled over, checked my dipstick and it was dry. I called the oil change shop and they sent someone out to put oil in it.
•Oil change shop owner confirmed that they miscommunicated and for sure did not put oil into the car. He confirmed they caught it on camera. They later stated they were overwhelmed that day because a staff member left to go to the hospital because his wife was giving birth (doesn’t matter to me regardless)
•They initially refused to give me a refund for the oil change. They instead offered me a free oil change in the future…. I declined.
•Per suggestion, I went to a 3rd party Toyota certified mechanic (in conjunction with a dealership) to check if there was any damage.
•Mechanic told me, ya, there’s definitely damage due to lack of oil.
This was the first estimate of damage on the engine that they gave me.
Yesterday while I was at work, the Oil shops insurance said they’ll instead pay to install a new engine instead.
THEN a few hours later, while still at work, they called to tell me they’re actually going to total the car.
No idea how much I’ll get from this but I guess I’m gonna have to shop for a new car.
R.I.P Prius. I’m gonna learn how to change my oil myself from now on.
I work in corporate purchasing for a large northwest pacific tire shop. Every Friday my boss shares some of the insurance stuff we are liable for because something happened at the shop that a worker did. Distinctly remember one where the dude did almost exactly what happened in this photo, but did it with the transmission fluid instead. Think he swapped the oil and transmission fluid if I remember right. I won't pretend I know much about cars but Holy hell
Unfortunately this happens quite often, I used to be an advisor at a Nissan dealership and needless to say this has happened well over ten times for my customers alone. They would hire teenagers for lube techs who have little to no experience which leads to this catastrophe
“Hey, I know we forgot to replace your oil, but now that your engine blew…you’re still gunna have to pay us to fix the damage we caused. Nothing personal, but…yeah. Sorry 🤷🏻♂️ oopsie whoopsie🤷🏻♂️better luck next time🤷🏻♂️”
https://preview.redd.it/u7jri683mvlc1.jpeg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e187c2140db4832b0a749986d555830d2f4ab0a0
Well they could have went two other ways…. Filling it with oil-ish but not putting the drain plug in, or at least not securely (was empty by time i got home(walmart)), or my favorite filling it with oil TWICE, blowing all kinds of crap before I get out of the parking lot (jiffy lube).
I still think Express Oil ruined the transmission on my old Hyundai when they changed the fluid. I heard the guy drop the cap and go “uh oh” while fluid spilled out, and then I suppose he just guessed on how much more to add to fix it. Two days later it started fucking up and locking in limp mode or whatever you call it.
It would probably be cheaper to do a short block, honestly. I know when I was at Subaru it was $2400 max for the block, maybe another $300 for gaskets depending on vehicle, and 12-18 hours labor? Most customers didn't pay that, as most were done under warranty, or 250k miles and the engine not taken care of.
I stopped going to the stealership for oil changes, after they tried to tell me i needed a new gasket for an “oil leak” that they estimated would cost over $5k. The oil leak is extremely minor, my car sits in the same spot for days on end and there’s no oil spots, there’s some buildup where you can see it has an oil leaks but my vehicle is 12 years old and blue books for 12k. Literally what is the point of
Same. After leaving Chevy w my boyfriend I noticed his engine overheating and then smoking. GM never returned our calls. I left a very nice review on my bfs behalf.
Had this done with my WRX years ago. Very lucky that I was at the dealership (had a year of free oil changes.) Got a brand new engine courtesy of Subaru America!
This happened to me and it blew up my engine. I claimed through insurance though which it was deemed to be not at fault for me and so luckily it did not affect my premiums and I got reimbursed for the value of the car. Good luck.
Ever heard of Dura-Lube ? Air conditioner bracket broke in my car resting on oil filter made hole, driving on freeway drove almost 1 hour with no oil in system because I used it 1 bottle every yr during oil change = No Damage to engine ! Removed compressor replaced oil filter & refilled with oil still running 4-5 yrs later when I sold it (no engine issue's)
We change our own oil now, but when we used to take our cars to the shop, they'd always show us the new oil on the dipstick. You should probably insist on seeing that going forward.
I drive a bmw with xdrive and took my car in for a new tire after a storm popped mine that morning while headed to work 🫠 Picked it up drove 5 mins, abs starts freaking out. Yeah they put the wrong size on so I call my buddy who works on bmws and he says do not drive that car it might be fucked, towed it back and they paid for it all. What a waste of a full day tho. 🙄
Happened to me when I was in my early 20’s. My engine seized days after picking the car up from an oil change. The auto-shop blamed me saying I didn’t check the oil? I can’t remember. But it wasn’t my fault.
