Sears changed oil and forgot to close hood

[SandEagle]

ok, so i have a buddy who got his oil changed at Sears. When he got his car back, he got on the freeway and the hood popped open at 70mph. He had 0 visibility and quickly veered to the side of the road. hood and windshield is damaged. Sears says they aren't sure if they are liable but they will talk to their insurance company.

Does he need to file a police report or should he contact his insurance first? He's lucky nothing else happened, could've been worse.

 

[TestedAcorn]

He's lucky. Fucking morons... how the hell do you forget that?

 

[schizoid77]

I've seen 2 cars on 66 in the last couple months have their hoods fly up at 60+ mph. Seems to be happening more and more these days...

Or maybe they're paying homage to Tommy Boy.

 

[boomhower]

I would be up there first thing Monday mourning to speak with the most senior person there. I would advise them they have through the end of Tuesday to have something in writing to take care of the damages of they will be answering to my lawyer. That is bullshit and your friend is lucky he didn't get killed, a long with many others on the freewar, a point I would be very vocal about. I would also heavily make sure they are aware that the local media and BBB will be notified as well. How much business they will lose when a that story hits the paper or news channel?

 

[SandEagle]

Originally posted by: boomhower
I would be up there first thing Monday mourning to speak with the most senior person there. I would advise them they have through the end of Tuesday to have something in writing to take care of the damages of they will be answering to my lawyer. That is bullshit and your friend is lucky he didn't get killed, a long with many others on the freewar, a point I would be very vocal about. I would also heavily make sure they are aware that the local media and BBB will be notified as well. How much business they will lose when a that story hits the paper or news channel?

good advice. unfortunately my friend is too nice of a guy... he didn't even raise his voice or get mad about it........i would've been fuming out the ears

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: rrahman1
ok, so i have a buddy who got his oil changed at Sears. When he got his car back, he got on the freeway and the hood popped open at 70mph. He had 0 visibility and quickly veered to the side of the road. hood and windshield is damaged. Sears says they aren't sure if they are liable but they will talk to their insurance company.

Does he need to file a police report or should he contact his insurance first? He's lucky nothing else happened, could've been worse.

He should contact his insurance if he has Comprehensive coverage. Otherwise, he's on his own against SEARS and their Insurance, which will claim plausible deniability to wit; after he drove off the SEARS lot, they have no way of knowing that he didn't stop somewhere and do something else under the hood.
Since your friend will be unable to prove that he didn't, they will deny and he will be stuck with it.
Corporate America always does the Right Thing for Business. < Catchy Marketing slogan for lulling the masses into submission.

 

[1sikbITCH]

He goes back to Sears and they pay for it.

My buddy got his oil changed once at a Jiffy Lube or something similar. He had driven back to Baltimore for a business meeting and had some time to kill. This was some 15 years ago. They gave him the car back and he drove off. 2 miles away from the shop the motor seized up. They had forgotten to put oil back in.

The Jiffy Lube sent a tow truck, got him a rental, paid for a new motor, and when his car was ready they even put him in a hotel overnight so he didn't have to drive the whole round trip on the same day.

If they don't do it willingly, you have to file a claim with THEIR insurance company, not yours.

 

[SandEagle]

he did leave it at the Sears parking lot and they offered to pay for a rental for the week. at least he has the rental part in writing.

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: 1sikbITCH
He goes back to Sears and they pay for it.

My buddy got his oil changed once at a Jiffy Lube or something similar. He had driven back to Baltimore for a business meeting and had some time to kill. This was some 15 years ago. They gave him the car back and he drove off. 2 miles away from the shop the motor seized up. They had forgotten to put oil back in.

The Jiffy Lube sent a tow truck, got him a rental, paid for a new motor, and when his car was ready they even put him in a hotel overnight so he didn't have to drive the whole round trip on the same day.

If they don't do it willingly, you have to file a claim with THEIR insurance company, not yours.

This is way different.
in the Jiffy Lube example, there is a direct link between JL and the oil being removed and put back in. Simply put, nowhere in that transaction is the customer likely to be involved in any way with the oil and the motor, except for paying for it.
In the SEARS example, the customer can and often does access the engine compartment through the hood, and often does so subsequent to the service having been done and often away from the SEARS location. Since the customer having access is not in SEARS control, they cannot be held responsible for this unfortunate occurance.
His insurance company , if covered by Comprehensive , is the better route, because they will pursue SEARS for their part of the responsibility. Your friend should pay the deductible, cover it on his insurance, then sue in small claims court for the deductible, if it's important to him.

 

[BrokenVisage]

Tommy Boy?

 

[Capt Caveman]

Whenever I get my oil changed, I always open up the hood to make sure they put the damn oil cap back on properly. So, making sure they closed the hood is a non-issue.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Whenever I get my oil changed, I always open up the hood to make sure they put the damn oil cap back on properly. So, making sure they closed the hood is a non-issue.

