So my girlfriend took the car to Jiffy Lube...
 

Not the FR-S of course, I would have had to murder her. But we also have a 2000 Impala that we keep around to beat up. Her mother is a mechanic's daughter, and she knows her way around a car rather well. She smelt oil burning while riding with my GF, and so she advised her to take it to Jiffy Lube for an oil change and to turn down any extras.

So, my GF calls me and says that there is no air filter in the car. Now I know this is BS for a fact, because the last person to change the air filter was my brother, and it hasn't been to a dealership since then. So I'm guessing they're trying to prey on her ignorance to try and sell her another one. But now I'm afraid that they may have just taken the air filter out. Now if that's the case, I have a serious problem, because they're literally stealing parts from the car, and making it unstable.

I've hear of independent garages doing this, but you would think that this place wouldn't try and pull something like that. Anyway, if it is in fact missing when she gets back, I'm going to have to head back over with a hammer.

Make sure you check in with your brother before making false accusations. Otherwise give'em hell for messing around with your car.

Everyone should get into a habit of re-reading their own words

I do this 2-3 times for everything I write, sometimes noticing glaring holes in logic or structure that force me to just delete the whole thing.

If you re-read your story, you should realize that it seems that your brother may be the culprit here, but that’s just the writer in me.

Happy hammering!

I checked the reviews on Google for the one she went to. 1 star review, of course. Like I said, it's our beater car, so I didn't think much of it. I'll take a look at it when she gets to my place. I mean it's impossible for something like that to just fall out of the car, and my brother lives with me, and he's worked on the car a number of times (He used to own an '03 Impala himself). I'll post back with results.

Hopefully it's nothing like this:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiCAJ8ULnaI"]This.[/ame]

I can see how one could make that mistake. He was the last person to change it. I'm assuming that they had to have at least looked at the air filter at Jiffy Lube.

sigh... reasons like this are why people don't trust the rest of us in the industry. Scumbaggery at it's finest. Good luck bro

Shows a good reason to check reviews and rating on any shop. I usually go back to the dealer for maintenacne on my car. I'll only go to other shops if I can trust trust them because I have to get a state sticker. Then I'll figure, what the hell, I'll get my oil changed or whatever done at the same time too. But I never go to jiffy lube anyway and glad I never will.

Wow, so she got hit coming out of the Jiffy Lube... she called me about 2 minutes ago. Says she can't even open the driver's door. Will post pics if she's able to drive it home, or if I need to pick her up.

Lesson of the day:
Change your own oil or your car will get hit and you'll lose an air filter (possibly).

When you say air filter are you talking about a cabin air filter? Or the air intake filter?

Air intake. Sorry for not specifying.

Hope everyone is ok from the accident. Good luck getting everything straightened out.

I wouldn't have expected to hear that. Hope all is well for you gf.

Oh Wow,

That story took a turn for the worse...please let us know that everything turned out OK (really i dont care about the impala...more the GF)

Hope she is ok

She's fine, just shook up. Wasn't as bad as I thought, and there was indeed no air filter. I'll post back, taking her home now.

give her a hug and kiss for all of us.....make mine inappropriate and sloppy...tell her where it came from too

Air filter and damaged door. That would probably ruin my month... Good luck with the situation man

Hope these work as Dropbox has been awkward lately:
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/tnbsv9irdu1...2016.35.56.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/czkcmjhej4c...2016.36.07.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/ybuiqmprazo...2016.36.15.jpg

Yes, I know it badly needs new tires as well, but I guess I'll see if the insurance does something silly like totaling it over the damage before doing that.

Still on the fence of what to do with Jiffy Lube. Not sure if it's even worthwhile to call corporate. Most likely they'll credit the $20 for the oil change, or offer free service, of which I don't want. Gonna head over to Auto Zone tomorrow and pick up a new filter at least.

Ask them to see the video to see if there was an air filter. If there isn't one I would call corporate . Think about the others you will keep them from scamming if they are indeed crooked .

Oh man I would honestly never go to jiffy lube. My buddy worked at one and he always had stories of people there doing things like forgetting to fill the damn car with oil...

Looks like it is time to enter the car in a demolition derby, or some nice dirt track beater racing....

AutoX.

Wipe the intake tube after the filter with a white towel; if it picks up a lot of dirt then probably there was no filter installed.

Yeah, we get a few tow-ins every now and then from people who got their cars "serviced" at Jiffy Lube. Wrong oil, over-filled, no crush washer on the drain plugs, etc. I wouldn't trust those guys any further than I could throw them.

They just hire people who are young and really don't know what they're doing. They don't pay attention and forget stupid things like after you fill a car with oil, check to make sure the dipstick is reading "full." Make sure you put the drain plug back on. Make sure the oil cap is on. Make sure you don't drop something metal in the valve cover, etc...all of these are stories I've heard.

There were some leaves, but barely any dirt. A very thin coating, but that was it.