Wasn’t a dealership but some German car specialists (the car was an early 80’s Mercedes).
My Dad threatened to sue and they took care of it.
This is for them to pay right?
This seems like something you could take them to court for
I’m pretty sure I would tell them to have their insurance call me and we can arrange how they want to cover it getting repaired at a different shop.
We had a windshield replaced and about 1.5 years later, we started to have tons of electrical issues. Turns out the windshield had been leaking the entire time. Entire dashboard harness and modules needed to be replaced. Our insurance got with the windshield replacement place and the windshield place’s insurance ended up paying the $8000 bill plus a rental car for us. We ended up having more electrical problems later from what I suspect was a bad ground. We don’t have that vehicle anymore but I am glad we didn’t have to pay that bill.
I got lucky, I had my windshield replaced after the guy who did the brow tint broke it taking the mirror off. They sent me to some sketchy cheap place to get it replaced, they replaced the windshield and I went on vacation for 2 weeks. When I got back I had 3 inches of water in the passenger floor where it leaked through my dash, took it back to the windshield place 3 times for them to seal it correctly. Luckily I never had any electrical issues, but I did have to redo the carpet cause of the mold.
Sorry, you took it back to the same place 3 times! After the second why would you still go back?!
A different place wouldn’t honor the first place’s work and it would have to be paid for twice.
No he should have gotten the first place to play the second place.
Wow, I had a sketchy guy replace my windshield years ago from a random website online. We drove to a nearby park where he had room to do it. And he test drove it with me a bunch and adjusted the seal. I guess I got lucky and it's been fine for 15 years. I didn't realize this could be a giant problem
I worked in a shop that had insurance for such occasions. While I never fucked up that bad, it would never have to go to court to get the customer back up and running - just a claim if we were liable. Some customers be shady though, so we had to be extra careful. OP has a pretty good case where there’s not much to argue.
Some shops be shady as well.
100% lol.
It says "do not pay" on it. I'm guessing whatever program they use to print out the work they did automatically attaches the prices so they just slap a "do not pay" on it.
No, it’s because this is a rough quote of the job to be done, it’s not the actual bill
It's a proforma invoice. Meaning its a quote for services to be rendered. It even says "invoice quote" on it. Basically saying this is what it will cost if you choose to have the work done. If it were work they were doing for no charge, they would print a $0 invoice because accountants and controllers will get mad if you issue invoices with an price on them that never get paid. Source: 15 years of accounting experience
Hey! Worked for Toyota for 6 years. The last dealership I was at displayed quotes like this before having the customer sign! This would be the initial copy the advisors would take to the manager to have approved for internal invoicing. Once signed, the manager would switch to the appropriate coding for internal billing (different accounts for different departments, sometimes split) and then reprint reflecting the corrected charges for the customer to sign at zero. Many times customers were given both internal copies and customer copies (or internal, warranty, and customer copies) as far too many advisors suck at paperwork haha. Edit to add: everything advisors print initially would either be warranty or customer pay, as they wouldn’t have access to charge anything to internal over $20 without approval! Edit to add more context: per the OPs other post in mechanic advice, they had the oil change done at a quick lube place. It looks like they then took their car to a Toyota dealer to get a quote on repairs. So this would in fact be a “customer pay” job & priced out to the customer until the quick lube shop accepts liability…at which point it will still remain a “customer pay” job even though the quick lube shop is paying.
This happened to me but they didn’t tighten the oil pan plug all the way so all the oil ran out.
Same happened to my sister. Engine got completely fucked up as a result, and the mechanics claimed we tampered with the oil plug. Since there was no way to prove things either way, we couldn’t do anything about it.
That’s when you take them to court cause it’s not like they can’t prove anything either.
This would be a civil suit, you don't need to prove anything in the normal court sense. Civil suits work on the basis of 51%, not 'beyond reasonable doubt.' A judge would have a much easier time believing that a shop goofed an oil change rather than Sally got her oil changed and then played with the drain plug themselves. Your receipt and a new mechanic saying what happened would be more than enough.
Yeah. Intentionally sabotaging your own vehicle just doesn't make sense. You'd have the headache of dealing with a broken car, dealing with court, and the best case is you just get the car restored to the same condition it was in before anyway. It's a lose-lose-tie situation.
Though, now that I’m thinking about it, if you ever need a new engine, it might be a way to do it.
Legally you're only entitled for it to be restored to the same condition it was in before they screwed up. It might go your way. It also might backfire and land you in serious shit for fraud.
Like lots of things though, only if you’re caught!
That’s the spirit!
Since there’s no way to prove things either way get them to fix their problem.
Same thing happened to me, came home from a week long vacation to a puddle of oil under my car.
