Billing oil ... Partial quarts...???

[dave1959]

How are you handling the issue of cars that take a partial quart of oil... In the past we have either rounded up or down depending on the tech.
We have had several instances of customers coming back after an oil change and having an issue with paying for the extra partial quart or an issue with not
putting in the correct amount.
I am at a Toyota store and for 2014 Toyota's use 12 different oil volumes...3.3 , 4.5, 4.6, 6.6, 6.7 etc..etc...etc...
Is anyone else having this problem and how are you handling it..???

[FixedManager]

I bill by the quart. I recommend you do two things right away:

-Change the description to unit not quart or liter (be sure to protect the part record)
-Have a discussion with your Service manager on the handling of this question

All service and parts advisers should be able to handle a minor question like this. Prices in the service department are set by the job. The discussion with your service manager is so the two of you can agree on verbiage necessary to train all employees what to say when this question is posed.

Some parts managers changes sales unit to tenths or ounces. In my experience those who do this have shortages every month.

[GM-gta]

We have the tech write in their notes what they actually put in as we dispense it by the point. So if they want 3.3 they send a slip for it and it is added to their oil gun. When we bill it we round up as it is a package price this way if the customer asks the adviser just points out the notes.

[cville1987]

We generally round up. When we were using the GOG screen in R&R, we would bill out the exact amount as it allows for tenths, but it made keeping track of oil nearly impossible. I have only maybe had one customer question it and we explained the system only allowed for whole numbers but assured them the proper amount of oil was used and they were satisfied. I could see Toyota customers being a bigger pain. Depending on your DMS and how you inventory your oil, some people bill oil changes as a kit which doesn't itemize but is just billed as a single item. For inventory sake, it may be easier to just deal with the questions.

[TimK]

Round up.

[possum]

We are also on R&R and used to bill in GOG, to the 10th. However I switched all that to GM part numbers (to "enhance" our sales loyalty ratio) and now we round up to whole quarts. The inventory is still in 244, but I have a source set up specifically for this.

[btk]

For every one who rounds up, 2 liability concerns

1- about 15 years ago we had an attorney going around and getting people to get their oil change and then he was sending a threatening letter to the dealership if they overbilled on oil. rounding up. He threatened class action or 10,000 dollars and he would leave us alone. This practice is regulated and I believe Bureau of auto repair will respond to customers concern about oil charges. I have heard of dealers having to refund customer for overbilling of oil before.

2-it is indefensible in a court of law to round up-so if a customer starts burning oil and blows their valve seals or something like that . They could take you take small claims and claim that you overfilled their car with oil and then provide receipts from their previous oil changes at your facility and it would almost be a slam dunk for the customer.

we use kits

[partsman103]

For every one who rounds up, 2 liability concerns

1- about 15 years ago we had an attorney going around and getting people to get their oil change and then he was sending a threatening letter to the dealership if they overbilled on oil. rounding up. He threatened class action or 10,000 dollars and he would leave us alone. This practice is regulated and I believe Bureau of auto repair will respond to customers concern about oil charges. I have heard of dealers having to refund customer for overbilling of oil before.

2-it is indefensible in a court of law to round up-so if a customer starts burning oil and blows their valve seals or something like that . They could take you take small claims and claim that you overfilled their car with oil and then provide receipts from their previous oil changes at your facility and it would almost be a slam dunk for the customer.

we use kits

We may need to revisit on how bill out our oil because We bill out conventional oil using the qt part# (12345610 5w30) on RO's. I've experienced only 1 customer who questioned about the oil qty that's being billed out and that was on a CK series vehicle. We explained that the prices per qt are calculated by "Tenths" for daily oil change specials however for accounting purposes we had to bill out as full quarts. I provided the example of pricing to the customer this way:

6.3 qt Oil Change:
Oil Filter $5.00
5w30 oil @ 7 qts $15.75 (billed out on RO by part #12345610 @ 2.25 per qt.)

Now if we billed out using actual prices per qt, the oil change pricing would be like this:

Oil Filter $5.00
5w30 oil @ 6qts $26.40 (billed out at actual GM retail price...which is how we sell qts of oil over the counter)

Once explained and visuals given, the customer understood. Like I said, we only had 1 customer question this and as I mentioned in the begining, we will need to revisit how we bill out oil.

[hoorulez]

In the past we have used the package explanation. A vehicle that has 5qts of oil billed is using the 'up to 5qts' package, 6 'up to 6qts', and so on. Being in the Chrysler world we just don't have that many, if any, .3, .6, .7 capacities. It is a defensible position, even that blood sucking lawyer would have to spin a little harder to make it worth his while.

[Richard]

Anyone have a part # list for GM oil that is acceptable for warranty? We just added 0W20 to our Bulk. Gonna save a lot of money, but we need a bulk # for qts.