‘How would I know that’s not a normal thing?’: Carmax customer drives Audi for 8K miles with oil light on, blames the store

19.03.2024 01:00

The Daily Dot

Is your dashboard light a suggestion? Or an imperative? Many of us are terrified when one of our cars' dashboard warning displays lights up. But one driver seems convinced that it's his dealer's problem.

"During the fiscal year ended February 28, 2023, CarMax sold approximately 810,000 used vehicles and 590,000 wholesale vehicles at its auctions," according to the company's website. The U.S. used car retailer is considered to be "a legitimate place to sell your car and overall has a good reputation in the auto industry."

Even so, a buyer is still responsible for the condition of their car after buying it, a lesson one person found out in a discussion posted in a video by @SarahConner, an aggregator account on YouTube that specializes in customer dissatisfaction and clapback by retailers.

One day ago, the account posted a video captioned "customer drives 8k miles with oil light on and blames carmax. carmax was unable to help due to not purchasing extended warranty and customer ended up paying 5k in repairs" that purports to be a confrontation between a CarMax representative and a supposed buyer. The video now stands at 743,200 views and counting as of Monday.

If you've ever felt the despair of an engine light turning on while you drive, the customer's reaction may surprise you.

Neither party's face is visible in the video but the audio seems to involve a person whose patience with his car has run out. He verbally confronts a person in a cubicle with the nameplate "Service manager, Shane Sherrill."

"I'm literally so offended ... that you would think hey, clearly you must know that [the oil light means service]," a voice behind the camera says to the service manager.

The voice tells the employee what they believe the dashboard light in question means. "It didn't say you need to take your car in for service." It was instead an "add a [quart] of oil" light.

The purported CarMax employee begins to tell the supposed customer what the oil light means.

"Cars don't run out of oil like that," the supposed employee, presumed to be the service manager explains. "It doesn't make sense to be putting oil in the car. That's not what you do to cars," the voice continues.

The voice of the "customer" states that this is unreasonable as they have never owned a car of that type before, which they say is an Audi. They state, "What you're saying is offensive to me."

"I'm not meaning to offend you," the supposed employee states. "You put six months of drive on a vehicle in 45 days."

The supposed customer states that "the problem" has "been going on" since week one. It is not known whether they are referring to the engine light.

When the alleged representative states to the customer that the situation is "not a normal thing" the customer responds, "I'm not around cars" and states, "I'm not you" and "I've got a living to make."

The alleged customer then suggests that the situation is parallel to a windshield wiper warning light—which can be resolved simply by topping up the amount of fluid.

The Daily Dot has reached out to Carmax via email for a statement.

@sarah_conner1 customer drives 8k miles with oil light on and blames carmax. carmax was unable to help due to not purchasing extended warranty and customer ended up paying 5k in repairs. #carmax #oillight #customerservice ♬ original sound - ????SarahConner????

An oil light warning shouldn't be ignored and can often happen before serious automotive difficulties.

According to dependablecarcare.com, an oil light can indicate low oil but also may indicate low oil pressure which may be a sign of a "clogged oil filter, malfunctioning pressure gauge, not enough oil in the engine" or a bad sensor or oil pump.

They go on to note, "If your oil light comes on, you should try to have your vehicle inspected by a professional mechanic as soon as possible."

Carparts.com states, "If the oil light in your car is on, the best course of action would be to stop driving and check your vehicle’s oil level immediately. "

Several of the video's viewers responded with disbelief, surprised how the supposed customer couldn't realize that the light meant that service was called for. Almost all commenters seemed to side with the retailer.

"It’s… called… the… owners… manual…," wrote The Bearded maineiac (@thebeardedmaineiac).

Another viewer added, sarcastically, "These car manufacturers should print a book, like a manual with some instructions on when to maintenance your car. They could even put it in the glove box…."

"Once you own a car it's your responsibility to check the engine it's jus common sense," another viewer added.

"Really literally everybody and anybody knows if your putting in oil that often SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG," another commented.

The Daily Dot has reached out to the sarah_conner1 account via email for further comment.

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The post ‘How would I know that’s not a normal thing?’: Carmax customer drives Audi for 8K miles with oil light on, blames the store appeared first on The Daily Dot.