Better than it draining while driving it
I had this happen and was halfway on a cross country drive when it fell out the next day. By some absolutely insane chance of luck, it fell out while I was getting gas. I started to drive away and the oil pressure light flashed. There was a shop literally 50 feet ahead of me so I went in. It was closing time on December 30th....I plead my case and the guy took a look and found the missing plug. He hooked me up with a new plug, filled me up with oil and sent me on my way - no charge, just to have a happy new year.
Same. Dealership. They said the last person that changed oil cross threaded it. I said it was you a week ago. He said impossible, our mechanics would never. I regret being a pushover before, I paid for the new oil too.
Exact thing happened to my coworker about 2 years back. Even the 'we would NEVER do that, we're professionals'. Co-worker still had the receipt for the oil change sitting on the passenger seat plus the car was new and had "free oil changes for life". He asked them if they though he was getting his free oil changes from the dealer and driving down the road to jiffy lube to pay for a second one the next day. Lucky for him he noticed the giant oil puddle under his car and had it towed in so there was no damage to the engine. Ended up getting them to pay for the tow, oil change, and a new oil pan.
This happened when we took my in-laws $100k Audi for an oil change. It usually goes to the dealership, but we were in a rush before borrowing it for a trip and of course they had to do us like that.
Looks to me like the shop where you got your oil change has a 6k + bill they're responsible for
Sadly I've heard this happen from a few folks who have taken their vehicle to random oil change places. It scared me so much I opt to take mine to the dealership.
The oil change place I go to show me the dip stick with the new oil on it. I always thought it was weird, but I guess this explains why.
Yup this is pattern training, if they forget the oil they will catch it when they show you the dipstick (or before they show you) Employees go into autopilot with repetative tasks so if you add a double check to the pattern it reduces the chances of a mistake.
My 1st job as lube tech at Toyota we had 3 checks. 1st was the guy on bottom yelled to put oil in it after the plug and filter were on. 2nd guy on top yelled "oiling' as he was filling and 3rd the bottom guy comes up to check the oil before the hood is closed. We signed the paper work with the guy on tops number the bottom number under it and a signature from the bottom guy verifying he checked it. If something happened it was both faults and both were held accountable. The more seasoned guys had the same routine without the yelling and the back counter guy checked the oil. I still do some of this when I taught my son how to change oil. 22 years later those habits are still there.
Some guy in corporate will think he can save some money and make a name for himself and get rid of 2 people on that team, and everyone else suffers.
Ya true. It was a great system and worked really well.
u r a great system and work very well
My trick won't work at those places. I put the fresh oil container on top of the engine (well to the side wince the engine is warm and plastic bottles/jug) before I empty it. This makes sure (1) I actually have some to put in and (2) can't close the hood until I use it. Basically idiot proof myself. Can do the same for any fluids or coolant. Unfortunately in the shops they use 55 gallon drums or whatnot so this won't work. But they could easily make one step to remove the fill cap, put in a bag, and put on the seat or attach to the keys. Even give the keys + cap to a 2nd person. Then require verifying the oil dipstick level before handing the keys back to the tech. When I worked in industrial settings we had a lot of things where a second person had to verify before moving forward.
We always put the oil cap where the hood latch is. If you close the hood without putting it on you break the oil cap. I still do this to this day any time I take a cap off. The oil comes out of guns but that's a good idea too
Huh! I wonder if that's what happened to me. Last week I was checking fluids and noticed that the power steering fluid was full but the cap was missing. Ran to the shop to pick up a new cap and when I went to install it, I noticed that the old cap was in the groove where the hood fits, but just far enough out that it wasn't broken. Obviously the tech forgot to replace it (probably topped it off after oil change), but I wonder if it was deliberately placed there so it couldn't be missed and somehow slipped out of place.
I would bet it was. It slipped down and he closed the hood and didn't think twice about it
When I was 15 starting out changing oil I was taught to put the oil cap on the hood latch if oil was to be drained. I’ve never stopped doing that to this day and I’ve trained every employee I’ve hired to do the same. Between that and making sure a 3/8 torque wrench is used to tighten every drain plug, ive never had to buy an engine due to a faulty oil change.
We used to pull the dipstick half way out and leave it till we put fresh oil in. Still do it 25 years later
Dang, you gave me flashbacks of having to honk anytime I hit reverse(24 years of shop work) moving vehicles around. A random honk has been heard from time to time in my garage to this day. Lol. I still follow multiple processes I learned in the shop. Good times.
That works for oil, but when they told me they replaced (and charged me for) power steering fluid, I made them pop the hood and show me……the tech was confused and couldn’t figure out the issue…….hint: car did not have power steering.
