This is a near tragic tale of a lady and her daughter who traveled to Tucson to visit the daughter’s. The visit went well. With the visit over, the lady and her daughter drove to Phoenix on their way to California.
In Phoenix they stopped for a quick meal. Returning to her vehicle, the lady noticed that the oil light was on. A Jiffy Lube was nearby, so she decided to have the oil changed. Jiffy Lube serviced the care and the lady and her daughter were back on the freeway.
Within two miles of leaving Jiffy Lube, the lady and her daughter heard a terrifying crunch of metal. The car would not steer properly and lost speed. The lady was able to steer the car toward an off-ramp where the care rolled to a stop around the corner. The lady called her brother in Tucson, who responded to the scene over two hours away. The lady’s vehicle was towed to a Toyota dealer for examination.
The service manager called the lady’s husband in California, asking if any work had been done on the vehicle’s transfer case. The husband replied no and asked why? The service manager explained that upon inspection, Toyota found the transfer case drained of fluid. The service manager also stated that it was clear the “drain plug” was recently removed but the “fill plug” had never been touched.
As a result of the transfer case fluid being drained, the drive shaft sheared off at the transfer case, came up through the bottom of the vehicle, and, continued the service manager, the lady and her daughter were fortunate the car was not catapulted into the air. Toyota sent the report and photographs to the husband.
The husband contacted Jiffy Lube and filed a claim, which Jiffy Lube promptly denied. But the circumstantial evidence begs Jiffy Lube’s quick denial of the claim:
- The transfer case had to have fluid for the two hour drive from Tucson to Phoenix.
- Jiffy Lube serviced the car.
- Minutes after the Jiffy Lube service the event occurs.
- The lady’s car is loaded onto a truck and relocated to a Toyota service center.
- Toyota investigates and documents the absence of fluid in the transfer case, the use of the drain plug, and the non-use of the fill plug.
Where and when was the transfer case fluid drained? There can be only one location: Jiffy Lube.
Did an untrained or badly trained Jiffy Lube employee mistakenly remove the transfer case drain plug thinking it was the oil pan drain plug? Why did the employee not raise a red flag at that time?
Jiffy Lube needs to publicly assure the public of ongoing education and training of its employees,
Then, Jiffy Lube needs to makes this situation right with the lady and her daughter. Automatically denying the claim to protect the company is actually causing more harm to Jiffy Lube’s reputation and business.