My father took his jeep grand Cherokee to a shop to change oil. The shop used Napa oil filter that had a crack in it you could see where they painted over the crack. My father drove it because the oil filter had a bad crack the oil leaked out and seized the engine my 80 year old father didn’t realize what happened until it was too late. The shop filled a claim with Napa stating what happened but is still making my father pay to replace the engine. Who is responsible Napa or the garage who out the faulty part in the jeep.
Warranty: Standard : NAPA Filters are warranted to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for the OEM recommended change interval. NAPA Filters will reimburse the reasonable cost for parts & labor to repair damage caused by a defective NAPA Filter. See NAPA Filters PDF warranty statement for exclusions and limitations.
It would appear NAPA is responsible.
Tester
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Hire a lawyer
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The usual way forward is to sue both at the same time and anyone else in e tween and let the fight it out. Even I inspect my oil filters before putting them on.
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There are 2 NAPA lines of oil filters (Silver and Gold). Silver I think is made by Purolator. The Gold is made by Wix. I use NAPA Gold or Wix. All my years of working on cars…this is the first time I’ve heard of a brand name filter failing.
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As @Mustangman said, your dad or you need to talk to a lawyer to see if there is anything he can do. Both the shop and NAPA should have insurance to cover problems like this. NAPA has deeper pockets. Make sure they are part of whatever settlement your dad seeks. If the shop wants to join in your suit, if it comes too that, let them join you. That is, if the lawyer agrees with it.
The shop did the work, and should have supplied all parts and labor and should have given a basic warranty (3 months/3,000 miles) for the work they preformed and parts they used, so they will be responsible, but the shop will go after Napa for parts and labor to correct the issue…
Now if you supplied the oil filter that you bought from Napa, then it is a fight between you and Napa… That is why most shops will not install customer parts…
No different then when I installed a Jasper engine at My shop and it blew a head gasket, was not the customers fault I installed a defective part, it was mine for choosing Jasper, but Jasper took care of the customer and my shop for all parts and labor… (btw, only time I ever had a Jasper engine fail)…
But I would be on the phone with both the shop and Napa… You (or your dad) should NOT pay a penny for the new engine/labor…
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Not that it matters. How far/long did dad drive after oil change? 1 day? A month?
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My guess, that will matter if the dispute proceeds to adjudication.
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If the shop that did the oil change is replacing the engine, then they should not charge your father. If this is a different shop, then your dad has to pay them.
In either case, the shop that did the oil change is responsible for the repairs. If a different shop is making the repairs, your father pays them and the shop that did the oil change reimburses him, unless the shop that did the oil change sub contracted the work to the other shop. Then the oil change shop pays.
In the end, NAPA reimburses the shop that did the oil change because the shop is their customer, not your father. Unless of course your father bought the oil filter from NAPA and gave it to the shop to use on his vehicle. In that case, he is in deep * and will probably need a lawyer.
I would agree you go through the shop first but if the shop won’t pay and you have to litigate, you just include everyone in the food chain. Maybe even the mechanic involved who can pressure the shop.
Think insurance claim where the other drivers insurance is balking. You sue the driver directly to light a fire under the insurance company. It is their responsibility to defend their client.
In my opinion, the mechanic didn’t do a good job . . .
After adding fresh engine oil and letting the engine idle, he should have performed a quick visual check to make sure there’s no obvious engine oil leaking . . . from the oil filter and drain plug, for example . . . BEFORE letting the car off the hoist and saying the job is done
A similar scenario recently occurred to me
I was doing an oil change in the shop and I DID notice oil dripping while the engine was idling and it was still on the hoist
I realized the new oil filter was defective and immediately shut off the engine
I installed another oil filter, topped off the engine oil level and started the engine again
I again performed a visual inspection and found no more oil leaking, so I proceeded to clean up the mess 
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I hate it when they paint over cracks?
Having spent some time in can manufacturing, seems to me the cans would be printed before assembly but that was before the drawn aluminum can craze. Just can’t see painting them after assembly but I really don’t know.
Yeah, like db, I always check the filters before hand, then afterwards for leaks. I always have spare oil and filters on hand just in case but I actually have never had a leaker.
I have had some Wix/Napa Gold filters be delivered to be with dents- dents enough to be noticeable, but not enough to crack the paint. (I wonder if that is what happened here.)
I send the dented filters back for replacement.
I think the mechanic should have inspected the filter before install.
Yeah… make it even more expensive and less productive that will also take years to complete the process.
I did an inspection on an Isuzu Trooper at one of the nationwide tire shops who installed a wrong filter that was too small and did not cover the passages. The shop kept shoving me their catalog claiming that what they had installed was listed there as the correct part number. Unfortunately, the engine was not familiar with the catalog and rightfully ceased up. The corp ended up paying for the engine. I would file claims with BOTH the shop corp AND Napa. Let them go for each other’s throat. Bottom line: one (or both) will pay for the engine, and usually - according to my experience - they do with only symbolic fight.
Have you ever hired a lawyer? Ever hear of personal injury lawyers that are paid on contingency? And depending on the state, the loser pays the legal fees, not the plaintiff.
First, they only get paid on contingency when there are millions at stake. Second, well, fist should be enough but just in case: they routinely throw their client under the bus. I had a couple of experiences, and these guys are pretty sleazy. Professional deformation.
That is wrong. I have personal experience with this. One got $500 the other $12K.
What does that even mean?
Sorry about your bad experience. You might want better references next time you hire one.
Huh??