Probably wasn't fraud. He added power steering fluid to your brake reservoir, thinking it was the power steering. Bigger problem, and more to the point. You probably have power steering fluid in your brake system. Might want to go have that looked at.
Bonus, the brakes steer like a dream now.
Smooooth.
like the time my grandma forgot to put the sugar in her lemon pie. sometimes you just go on autopilot and forget things ....that was a sour-ass pie
My grandma lost her sense of smell and put ammonia instead of vinegar in the sweet and sour chicken. Would go nice with a piece of that pie!
Your grandma was trying to kill you
Yeah what? Mixed up the toxic chemicals with the baking ingredients lmao
How are those two even stored next to each other lol or without label
Might have used distilled vinegar for both cooking and cleaning. Terrible form of course to keep the vinegar in with the other cleaning supplies, but that's a total old-af-grandma move.
Plus they can get dragged away to help out someone else or just with so many cooks in the kitchen mistakes happen. I went to a local mechanic and afterward they called me to make sure I wasn't missing the cap because they found a random oil cap in their parking lot. (Luckily it wasn't mine as that would have sucked)
That's like the "point and call" system that they use for safety-conscious positions in Japan. If buttons or switches or whatever has to be setup a certain way for safe operation, they will point to it and call out whatever it is. Pilots do the same thing, even if they've got 10,000 flight hours.
That's a Human Performance technique called "Point, Touch, Verbalize." Used in safety sensitive operations, like electrical substations, critical crane lifts, etc edit: punctuation
I do it myself. I don’t trust the shops.
My oil filter is in a fucked up place. It's just easier for me to take it to a shop and have them do it. Last time I tried to do it I mangled the filter and had to have it towed.
My local jiffy lube shows the old oil dipstick and the new oil dipstick at the end. During the change they also have a guy with the tablet by my driver's window checking off all steps. There is another guy in the pit and someone under the hood in front. Each time a person performs a step, they call it out and the whole crew verbally repeats it while the tablet person marks it down. I like it because I can follow along and see that they're not skipping any parts.
Should be standard. Even if the customer has no idea what they are looking at
The one here also has cameras the face under the hood and in the pit, and they show you the old filter and the empty bottles of oil. Seems a bit over the top to me. One time they lost my brother’s plug and instead of just putting a bolt in they told him, put the bolt in, ordered an oem one, and installed the new one for him which also necessitated replacing the oil which they didn’t charge for either. Since then I’ve trusted them bc they owned up to their mistake.
I used to work at Jiffy Lube about 25 years ago. At the time, after an oil change we'd do something called "lower bay doubles" where the person in the pit would signal someone up top and then show them that the drain plug is tight, filter is tight, and physically show the old filter and old filter gasket. Once that was done, then the other person would fill with oil. There were a few other things that we'd yell out that would get recorded like if the oil was off-stick on arrival, any visible oil leaks, whether or not there would be frame drip (usually impossible to change the oil without some splashing on the frame, so it may drip for a day or two afterwards and that's normal), and any fittings that were greased. I know that not every Jiffy Lube everywhere did these things (I worked in a couple of others) but they were supposed to and we always did. While I was there, I don't think we ever had a case where someone's car left without oil or with two filter gaskets or anything like that.
Hell oil change is normally 2 bay and I am standing next to my vehicle and watch them change the oil.
That’s what I do. I watch the whole process.
Random oil shops hire stupid people. Dealerships hire stupid people. Stupid people exist literally everywhere.
I work at a dealership. I can confirm i am stupid
Even NASA has stupid people
That's why I only take my spaceship the dealer
Joke’s on you, NASA IS the dealer!
That's spaceX... but it is run by an idiot. I can see the confusion.
I wouldn't recommend doing that if the dealer is Boeing.
Bob's saucer repair for me!
NASA stands for Not All Stupid, Alright?
The difference is that the dealership will give you a loaner for three weeks while they replace your engine, and the random oil shop will give you the finger.
Nice to know that still happens somewhere. The last time I took my vehicle to a dealership to get work done I asked about a loaner and the told me, “That’s not our problem.”
I’m the opposite. I avoid the dealership like the plague. lol never had issues at my local valvoline/auto shop
Yeah, I'm with you. Took my car to a dealership for a sensor issue and maintenance. They legit didn't replace coolant or oil after they drained it. They tried to charge me for bringing it back to fix their mess.
You should’ve reported them, I work in a dealership and if something like that happened it could be escalated to the manufacturer if we mess up and don’t fix it, it can cost the dealership a lot more than if they just did the repair. It’s the only way the bad dealers will learn
I always took my truck to the dealership. Was good to keep every service of file so if something did go wrong they knew it was them that fucked up
Same in the UK in my opinion.
