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i went to pep boys for an oil change before hitting the road (300 miles) many years ago. i paid $35.
somewhere in the middle of i-95 my temperature guage went red. i limped to the closest gas station to buy a quart and the engine was bone dry (smoking).
when i got to my location i went to a pep boys they looked under the hood and said we dont even sell that brand of filter. showed them the reciept dated yesterday and they fixed it for free.
I wouldn't say it's common knowledge to check the work done by a shop after 50-100 miles. I've never heard of that in my life, and I'm 62...If a car requires an inspection after a repair, it's the duty of the shop to tell the customer, so the customer can take it somewhere for an inspection, IMO.
That's why it gets printed on the invoice/work order/receipt. The fact that you've never heard of it means nothing, it's been SOP at most major shops for a long time. Clearly, you know very little about the mechanical aspects of vehicles. One would assume that someone else does most of your vehicle work, but do you never read the invoice either?
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And I know no one who even knows how to do that, and few who know what what a lug nut is.
Wow. You must not get out much, and don't know people who are mechanically inclined...or don't pay enough attention to such things to know whether they are or not...which is not a criticism, it just means that your experience and knowledge in this area is lacking, and means tht the fact that *you* never heard of it is meaningless.
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I think the customer would likely win in a small claims case, if he could prove that the work done was the cause of the lug nut problem, and that the other damage was caused by the lug nut problem.
If the warning is printed on the invoice, which it generally is unless you are dealing with a backyard/shadetree mechanic, the customer doesn't have a leg to stand on.
i went to pep boys for an oil change before hitting the road (300 miles) many years ago. i paid $35.
somewhere in the middle of i-95 my temperature guage went red. i limped to the closest gas station to buy a quart and the engine was bone dry (smoking).
when i got to my location i went to a pep boys they looked under the hood and said we dont even sell that brand of filter. showed them the reciept dated yesterday and they fixed it for free.
Something wrong with this story.
If it was low on oil, the "Oil" idiot light on the dash panel would illuminate, or if it had a gauge it would drop to indicate low/no oil pressure.
Temperature going to the red zone indicates a lack of coolant.
The low oil indicator (of whatever type) would show the condition *long* before you could drive it far enough for the condition to overheat the engine. A lack of oil [pressure] can seize the motor without ever indicating a temperature problem...my wife learned this the hard way when she destroyed the motor in one of my favorite cars.
If it was low on oil, the "Oil" idiot light on the dash panel would illuminate, or if it had a gauge it would drop to indicate low/no oil pressure.
Temperature going to the red zone indicates a lack of coolant.
The low oil indicator (of whatever type) would show the condition *long* before you could drive it far enough for the condition to overheat the engine. A lack of oil [pressure] can seize the motor without ever indicating a temperature problem...my wife learned this the hard way when she destroyed the motor in one of my favorite cars.
Actually, on my ancient car I hear lifter noise long before the idiot light comes on. By the time the light does come in, I'm pretty much out of oil. So I'd say that's car dependent - but probably much better indicators in newer cars.
A couple years ago I bought a new set of tires at Big O. We had driven maybe 3 miles total when we started hearing an odd noise I had never heard before. We drove home and parked the car, planning to take it back to Big O the next day. It was dark and they were closed. Big O was in the neighborhood, maybe a mile from our house.
The next morning, my SO left to go to Big O. He made it about a block when 1 of the tires came off and bounced across 6 lanes of traffic. Luckily he had just turned on to the road and was only going about 10 mph in the right lane. He was able to park the car and retrieve the tire. Luckily no one was hurt and nothing was damaged. He walked down to Big O, and they came back to get the car. They did fix the problem. SO said it was very scary. Oddly funny to see the tire bouncing across the road like in a cartoon. We were very lucky it didn't cause an accident or damage another vehicle.
Big O was so grateful we didn't sue them they offered me free oil changes for life. Then they closed that location and my freebie went away! Darn it!
It was my Olds Cutlass, at 10 below zero, and the choke stuck. The motor was at high revs with no oil flow.
She called me saying "The car won't start."
It was like pulling teeth to get the whole story out of her. When I finally figured out what had *really* happened, I asked her "You mean, you didn't think to SHUT THE KEY OFF!!?? You just let it race until it quit running completely?"
"Ummmm, yeah."
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. (Not easily/cheaply anyway.)
