Every price and coupon on this site carries a label showing exactly how it was confirmed: verified, verified but aging, derived, or not verified. This page explains what each label means, when a verified fact is treated as aging, and how to read a verification date.
How each label renders
Every price, coupon, brand, shop, and guide claim on this site carries one of four provenance labels. The label is not only in the page markup, it is written out in visible text next to the fact.
Confirmed directly from a named source. Renders as the word Verified followed by the date it was checked, and stays in this state for 12 months after that date.
The same direct confirmation, once the check is older than 12 months. Renders as Verified, the date it was checked, and the words over 12 months ago, so an old check is never disguised as a current one.
Calculated from other verified records rather than checked directly. Renders as Derived from a verified source, followed by the date it was derived.
No independent verification exists yet. Renders as Not independently verified, and a price in this state never renders as a number: it renders as the words price not published instead.
Reading a verified date
A verified date is the day someone directly confirmed the fact next to it, by observing it in a shop, calling a shop, or reading it from an official source. It is not the day the page was built or last loaded. A derived date works the same way for the source record the derived fact was calculated from.
Staleness windows
A verified price, coupon, brand, or shop fact is treated as current for 12 months after its verified date, and as aging after that, until it is checked again. A live coupon older than 7 days is labeled as possibly out of date on its coupon page, since offers change without notice. The target cadence for rechecking a published price is every 90 days.
Shop authority tiers and data sources
Every shop listing carries one of four authority tiers, in plain words, showing how confident this site is that the listing is real and current.
The chain's own store-page locator confirms this location, read directly rather than assumed.
The location matches a government license or registry record, such as a state repair-facility license.
The location is present in Overture Maps Places, an open, license-clear base layer used as the default for most listings.
The location comes from a single weak source, or is otherwise not independently confirmed, and is flagged as such wherever it appears.
Shop data on this site comes from: CA BAR Auto Shop Locator, CA DTSC / CalRecycle certified centers, CT DMV licensed businesses, FL DEP used-oil handlers + center search, Foursquare Open Source Places, Jiffy Lube HTML sitemap, LA / SD / SF open data business licenses, MA Check a Commonwealth Licensee, ME DEP MORP directory, MI Repair Facility License, NY repair shop + used-oil registration, Norfolk business licenses, OH EPA used-oil collection centers, Overture Maps Places, TX TCEQ Central Registry, US Census County Business Patterns (CBP), Valvoline / Take 5 / Grease Monkey locators.
No sponsors, no paid placement, no ads
This site carries no sponsors, no paid placement, and no ads. No brand, chain, or shop pays to appear, to rank higher, or to have its data checked more often. If that ever changes, this page will say so and the same labeling rules above will still apply to whatever is paid for.