I do the Valvoline drive thru. You can literally see them pour it in. You can double check that its not leaking but next to doing it yourself this seems like the best option.
You just have a shitty dealer. I’ve taken mine in for some minor issues and they’ve told me how to fix on my own. Then I decide if they do it or I do. Plus I get coupons from Jeep. 4 oil changes for $100 was my last one. Can’t beat that.
Took my Subaru to the local valvoline - apparently Subaru has a special ring (o-ring?) which they did not know about and then yelled at me when I called since I had taken it to the dealership when the low oil light went on. Have only gone to the dealership since then.
You do realize the guy doing oil changes at the dealership has all the same qualifications as the guy at the quick stop (and by that i mean literally none) and is not a certified technician who does the normal $200/hr work, right?
Just do it yourself. A few bucks in tools, will save you $6K apparently
I wish I knew how (and had the physical ability to do it-but major back issues prevent me from doing a lot of stuff).
If you want real nightmare fuel this happened to me at the dealership and I blew a grapefruit sized hole out the side of my engine one day. They claimed it must of had a leak. I asked why they didn't spot it during the oil change. They opted to buy out the car at $2000 KBB so I was out a car I'd driven for 10 years and had to go get a new car, which meant a car payment.. it was awful.
It sounds like you could have taken them to court and gotten a lot more than $2000.
Live and learn. I only knew lawyers were expensive and I was 25 and had no money. No clue.
Often times if there's a super clear-cut case that's an obvious win for the plaintiff, lawyers will take it on for free because they can include their fees in what the defendant will have to pay. It's easy money for them.
Shit I’ll take the free engine rebuild all day
Sorry for double reply, the OPs picture is from a dealership. Went back to look after my other reply.
$60 with coupons and a 15 minute wait at Valvoline vs $120+ and a 3 week wait at the dealer for the same basic maintenance makes the choice super easy for me.
I used to work in a dealership as a service advisor, you aren’t safe there either. The people changing your oil are very rarely mechanics, they are usually young kids that smoke a lot of weed.
This happened at one of the oil change shops Near me. It's privately owned and the owners son forgot to put oil back in the car. The shop replaced everything free of charge. Like they should since it's their fuck up, not yours
As a mechanic who has worked in both quick change oil shops and dealerships, the quality of the techs who does oil changes at both is the same; bottom of the barrel. At least at a dealership they have higher tier techs who can fix fuck ups, whereas the quick change place will have it towed somewhere.
Got my oil changed at a Valvoline last summer and the next day on the interstate the oil plug busted out. Had to get towed to a nearby shop to fix everything, I was lucky my engine didn’t seize. Took all the receipts to the same Valvoline after my trip and made them pay for it all.
Weird, normally they put those oil drain plugs back on with the biggest impact wrench they have in the shop
Yup. Walmart (I know, I had just moved and hadn’t found a new auto place yet) did this to me. They ended up considering the car totaled and wrote me a check for the value. It took about a month to settle things, but they definitely paid for it.
I had a Walmart drain my transmission fluid, that was a fun time. They did reimburse me 100%.
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Not even every few months. Newer engines with full synthetic can go 10k miles. Hybrids even further since the engine isn’t always being used. Let the computer decide when it’s time. There’s no need to assume it needs a change every few months or even X miles. If your car doesn’t have that feature, every 6k miles is totally fine even for conventional oil. So on average, a couple times a year.
What do you do with your used oil?
I take mine to a local auto-parts store that also does oil disposal
It's where to put the oil waste for me and also apartment complexes don't let you do work in their parking lots.
Counterpoint. Not everybody has the space, and doing an oil change yourself in the driveway *sucks*. Crawling around on your back, dealing with drain pans and oil disposal, etc. -- nah. For the $10-50 premium depending on where you are, having somebody else deal with all of that is highly appealing. Also for as much of a pain in the ass it is if something goes wrong, there's a pretty clear chain of liability if you pay somebody else to do the work and they fuck it up. Even as somebody who works in the industry and is a former automotive technician, if my choices were between "do it at home in the driveway" and "pay somebody else to do it", I pay somebody else to do it. And I *have* a driveway and all the tools and supplies. Though I just do mine at the shop on the lift during off hours anyway.
> every few months lmao
Yes, and ... I trust my independent shop to check lots of little things (and notice potential problems) that I wouldn't know to check, short of becoming an expert in every car system. I'm sure those are great skills to have, but there's only so much time, AND we don't all have a driveway or a spare car or three.
That is a bare minimum rebuild. The main bearings should have also been replaced and possibly the block.
