With so much high drama media coverage of SNOWMAGEDDON it’s easy to visualize a driver holding their foot to the floor when doing so results in successfully moving forward in hopes of getting to work, etc. on icey streets in bone chilling cold. Highly intelligent people are often terribly unintelligent about the automobiles they spend a great deal of money on and are very dependent on. Maybe there’s room in automobile computers to install some logic to deal with being stuck in a snow bank. Maybe the GPS screen could pop up a video demonstrating digging out the wheels and spreading cat litter under the tread. You know, using the shovel and cat litter that everyone keeps ready in their trunk.
Guys, we should not make judgements of the OP. I still think she is the victim of really bad luck. I’m afraid she is going to get stuck with the bill.
Yes @keith. Most likely she will take the entire hit. There is some possibility that her insurance company might cover a great deal of the cost if the damage could be connected to striking ice or a curb, etc, while sliding. Flo or the lizard might be looking for a new friend.
If this happens to be a turbo Optima, all bets are really off…
Dennis Haysbert might also be looking for a new friend
Haven’t seen him in any movies lately . . . only on those Allstate commercials
My point through all of this is that the shop should not be blamed at this point either because there has simply been almost zero information provided about the problem other than it threw a rod.
Since the odds of metallurgical failure are about zero this means a rod gets thrown because of excessive and continued overrevving or lack of oil or oil pressure for whatever reason.
Any of the above is usually accompanied by some rattling, knocking, oil light on, or even a WWII submarine klaxon going off before any rod leaves home… 
Some people need that klaxon horn to get their attention to critical problems.
You must be referring to my wife. The only thing on the dash she ever pays attention to is the gas gauge. Everything else is just clutter… 
The OP, who refers to herself as “a woman”, was open, honest, and clear about everything relating to the problem. Regardless of the root cause, she’s clearly a victim here.
A busted rod means a seized bearing. The remaining question is whether the bearing seized due to
- loss of oil as a result of some error in the oils change procedure
- ultimate bearing seizure due to damage done by the prior owner, perhaps due to running out of oil… maybe repeatedly,
- bearing seizure due to the OP’s having driven with the oil light on
- oil pressure loss due to an incorrect filter
- random failure (extremely, extremely unlikely IMHO, but a possibility nonetheless).
The OP having been open and forthright, I’m inclined to believe the light never came on and lean toward #2.
I would like to know the filter manufacturer and part number to rule out #4
OK4450, at least your wife pays attention to the gas gage! That’s better than many! But I’ll bet she’s a lot more aware than your humorous poke implies.