One amendment to National Institute of Standards and Technology Handbook 130 requires retail motor oil installers to provide detailed information on their customers invoices or receipts. They will have to include the motor oils viscosity, intended use, brand and API service category. The other amendment requires this same information be provided on invoices or documents that accompany bulk oil shipments. A house brand or private-label brand is acceptable, and both amendments also mandate a visible cautionary statement whenever the motor oil does not meet an active API service category.

NCWM approved the amendments at its annual meeting in mid-July in Portland, Maine; they become enforceable July 1, 2013. NIST Handbook 130 contains model laws and regulations, including regulations for engine fuels and lubricants. Some states automatically adopt the latest version of the handbook, while others accept the changes through legislative or rulemaking processes.

The American Petroleum Institute was among those supporting the amendments, as well as the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA), and the Petroleum Quality Institute of America (PQIA). Regulators from North Carolina and Missouri also put their weight behind it, while the Automotive Oil Change Association cautioned that the amendments could be burdensome to the fast-lube industry.

Kevin Ferrick, engine oil program manager at API in Washington, D.C., said that the amendments are important to APIs new Motor Oil Matters program and consistent with the chain-of-custody standard API has just issued. The main point is to better inform consumers about the bulk motor oil being installed in their vehicles. The majority of U.S. motor oil is sold through installers, who typically dispense it from bulk tanks.

We realized that the previous weights and measures rules only applied to packaged goods, Ferrick said. So someone who was buying a quart or a gallon of motor oil had the information necessary to make an informed decision on the engine oil to be installed. Unfortunately, the same was not true for bulk engine oil.

API regularly tests samples of engine oils drawn from bulk tanks at installers. In some cases, we were having a hard time identifying the proper chain of custody – in other words, identifying where the products came from, he noted. Without clear documentation, it was a challenge to determine the origins and quality of some oils.

At a minimum, consumers need to know the viscosity grade, brand name and service category or performance level of the product theyre buying, API feels. So thats why, when you look at the amendments language that was approved, it was really focused on that, said Ferrick. The customer receipt from the oil change identifies the vis grade, brand name and service category or performance level of the engine oil installed.

This particular change became a priority for API, he continued. Consumers had protection when they purchased packaged products, and it made no sense not to have it for bulk products, particularly when engine manufacturers and OEMs have very specific instructions on the oil that can be used. We found that on bulk receipts, sometimes you would get enough information where the consumer could actually show that they got the oil recommended for their vehicle – but that wasnt always the case.

According to Ferrick, API tested bulk motor oil samples from 109 installer locations during 2011, including from auto dealers, quick lubes and service stations. Seventy-one percent of those locations identified the vis grade of the engine oil installed; however, only 44 percent provided a marketer or brand name, and only 14 percent provided a performance level.

ILMA General Counsel Jeffrey Leiter said the Alexandria, Va.-headquarterd association reviewed the changes, agreed with them and offered its support to help get the handbook amendments across the finish line this year. ILMA, which tests its members aftermarket lubricants, zeroed in on the amendments effect on the paperwork that accompanies bulk shipments.

We did add bulk to our testing program last year, Leiter said. Based on the results of the testing, and anecdotal com-ments from members, bulk seems to have issues associated with matching up performance of the product with whats claimed. By having more detailed paperwork, that would hopefully improve the relationship between performance claims and the actual product itself.

He noted that API recently completed Standard 1525A, which calls for chain-of-custody documentation for bulk oil shipments in support of the Motor Oil Matters program. With the Weights and Measures provision, and with the API Standard adopted, it becomes something which ILMA then can enforce as part of its testing program under the associations code of ethics, Leiter said.

In July 16 comments to the NCWM Laws and Regulations Committee, PQIA President Thomas Glenn, Metuchen, N.J., reminded that consumers require documentation of quality to maintain warranty coverage for their cars, the second-largest investment many of them make after their homes. I think it moves the ball forward quite a bit in terms of getting it done, but theres still work to be done, he said of the handbook changes. The next hurdle is to push to have each state adopt it as written.

Dan Oehler, sales and marketing vice president of the expansion-minded lubricant distributorship Reladyne, welcomed the NIST handbook amendments, saying his company had supported them within NCWM. Reladyne was formed in 2010 as an alliance of four Midwest and Gulf Coast distributors; two others, Derrick Oil and Hill Oil, have since joined the family.

When you look at the enforcement of bulk oil product integrity and the vague guidelines to market synthetic blends, these are two significant opportunities in the lubricant industry to tighten regulations, pointed out Oehler, who is based in Sharonville, Ohio. When you ethically market your products, and your competitors drive street pricing below reasonable price points for quoted API specifications, it becomes a very frustrating selling situation. It costs you real profit dollars, and it tempts marketers to make decisions they do not want to make. Therefore, we welcome the change, and embrace it. Reladyne wants to be an industry leader in product quality, technology and specifications.