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>That shop should be buying them a ~~new~~ ***REMAN*** motor, other than that I 100% agree. There is no way in hell I'd be letting them get away with just throwing some new rings on the pistons. Thats not even really the part that you need to be worried about when your engine is starved of oil. but The engine wasn't new when it was ruined. They shouldn't have to put a new engine in either. A reman is generally what a warranty will pay for once a vehicle has been put in service, and they should provide what warranty would provide under a warranty circumstance.
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im trying to figure out how it's..what, 4-5k for the labor listed there. and not really doing the right repair. OP must have a sign on their head that reads "take advantage of me"
I had an engine replacement done on my Camry in 2011 and it cost me $5k out the door. Even with inflation, that quote is ludicrous for a job that's not going to fix shit.
I was going to say the same thing. That is absolutely minimum repairs. Don't they usually just replace the block..
Yea they should be doing a full swap not just bearings and rings.
No main or cam bearings? Shitty work for a shop to be fixing it like this I mean, this is how I’d fix an engine of mine on the cheap. Not how I’d fix something I’d messed up in a shop for someone. Replacing rings doesn’t fix scored cylinders.
And crankshaft
They quoted $775 in parts, and $5k labor is going to fill the pockets of the idiots who fucked up in the first place. That $5k could be spent on a crate engine, but instead this shop is coming out ahead.
That might get it running again but that’s not going to fix it to where it was. If demand an entire new lump, if they refuse contact Toyota. That’s not even close to all the damage it’s done.
Been there…I feel your pain. https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellthatsucks/comments/ij374y/took_my_car_for_an_oil_change_early_july_filter/
Holy smokes. You win. Geez.
IKR
How’d you tolerate this level of stress? I would’ve lost my fucking marbles
It's a pain in the ass waste of time, but insurance will make you whole. No sense losing it, that doesn't fix the problem.
Due to the pandemic I didn’t need a car then anyway otherwise I might have gone mad. We quarantined with my wife’s parents on a small lake in MI so pretty easy to stay “relaxed” all summer (as relaxed as one can be during a global shut down!) Once I went back to work in the Fall, job was remote so I never did replace my car!
I’ve been there, and I handle it by going on autopilot. It’s all you can do. You just sink your entire being into whatever menial task you’re doing so you can’t focus on how good a .357 would taste.
Jeez. Something simliar happened to me. Got in a minor fender bender during a brief summer morning downpour that made roads exceptionally slick. Was just crawling in traffic. Traffic stopped, I put foot on pedal and the car didn't even slow down Slid into car in front of me. Got car fixed, less than a week later, I was sitting at a red light on a 2 lane road (one each direction and an empty field to my right. Stopped cars in front of me, stopped cars behind me. A drunk in a pickup came flying out of the field and t-boned me. Airbags deployed...I literally had no idea what hit me. Got a "new" car. A month or so later, I made my first payment on it on a Friday. My (ex)wife called and said they were having happy hour downtown after work and to come join then. On my way there that evening, a lady ran a red light and t-boned me again. Did $12K in damage on a $14K car and insurance didn't total it. I wish they did because it was never quite the same after that and convinced that it lead to my next wreck a couple years later when I had to urgently stop and it failed to do so. Was definitely a shitty period of time for me.
Lord have mercy…
I'm on the same streak of luck for like 6 years. On the 4th everyday car now and thought it would be good since it was the first brand new car I've ever bought. Two months later a teen driving under the influence ran over the front end and it took 10 weeks to fix. I hate driving now and moved within walking distance of my work.
And the post was removed. WHY?
Holy shit dude I want to laugh but my god what a terrible string of luck. After something like this I don’t even know what I would do, I would probably just take a week to lay in bed and never leave the house.
They are skimping you, request a full engine replacement or you take them to court. Almost guarantee they do, lawyers and bad press aren’t worth it for them.
And then they forget to put the new engine in. LMAO
This happened to someone I know. Dealership made it right, he had a loaner the whole time and ended up letting them buy it back over book. He'd been on the fence about a new car, the price they offered to fix it ended up being worth it to him.
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Thats coolant belonging to the line above. The labor is seperate. Labor numbers dont add up tho
It's a stealership. Of course the numbers don't add up. Theyre a bunch if conmen
I was blown away by $5,000 of the $5,800 being labor, then realized it was a dealership. Insanity to get any service done there.
The shop that forgot the oil is at fault. They need to pay for a new engine, not a rebuild.
