If my oil drain plug is stripped do I have to replace the whole pan?

100% total BS. I'm sorry your having to go through this, and I'm sorry to have to tell you, theres nothing you can do at this point other than pony up the money, or tow your car back home. This is a big reason to buy a set of tools and start doing basic repair yourself.

Theres only 4 ways to strip ANY bolt/nut. 1) cross thread it (start threading bolt in angled and force it in 2) Over torque (over tighten) the bolt 3) Sized up bolt due to rust scale, or not lubing bolt when installing (don't really apply to an oil drain plug as itts fully in oil) 4) Try to install the wrong size, thread pitch bolt in hole It's 100% shop/repairman fault. No bolt will strip just cause.

In fact it's not even a heavy wear item. You said your car has 93K miles on it. So if you done an oil change every 3K miles, thats only 31 total oil changes on car.

Meaning only 31 timers has the plug been removed and installed. Thats not alot. I have 1960's and 70's chevy oil pans out in my shop, probbly been used on 4 or more diff engines, maybe 500,000 miles total and the hole and plug still looks great.

My guess it, it happened this time. They removed plug, drained oil and the person doing it cross threaded the plug when he put it in, or started plug and tightened it with an air impact wrech that over tightened the nut and it stripped, never got tight, just kept spinning around so he took it back out nd said "opps, customer's oil pan is bad, he needs a new one.

The excuse they gave you is pure BULL$HlT. The stripped oil pan plug was done by faulty maintenance, not wear and tear. I've been driving for 43 years and NEVER had that happen, NEVER!.

Tell them to fix it at their cost or you'll sue their pants off. How the heck can the treads be worn completely off? Is it a plastic plug?

Then it's a remote possibility. Wear between two metal parts occurs when the parts are moving against each other, even when lubricated. The oil pan plug only moves against the threads maybe six times a year for 20 years in the life of the car = 120 times in the life of the car.

Even an non-lubricated nut and bolt won't wear like that. I have to add this. Since you always take your car to the shop for service, that oil pan bolt should have shown signs of wear the last time you took it there.

Why weren't you told of that then? I'm thinking that if it was cross-threaded or over-tightenend at the last oil change, you would be leaking some oil since then. Sue their pants off for damages.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.