Yeah.. not to be a prick.. obviously they should be doing their jobs but.. is it really that hard to look at your hood before you get back in your vehicle? I mean, you should be checking things over anyways. It's sure as hell not like you're *expecting* them to do a good job. Those guys always mess something up.

 

[schizoid77]

Originally posted by: BrokenVisage
Tommy Boy?

Chris Farley? Forgets to take oil can out of engine compartment, hood flys up on highway, they fight, then go to a prehistoric forest?

...well that's the first thing I thought of when I saw it happen...

 

[akubi]

unless there's any remote proof that they didn't fully close the hood, he's got nothing on sears... or else every idiot with a beater who wanted a free windshield would get an oil change at sears (seriously, who the hell gets oil changes at sears??), go home, loosen up the hood and go out for a drive in an empty street...

he drove off sear's lot perfectly fine didn't he?

i mean it's perfectly possible sears made the mistake, but without any proof I don't see how he's going to put the blame on them.
do your own oil change, it only takes 30 minutes.....

 

[schizoid77]

If I had a driveway, a convenient place to dump oil, the tools, and the time, I would. But the local shop will do it in 10 minutes for $30. So why would I waste my own time doing it myself anyways.

...

 

[sonambulo]

Originally posted by: 1sikbITCH
My buddy got his oil changed once at a Jiffy Lube or something similar. He had driven back to Baltimore for a business meeting and had some time to kill. This was some 15 years ago. They gave him the car back and he drove off. 2 miles away from the shop the motor seized up. They had forgotten to put oil back in.

Fuck.

 

[Gothgar]

Originally posted by: rrahman1
ok, so i have a buddy who got his oil changed at Sears. When he got his car back, he got on the freeway and the hood popped open at 70mph. He had 0 visibility and quickly veered to the side of the road. hood and windshield is damaged. Sears says they aren't sure if they are liable but they will talk to their insurance company.

Does he need to file a police report or should he contact his insurance first? He's lucky nothing else happened, could've been worse.

what kind of oil did they put in the car?

 

[moparacer]

Well, I have questions as to why the safety catch didn't prevent the hood from blowing up....If a hood is unlatched from inside the car it will pop up but you have to push the safety latch as we all know to rase the hood. Any hood that is unlatched to the point it can blow up has to be up far enough you would notice it IMO...

I own a auto repair shop and was involved in a similar situation several years ago and the Insurance company found it to be a defective saftey latch and even found a recall notice was issued to the owner of the vehicle and he never had the latch replaced......

 

[Baked]

What kinda material is your friend's car's hood made out of? Tinfoil? The cars I've owned have hood so heavy they lock up if you drop it from 1 inch. Perhaps something's wrong w/ your friend's car's hood lock mechanism. What kinda car btw?

 

[jamesbond007]

Ugh, sorry to hear that! Best of luck to your friend.

On another note, isn't there any kind of warning sensor in cars to tell the computer system, "Hey, the hood isn't shut!". If not, why isn't there? Surely I'm not the first to think of something like that. I would hope it would be common on most/all cars by now...

I once got an oil change about a year ago and drove it for 2 days. I was showing off my 'big 3 upgrade' under the hood to a friend and saw my oil cap just sitting there wedged between the spark plug wires! I didn't bark at the company where I get my car serviced, but I make it a regular routine to check under the hood before I leave the lot. I also once didn't get my fluids topped, so I went back for that.

No company is perfect and humans make mistakes, so I guess I don't expect a flawless anything these days...whether it's a mundane oil change or buying a 'new' DOA hard disk. Life will always throw you curve balls, so it's just best to check your bases at every opportunity and make the best of things.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Originally posted by: boomhower
I would be up there first thing Monday mourning to speak with the most senior person there. I would advise them they have through the end of Tuesday to have something in writing to take care of the damages of they will be answering to my lawyer. That is bullshit and your friend is lucky he didn't get killed, a long with many others on the freewar, a point I would be very vocal about. I would also heavily make sure they are aware that the local media and BBB will be notified as well. How much business they will lose when a that story hits the paper or news channel?

This. This is one of those things that you actually should sue for - your friend could have been killed or caused a pile-up.

 

[randay]

i would make a hypocritical post about checking your damn car before driving, but it would be just that, hypocritical. glad your friend is ok. shit happens.

 

[dsity]

Originally posted by: schizoid77
If I had a driveway, a convenient place to dump oil, the tools, and the time, I would. But the local shop will do it in 10 minutes for $30. So why would I waste my own time doing it myself anyways.

...

doing her yourself and knowing you did er right > $ 30 10 min quickie from a stranger

 

[0roo0roo]

my guess is the latch was dodgy, otherwise it would have not looked closed.

 

[Throckmorton]

He needs to call the insurance co immediately.