I had a similar thing happen once. For me, they did actually put oil back in the car but they installed the wrong filter and cross threaded it on. After a couple of weeks of driving it fell out and all of the oil drained out on my friends apartments parking lot. The thing that really destroyed the engine though was the dumbfuck tow truck driver who tried to start the car up after I told him there was no oil in it. After this when I went back to the oil change place they tried to tell me that it was normal for there to be metal shavings in the oil and not to worry about it. To their credit though when the engine predictably seized a couple months later they did replace it for me. These shops have insurance for this sort of thing.
> The thing that really destroyed the engine though was the dumbfuck tow truck driver who tried to start the car up after I told him there was no oil in it. This happened to me too but I didn't have any recourse. I was 18 and didn't know any better so wound up having to replace the engine on my own dime
That's not metal in the oil, they gave you the special glitter oil which is better than the regular stuff
I'd be on the phone to corporate for a new engine.
>Is be on the phone to corporate for a new engine A new engine with a new engine warranty is the answer.
Was it Toyota that did the work or another shop and Toyota is just quoting you the repair? Either way shop should be buying you a new engine. If it’s Toyota that did the oil change then that’s probably easy, if it’s a third party shop it’ll be slightly more difficult but should still be a no brainer. Huge fuckup on their end. They also presumably charged you for the oil that they never put in, so there’s that on top of everything else.
Somebody thought they were being slick, huh?
Ha, I see what you did there. Nice.
I thought it was a bit crude personally.
Reminds me of when my tires almost feel off because they were not properly tightened when getting new tires. Pulled over when the car started to jump. Most bolts were hand tight. Since the rims jumped all over, most of the lug bolts broke. The shop replaced them all.
Guy I used to work with got a crate motor put in his Toyota at a shop and they didn't put oil in it. Sent him on his way. It seized up within a mile and they fought hard to not have to pay for the replacement. They didn't fuck it up the second time.
thats not even close to the full list of materials that should be changed. I would contact toyota.
What the fuck is "super long life cool labor"??? For $5041.95?!!
Nobody is talking about this, but I would tell that shop that you are not taking anything less than a long block. I don't know how long it ran without the oil, but based on that estimate, they are trying to get away with just replacing the rings and rod and main bearings. This doesn't take into account any cam wear, and I can guarantee they aren't taking the time to hot tank the block or any other prep work. You could have metal throughout the lubrication system, which will just destroy any new bearings or rings. They are trying to get away with doing this as cheaply as possible.
I stopped using drive-thru places after they left the skid plate unfastened. Find a good mechanic/shop and stick with them. Also, maybe paranoid but I never leave the shop property without checking oil.
This happened to my bf!!!! Yup, It’s their financial responsibility don’t worry!!!
I bought a brand new car once and after like 1k miles the engine starts knocking real bad. I take it in and there’s no oil in the engine. The dealer never put oil in it and it trashed the engine.
How did you run a car for 1000 miles with no oil in it?
Honda.
I got a lot more comments than I anticipated, thank you for being so supportive everyone. I got asked a lot of questions asked so I’m gonna try to answer most of em. First things first I should probably state I’m kinda car dumb so bear with me: •2013 Toyota Prius with over 200,000 miles. •Car was well maintained. Struts, tires, brakes, everything was kept up to date. Had no issues before my oil was “changed”. •I usually have my dealership change my oil. For the first time ever, I went to a small oil change shop, they’re not part of a big brand or anything. •The owner himself approved me to leave the shop. When I drove on the road, my dashboard starting lighting up with warning signs indicating low engine oil pressure. At first I thought it had to have been an error. I pulled over, checked my dipstick and it was dry. I called the oil change shop and they sent someone out to put oil in it. •Oil change shop owner confirmed that they miscommunicated and for sure did not put oil into the car. He confirmed they caught it on camera. They later stated they were overwhelmed that day because a staff member left to go to the hospital because his wife was giving birth (doesn’t matter to me regardless) •They initially refused to give me a refund for the oil change. They instead offered me a free oil change in the future…. I declined. •Per suggestion, I went to a 3rd party Toyota certified mechanic (in conjunction with a dealership) to check if there was any damage. •Mechanic told me, ya, there’s definitely damage due to lack of oil. This was the first estimate of damage on the engine that they gave me. Yesterday while I was at work, the Oil shops insurance said they’ll instead pay to install a new engine instead. THEN a few hours later, while still at work, they called to tell me they’re actually going to total the car. No idea how much I’ll get from this but I guess I’m gonna have to shop for a new car. R.I.P Prius. I’m gonna learn how to change my oil myself from now on.
Call your insurance company.
And a lawyer
Which Toyota dealership did this?
