AMERICA'S LATEST RACKET

Evening Star, Issue 21619, 15 January 1934, Page 11

AMERICA'S LATEST RACKET

SUMP DRAININGS FILTERED AND SILD AS FRESH OIL , Recent news from ; America indicate?! that the lubricating oil industry is the to be .affected by racketeering methods (writes the ' Motor ’). Substitution of an inferior oil for a good one is rampant. This is easily effected in c America, where the tendency of ■motorists is to ask .not specially for a bnarided oil, but rather for . a type of pil., .American motorists , who want a first-class oil will ask for “Pennsylvanian.’! This is not the registered name of any manufacturer. Ahy <jil manufactured from Pennsylvanian erode .would fill the. order. Obviously this loose method of ordering ■ leaves plenty , of, scope for the, tricky garage proprietor to indulge in some profitable ~ substitution. The extent to which substitution is : practised is really amazing. One wellknown, American oil refiner carried out i a large-scale , test which covered sis cities and involved 200 filling stations. The filling stations were visited by test ' cars, each equipped with a special attachment which diverted the oil sup-

plied to a concealed container. The bought oil, which purported to be of a 1 particular .Brand, and grade, was then taken straight to a laboratory and . analysed. In 43 per cent, of the test cases, substitution had been practised, % and in-considering-this figure it is im- :! portant to note that the filling stations were not specially selected for test. ■ From this it will be seen that the American 'motorist, even when he takes the care to ask for a. particular brand. : stands about one chance in -two or get- ■ ting what he asks for. At first sight it seemed to the American motorst that the fraud on the ■■ manufacturer, was greater than the fraud on the consumer. The. average car owner in America does not believe v that there is any great essential differ- \ ence between varioift lubricating oils,

and this belief,' coupled with the welli known national tendency to regard a j little bit of , sharp practice with ,a good • dear of tolerance, led to indolence bn ; vthe part of the motorist. A mild degree 1 of substitution was more or less winked at as being one of the. ordinary concomitants of life in America. The motorist might'not'even change his garage. But recent revelations have changed all that. The anaylses.of the test purchases repealed that there was a_ large and regular trade in sump drainings. Disreputable firms have developed ■ quite a, big business by buying np i, sump drainings from garages, filtering I the oil so obtained, adding enough new i oil to give, it a reasonably' good appeari ance, and selling the unsocakable reJ suit to filling stations, This- oil has been christened “ midnight oila nickname which' displays to .excellent ■ advantage the American knack of finding an eminently appropriate nickname. ! Sump drainings, of course, have little ‘ or no lubricating value- and the substi-

tution of “ midnight oil ” constitutes ■ a fraud in which the motorist is defi- : nitely interested because the use of ; such oil may do considerable damage to his engine. The private motorist is I now, therefore, joining up with: the oil manufacture’ - in an attempt 'to : stamp out this illicit trade. The manuI facturer is incurring extra cost and trouble by marketing his oil in sealed . quart cans and bottles, and the private ; motorist is co-operating by sending samples of. oil for analysis when substitution is suspected.