My number one historical concern is the size and scale of the API and Weights and Measures to effectively police this initiative, Oehler continued. For example, when you look at diesel exhaust fluid, their testing procedures are strategically correct. However, when you look how many samples actually get tested, I think its too low a number to make an impact. The combination of the new act and their resources along with the APIs industry influence and regulations should put real horsepower behind this program to support and drive it through. Then, the ripple effect should be very positive throughout the industry.

He emphasized the changes will begin with oil change service providers, in terms of requiring detailed information on customer invoices or receipts. Consumers often get their oil changes and dont know what oil is being provided into their vehicle, Oehler pointed out. Automotive installers are focused today on customer retention and profitability. The challenges of increased competition and extended oil change intervals cause their focus and efforts more towards survival than brand preferences. The price variance between a quality private-label and a major brand is $3 to $4 per gallon. So for your 10,000-gallon quick lube, its a $30,000 to $40,000 profit difference. The majors must create enough brand value to overcome that gap. The disclosure of branding, specifications, and viscosity should help the brands create consumer awareness by placing a governing body behind the enforcement.

North American Lubricants CEO Larry Read expressed frustration with the handbook amendments. NAL, of Scottsdale, Ariz., provides contract blending and tolling, and has focused on supplying passenger car motor oils to the installer channel.

We have to pay very close attention to our customer, which is the installer, Read said. The handbook changes could greatly increase installers costs and put them in a compromising position, he felt.

They buy a premium product and its the distributor typically who has, in that chain of control, control over whats being sent to them, Read pointed out. Yet if theres a problem, the one that gets vilified is the installer. This rule could destroy an installers business and reputation in the community without him even knowing about it. At this point, I understand what the major oil companies are trying to do, but this sure doesnt benefit the consumer or anybody else.

He added that the cost of complying with the NCWM amendments might not be easily passed on to consumers. So you have the installer market thats having margins squeezed right now, and then you put on this additional compliance cost, Read said. Most quick lubes are mom-and-pop operations, one- and two-store operators. Its not like they can go out and get additional people. So whats going to happen now? Youre going to have noncompliance.

Read would have liked to see API focus more on monitoring lubricant blenders, noting that only a handful of brands are responsible for most U.S. passenger car motor oils. It would be very easy to regulate by going into their facilities, and checking those tanks and that product, he pointed out. To go out to the installer, of which there are 12,000 quick lubes, is absolutely insane. The quick lube doesnt have any control. They dont mix the product, they dont make the product or anything else.

The Dallas-based Automotive Oil Change Association (AOCA), which rep-resents quick-lube operators, takes a similar view. In comments to NCWM, AOCA urged that any requirements for installer labeling and/or receipt information be matched by corresponding requirements on motor oil distributors.

Installers cannot purport to verify via any form of documentation information that distributors have not documented at delivery, AOCA asserted. For NCWM to require otherwise would be manifestly unfair to installers by subjecting them to liability for the bad actors of distributors without any paperwork trail to rely upon in their own defense.

The association sought the addition of a sentence to each amendment, clarifying that no cautionary statement per SAE J183 or other negative designation such as obsolete or inactive shall be necessary where the motor oil used is in the category of motor oil originally designated for the consumers vehicle. The adopted amendments do not include this sentence.

The association also urged NCWM to eliminate the trademark requirement from the list of required brand information, saying oil companies have been notoriously difficult to work with regarding trademark usage. Listing of trade name should suffice for identification purposes. Both amendments kept the trademark requirement.

NALs Read is also CEO of Oil Changer Inc., a quick-lube chain with 34 facilities in California. (NAL and Oil Changer are separate companies.) John Denholm, environmental compliance and purchasing officer for Oil Changer in Pleasanton, Calif., said it worked with AOCA to provide comments and representation to the NCWM. Denholm is chairman of the AOCA Government Affairs Committee.

We feel the installers have been marginalized in their representation to the NCWM, and also on the regulation, Denholm said. Were trying to get some clarity on things that have not been specified at the installer level. Things like, most of our locations are on a keep-full program, so we do not call orders in to a distributor like the regulation specifies. Under a keep-full program, the distributor is instructed to keep the installers tanks topped up, to make sure it doesnt run out of product.

There are some things that I think were being able to effect some change finally, but it certainly took some knocking on the door, Denholm noted.

API 1525A, Bulk Engine Oil Chain of Custody and Quality Documentation, may help settle some questions. Kevin Ferrick said APIs Lubricants Group published the official standard in mid-summer. It spells out the basic information – brand name, SAE viscosity grade, API service category, quantity, date of transaction, etc. – to be documented at each hand-off of bulk engine oil on its journey from blending plant to final customer. Readers can download 1525A for free by going to the Certification Programs section of APIs website (www.api.org), and clicking on Engine Oil (EOLCS) and then Publications.