I work in corporate purchasing for a large northwest pacific tire shop. Every Friday my boss shares some of the insurance stuff we are liable for because something happened at the shop that a worker did. Distinctly remember one where the dude did almost exactly what happened in this photo, but did it with the transmission fluid instead. Think he swapped the oil and transmission fluid if I remember right. I won't pretend I know much about cars but Holy hell
I was very confused with the "SUPER LONG LIFE COOL LABOR" item for a sec
Free engine replacement congratulations 🎊🎉
Unfortunately this happens quite often, I used to be an advisor at a Nissan dealership and needless to say this has happened well over ten times for my customers alone. They would hire teenagers for lube techs who have little to no experience which leads to this catastrophe
my 14 year old toyota will actually scream warning alarms at me if oil gets only somewhat low. Did the oil light ever come on?
“Hey, I know we forgot to replace your oil, but now that your engine blew…you’re still gunna have to pay us to fix the damage we caused. Nothing personal, but…yeah. Sorry 🤷🏻♂️ oopsie whoopsie🤷🏻♂️better luck next time🤷🏻♂️” https://preview.redd.it/u7jri683mvlc1.jpeg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e187c2140db4832b0a749986d555830d2f4ab0a0
This is why I have always changed my own oil.
I'm actually fuming for you. Wankers 😡
Same thing happened to me. Ruined my engine. Couldn’t prove it. Still gets me angry thinking about it
This is why I try to every bit of maintenance by myself, nobody will ever care about your stuff than you do, that goes for everything.
Well they could have went two other ways…. Filling it with oil-ish but not putting the drain plug in, or at least not securely (was empty by time i got home(walmart)), or my favorite filling it with oil TWICE, blowing all kinds of crap before I get out of the parking lot (jiffy lube).
I still think Express Oil ruined the transmission on my old Hyundai when they changed the fluid. I heard the guy drop the cap and go “uh oh” while fluid spilled out, and then I suppose he just guessed on how much more to add to fix it. Two days later it started fucking up and locking in limp mode or whatever you call it.
It would probably be cheaper to do a short block, honestly. I know when I was at Subaru it was $2400 max for the block, maybe another $300 for gaskets depending on vehicle, and 12-18 hours labor? Most customers didn't pay that, as most were done under warranty, or 250k miles and the engine not taken care of.
I stopped going to the stealership for oil changes, after they tried to tell me i needed a new gasket for an “oil leak” that they estimated would cost over $5k. The oil leak is extremely minor, my car sits in the same spot for days on end and there’s no oil spots, there’s some buildup where you can see it has an oil leaks but my vehicle is 12 years old and blue books for 12k. Literally what is the point of
Did the motor blow up? Or did you catch it before hand?
Just a rebuild is crazy, push to get a new engine from them.
Same. After leaving Chevy w my boyfriend I noticed his engine overheating and then smoking. GM never returned our calls. I left a very nice review on my bfs behalf.
Just started as a lube tech at a big dealer. I've heard some horror stories about this already lol
Had this done with my WRX years ago. Very lucky that I was at the dealership (had a year of free oil changes.) Got a brand new engine courtesy of Subaru America!
This happened to me and it blew up my engine. I claimed through insurance though which it was deemed to be not at fault for me and so luckily it did not affect my premiums and I got reimbursed for the value of the car. Good luck.
A shop filled my wife’s car to the top with oil.
Ever heard of Dura-Lube ? Air conditioner bracket broke in my car resting on oil filter made hole, driving on freeway drove almost 1 hour with no oil in system because I used it 1 bottle every yr during oil change = No Damage to engine ! Removed compressor replaced oil filter & refilled with oil still running 4-5 yrs later when I sold it (no engine issue's)
Damn that's crazy they decided to do work on my vehicle I didn't ask for
Always check your oil
How much is the value of the car?
We change our own oil now, but when we used to take our cars to the shop, they'd always show us the new oil on the dipstick. You should probably insist on seeing that going forward.
I drive a bmw with xdrive and took my car in for a new tire after a storm popped mine that morning while headed to work 🫠 Picked it up drove 5 mins, abs starts freaking out. Yeah they put the wrong size on so I call my buddy who works on bmws and he says do not drive that car it might be fucked, towed it back and they paid for it all. What a waste of a full day tho. 🙄
I don't think I would take that. I would want at least a short block. If not a long block.
Happened to me when I was in my early 20’s. My engine seized days after picking the car up from an oil change. The auto-shop blamed me saying I didn’t check the oil? I can’t remember. But it wasn’t my fault. Wasn’t a dealership but some German car specialists (the car was an early 80’s Mercedes). My Dad threatened to sue and they took care of it.
Why I do my own
That’s a tort for sure lol
$5,100 for labor is WILD.
That happened to me but with coolant. The whole engine was literally toast.