Jiffy Lube Scam

Mechlance is here to inform you on all aspects of the automotive world, helping you with our Do It Yourself guides, touching on the history of the automobile and of course keeping up with the latest trends and news. Recently in there automotive service industry there has been an abomination of sorts, as you may have read or seen yourself Jiffy Lube has been caught red handed by a candid individual with an expose on YouTube.

In this short film an individual marks his oil filter or embarks on his journey to Jiffy Lube for a simple and routine oil change having already marked and displaying to the audience the marked oil filter, after paying and leaving the establishment he then reveals that the oil filter had not been changed. The staff merely dropped the oil and exchanged it with whatever was available on tap (literally it’s very similar to a Bar tap system or a pump at the gas station).

Staining Jiffy Lube’s reputation indefinitely is truly shocking performance; an establishment such as this that churns out the oil changes should set a benchmark of quality and quick service. Regardless of the legalities of their “oil change” of the fine print replacement of the filter is absolutely an importance for it is what traps all the sediment and soot that your oil contains. When the filter is overloaded with contaminants it has a failure point just like everything else and sediment soon breaks through and circulated in the system causing micro-scoring on the cylinder walls or sludge build up inside.

Sadly they are not the only ones, nor is it the only flaw. Many a time a young and under supervised/under educated “tech” will grab a universal tool or an imprecise wrench or ratchet to remove a drain plug, and stripping the head, or over tighten it stripping the threads. In the event of such they will then replace the original drain plug with a quick fix, an expanding drain plug or one with larger threads (this can become a serious problem with modern day aluminum oil pans) and unbeknown to the consumer off they go.

The way Jiffy Lube and the likes operate is by up selling, simply doing oil changes is not profitable at all even at the special rates on bulk oil and filters they cannot churn a profit by simply changing oil. Several options lead to such negligence. On such scenario is that the company or location is not making enough profit so they decide to save on filter costs by simply exchanging fluids and not the filter (which begs the question of if they are even doing that, and if so what kind of oil are they putting in your system). Another is that the poor training (if any at all) that the staff receives will eventually lead to negligent and or abusive behavior.

One could possibly argue that mistakes happen and this is the nature of the beast, it’s true things can happen after all were are human and we are prone to ere, however considering the odds that an individual could gather physical evidence in the form of film, the odds just don’t stack up that way. It’s one thing if you popped the hood in the parking lot and said “hey, that’s the same old filter that was there before. I put it on!” this is preemptive a strike at the industry, a strike that hit hard. By no means do I want to instill distrust in the system or big box industries, merely bringing to you knowledge of its prevalence and the importance of knowledge, for knowledge is the only defense a consumer has.

So maybe buying your oil and filter at the store costs a few bucks more? Why not do the work yourself anyway? This way you can see the underside of your engine, check for leaks, do a quick inspection over various components that you would rarely see otherwise; not to mention knowing and having a choice of what exactly is going into your vehicle. Some people disregard their vehicle and neglect it others have pride and cherish theirs, regardless of whether its your daily “beater”, your pride and joy or your garage queen; performing routine maintenance is key to the survival of the vehicle and that’s what we are all about here at Mechlance.

Mechlance provides guidance to assist you in performing various tasks and maintenance on your vehicle so you can learn more about it and have direct input, use Mechlance as a tool like a socket or wrench, we strive to become the resource that you rely on. We also accept any comments, feedback or inquiries, so if you have an experience you want to share, or a job you want to tackle or even one that you have done and want to spread the word, we appreciate all the help we can get to help us build and better and more informed resource.