the various thoughts, reflections & perspectives of michael tangen

March 7, 2007

The Jiffy Lube “Experience”

My wife takes her car to Jiffy Lube for oil changes on a fairly regular basis—regular as deemed by her mileage of course. Well, this morning after getting her oil changed, and leaving their parking lot, she noticed the Saturn running really badly. VERY badly.

She drove around the block, and literally as she pulled back into the Jiffy Lube parking lot, her car died. Unable to jump the car, the employees there thought with their divine wisdom that the battery was dead—even though her headlights were on, the dashboard lights visible, etc.

Another patron thought the starter might be dead. I’m sorry, but starters just don’t die like that without first showing signs of wear.

So we had the car towed to the Saturn Dealership, Natalie told the mechanic there about her experience with Jiffy Lube, and they looked into the problem with the car. Well, their discovery?

The engine seized up. Apparently Jiffy Lube drained the oil but didn’t put any back in. The evidence that points to this fact, is that there was still dirty oil behind the filter.

So it goes without saying that Jiffy Lube will be purchasing a brand new engine for us, which will run them an $8,000 bill plus the cost of a loaner car for us until our car is fixed. If they refuse to pay for a new engine and opt for the engine to be repaired (which will cost half as much), they had better give us incentive to simply have our engine fixed and make it worth our while.

I think we’re done here with Jiffy Lube (and other oil changing services for that matter). I think I’d rather have Saturn changing our oil—we’d also get a free car wash and vacuum out of the deal, too.