“They told me not to tell anybody…”
An AutoZone worker says there’s a secret way to by cheap oil at the national auto chain. But does it work?
TikTok creator CleoClan (@cleoclan1) posted a video from the AutoZone where he apparently works.
“They told me not to tell anybody, but I’m telling everybody,” he says. “If you go to AutoZone, go to the front counter and ask them about the oil they have in the back. This oil? It’s $3 a piece. Five quarts.”
“How to get cheap oil at AutoZone,” he wrote in the caption.
In the comments section, viewers weighed in on getting discounted oil from AutoZone.
“That oil is on my clearance racks out front,” wrote another self-described AutoZone worker. “It’s not gonna sell back there.”
Someone else asked, “Why is it cheaper?” CleoClan responded, “They discontinued the oil, but there’s nothing wrong with it. The reason is that they have newer products to offer. To make room for these new options, they’re selling the old product at a lower price.”
Several other viewers backed up this explanation. “It’s all the oil they took off shelves to bring in the new design,” one person said.
AutoZone is just one of the major auto parts retailers that intermittently sells motor oil on clearance. According to a discussion on the Bob Is the Oil Guy forum, it basically comes down to visiting the store—pretty much like CleoClan recommends—and asking what they have. The answer could be nothing or it could be several quarts for under $5.
In February, a person posted to the forum to say that they found a deal at their local AutoZone. “I … saw a table and sign that read ‘5 quart jugs $5 each… all quarts $1 each,’” the person wrote. “I grabbed 14 quarts of 5w20. All of the 5-quart jugs were already gone.”
The person continued, “After this, I went to a second location and was told they were sold out of all of the oil. There is another across town I will check tomorrow. Quaker State, Pennzoil ,and STP were older containers and were the brands being blown out.”
It appears that car enthusiasts use deals like this to build up stockpiles of oil in the case of shortages or just because they feel like it. “I buy it when it’s cheap,” one wrote on a Garage Journal forum thread. “[I’m] definitely a hoarder on oil. I must have 200 quarts on hand, never paid more than $2/quart and in some instances it was free or pennies per quart.”
Another person said, “I keep enough [that] I don’t need to go into a panic attack.”
Motor1 contacted CleoClan via TikTok comment and direct message for comment. We’ll be sure to update this article if he responds.
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