Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
Millions of car owners use motor oil to keep their engines running smoothly, but buying the wrong oil can do more harm than good.
To many consumers, one brand of motor oil is much like any other brand. But according to a recent consumer class action lawsuit against Dollar General, the discount retailer has been taking advantage of this assumption by selling their own brand of motor oil at a much lower cost than other brands, but there’s a catch.
The fine print on the back of the bottle says the oil is not intended for use in cars made after 1988. Dollar General’s oil is marked as 10W-30 and stored on shelves right next to oil meant for newer vehicles, so many consumers assume there’s no real difference, other than the price. Because Dollar General’s brand is considerably cheaper, many consumers buy it thinking they can use the motor oil in any car, but that’s not actually the case.
Joe Wood, a plaintiff in one of the consumer lawsuits against Dollar General, says his car died after he started using Dollar General’s brand of motor oil.
Tom Glenn, the president of the Petroleum Quality Institute of America, said that he considers Dollar General’s motor oil to be obsolete, because it should only be used on cars 28 years or older. The class action consumer lawsuit likewise called the motor oil obsolete, but Dollar General objected to the use of that word, saying their oil can be used in the millions of cars that were made prior to 1988 that are still on the road.
The latest consumer lawsuit has been filed in Omaha, Nebraska, but Nebraska is just the most recent of many states in which Dollar General will have to face lawsuits over its motor oil. The class action lawsuit recently filed in Nebraska is hoping to get approval from the court to include all consumers who purchased Dollar General’s motor oil in the state of Nebraska.
Dollar General also stated that their motor oil adheres to their standards of quality and value, as well as all the requisite federal and state labeling requirements. It further stated that it intends to defend itself against the consumer lawsuits over the motor oil.
Meanwhile, the Petroleum Quality Institute of America has issued a warning to consumers that there are currently engine oils and transmission fluids on the market that can cause damage to their vehicles.
Although Dollar General’s 10W-40 has been the focus of the consumer lawsuits, Glenn says there’s another Dollar General product on the shelves that consumers need to be aware of: the SAE 30, which is meant for small engines, such as certain lawnmowers or air compressors. Nevertheless, Dollar General shelves it along with the automobile oils, where unsuspecting customers who don’t know any better might use it in their cars. The SAE 30 motor oil contains fine print on the back of the bottle that warns it is not meant to be used on engines made after 1930.
Our Naperville, Illinois consumer rights private law firm handles individual and class action gift card, data breach, privacy rights, deceptive advertising, predatory lending, unfair debt collection, lemon law and other consumer fraud cases that government agencies and public interest law firms such as the Illinois Attorney General may not pursue. Class action lawsuits our law firm has been involved in or spear-headed have led to substantial awards totalling over a million dollars to organizations including the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the National Consumer Law Center, and local law school consumer programs. The Chicago consumer lawyers at Lubin Austermuehle are proud of our achievements in assisting national and local consumer rights organizations obtain the funds needed to ensure that consumers are protected and informed of their rights. By standing up to consumer fraud and consumer rip-offs, and in the right case filing consumer protection lawsuits and class-actions you too can help ensure that other consumers’ rights are protected from consumer rip-offs and unscrupulous or dishonest practices.
Our Lisle, Geneva and Wheaton consumer attorneys provide assistance in data breach, privacy violation, fair debt collection, consumer fraud and consumer rights cases including in Illinois and throughout the country. You can click here to see a description of the some of the many individual and class-action consumer cases our Chicago consumer lawyers have handled. A video of our lawsuit which helped ensure more fan friendly security at Wrigley Field can be found here. You can contact one of our Auora and Joliet consumer protection, gift card and data breach attorneys who can assist in consumer fraud, consumer rip-off, lemon law, unfair debt collection, predatory lending, wage claims, unpaid overtime and other consumer, or consumer class action cases by filling out the contact form at the side of this blog or by clicking here. You can also call our toll free number at 630-333-0333.