Express oil change lanes

[ATLAuto]

I was just speaking with my banker the other day, and he made the following statement, "Yeah, I don't go to you guys for oil changes, since I know that it will take too long. Rather, I save the big stuff for you and go to Jiffy Lube where I can get in and out in 10 minutes."

 

This got me thinking a bit ... a ton of customers do this. We see them in our shops all the time with competitor's stickers on their windows and invoices in their glove boxes. They use us for the tough stuff but give the easy (and profitable!) work to the chain stores. Why? Convenience. Look at what most of these oil change shops do ... you drive in, stay in your car, they do the work and bring a credit card terminal to your window, and you are out of there in 10 minutes. Look at what we do ... they park, come in, talk to the service adviser, take a seat, wait .... wait some more ... wait some more. Maybe, they will be out of there in 30 minutes, but that's pretty optimistic. Many will be waiting there 45 minutes to an hour.

 

This got me thinking ... could I setup a couple bays in the shop to do just this? Has anyone in here had any luck with setting up some express lanes on the side of their shop? ...or even dug a pit underneath a few bays to allow the customer to stay in their vehicle?

 

Any thoughts on getting this work back into our shop would be much appreciated.

[phynny]

Thats actually a great idea. And we currently will only do full synthetic oil changes so although it's not a super money maker it's not too bad.

[nmikmik]

Don't know how it is in your town(s). We usually look at the oil changes as the money loosing "opportunity".

Just calculate how much real cost goes into the regular (not synthetic) oil change and I doubt it will look very profitable. That is with very high liability of the work done. I think the most money the quick lubes make are in the upsell of the other services like air, cabin, whatever filters etc. It turns into much longer than 10 minutes and $29.99 oil change for the customer, but perception is still "a quick lube" place I am sure we have members here that can set you up with some rough data.

If i had a choice, i'd prefer the customer to get the oil change elsewhere, but come back to me for everything, and I mean everything, else.

I suspect you can find a much better use of your "real estate" than quick lube.

[Jeff]

In reality it is all PERCEPTION. I have never shied away from the LOF. The quikie lubes all PROMOTE the 30 minute service when in reality its not. And I believe if you would check none of them have a clock in the waiting area. It is all in the promotion and marketing. My LOF runs $35 and up with the taxes and fees. Not much profit with the extras I include (BG MOA and their road service) but every car gets a complete inspection. A few filters, a rotation and balance, set of wiper blades, etc will boost that margin. And if you have the space I believe a quik lane would work, if the person you have working it is through with the inspections. Just my $2.98 (2 cents with inflation)

[xrac]

Some of the Car-x's have built new stores with 8 regular bays and 2 quick lube bays.

[weighit]

Happened to be in a small town in Texas a couple of years ago and needed a oil change for the PT Cruiser I had. Pulled in and checked in and noticed their sign they did rotation and balancing too. Said sign me up, I was really impressed with the speed and while the oil was done on one rack and the tire work on another, it was very fast. In talking with the owner I asked how the added service was working? He said to me it has been a real money maker and turned his 'dead' flat stall into real money. He said he cross trained the employees and gave them some spiff money for any tire work sold. One stop shop for me and I was happy.

[Joe Marconi]

One of the reasons why I built my second shop was due to the perception that we did not perform oil changes. It was also true that I was not convenient for that service. Many of my customers came to me when they had a problem. For tires and oil changes, they went to a more convenient national chain. We had six bays at the time and busy most of the year. I had property on the same block, so I opted to build another 4-bay facility instead of dedicating one or two bays from my existing shop.

 

The business model for the old shop remains the same: Heavy repairs, engines, transmissions, diagnostic work, brakes, etc. The model for the new 4-bay is to cater to those customers who prefer to wait for oil changes, we do tires, alignments, scheduled maintenance work, and other minor services.

 

We DO NOT brand ourselves as a quick lube and will not speed thru an oil changes service, or any service for that matter.

 

I can tell you that the plan was a success and we captured our entire customer base for all the oil changes and minor work. We also increased our tires sales and increased our market share. Car counts nearly doubled.

 

Adding the oil change concept in to your business is a good idea. Things to take into consideration: the size of your shop, your productivity ratio, car counts and if you are losing too much of your customers.

 

One more thing: if your shop is at capacity, the phone is ringing off the hook and you business model is working, be carful about dedicating an oil change bay(s). Taking away a bay that produces high profit maintenance and brake work is more desirable. It's the old saying "don't try to be everything to everyone"

[xrac]

Joe, that is great advice. Thanks!

[ATLAuto]

Joe, that is great advice. Thanks!

 

Agreed. Great advice from someone who has been there and done it. Thank you.