Got my oil change at valvoline

Maintenance/Repairs
41

I didn’t intend it as that, but you’re certainly welcome. The point I was trying to make is how many of your friends and neighbors open the hood and check the trans fluid or look at the belts and air filter once in a while? Check the air pressure? Look under the car at the inner edges of the tires? Probably very few.

For the people who think that an oil change can be done in 10 minutes, that’s slipshod work. Not properly inspecting a vehicle leaves dollars on the table (“Well Mr. LoudThunder we noticed that your brake pads are nearing replacement time and that your air filter box is contaminated with puppy chow”), but more importantly does not demonstrate the attention to detail that quality customers expect of us.

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42

Heh heh. When we remodeled our gas cylinder storage area we were advised label the empty cylinders with signs that read “M.T”. I don’t know what you’d use for oil. Maybe just a one hour gathering for English as a second or first language learners. All together now, look at the pictures, injun earl.

Yeah I know a guy that due to dyslexia never learned to read or write but highly intelligent. But for those, the secondary hex plug versus square plug will help.

43

I understand that your vehicle only has 9000 miles on it, but that was a huge pencil whip if I ever saw it… lol

It’s a good thing your power steering fluid is OK as well as the truck only 4X4 fluids… :rofl:
Those should have been left unmarked…

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44

Good catch on the (Electric) Power Steering “Fluid” but I still want to check the “Transfer Case Fluid Level” myself the next time I throw the Honda Fit into “4-wheel drive” L :joy: L . . .

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45

You have to take into consideration competition here. Competition can(not always) drive one to find better techniques and efficiency.

Lets say there are two shops right next to each other. Shop A charges $60 and takes an hour. Shop B charges $30 and takes 25 minutes.

Just because shop B is charging $30 doesn’t necessarily mean they do a crappy job. It could mean their methods are faster, but still effective. And, they want to earn customers with the low pricing.

Shop B now has to do twice the work to earn just the same as shop A. However, once more people realize that good work can be done at a cheaper price, shop A will have less and less customers.

I’m not sure what I’m arguing here. But just a thought.

46

Then Shop B needs an education in basic business. If you’re building your business on price, you don’t need to be half of the going rate. Shop B could charge $50 and still be cheaper.

Probably more than twice the work. If they can do the same work in half the time they probably have higher skilled staff, better equipment and technical support. That means Shop B has more invested in that oil change than Shop A, and each service will be less profitable.

Knowing how to fix automotive or roofing or plumbing has nothing to do with knowing how to operate and automotive, roofing, or plumbing business.

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47

Or, more likely, they are not doing the same amount of work. They are cutting corners and either their clientele is unaware of the difference or indifferent to it.

Personally, I am never interested in any service product that claims to do it faster than the other guy(s). I don’t want a 10 minute oil change and not sure why anyone who understands what’s being done would either. Pushing employees to race through a service like this 30 or 40 times a day just invites mistakes and very expensive ones at that.

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48

Agree that is true in any service of whatever not only automotive.

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49

I agree with so much of what @asemaster wrote… :+1: :+1: :+1:

But both need an education in basic business. These operators need a ral course in Supply Side Economics with a Major Understanding of Supply and Demand…

You maximize profits by making the most your resources (space, workers, tools, equipment, etc…), ask the highest price that maximizes the use of your resources.

In the two examples, Shop A charges $60 and Shop B charges $30 for the service, (I know I’ll get kick back…) but assuming all resources being equal (technician’s skill, space, tools, equipment, etc…), shop A needs to lower the cost to attract more customers. Shop B (probably has more customers than they can handle) needs to raise their price. Both shops need to evaluate the work load, If A still has open bays, they lower their price again. If B still has cars waiting for service, they need to raise their price again…

Both shops keep doing this until (maybe $45 is the perfect price) all bays are full and all vehicles are serviced during the day.

Empty bays mean the shop is paying technicians to sit around. It costs money to run a shop even when no work is being performed and the Ancillary Costs of running a business… (salaries, mortgage/rent, electricity, taxes, insurance, water, sewage, trash, and so much more…) will sink the business. Shop A may think getting $60 for that one job is great, but the adjacent bays may be empty…

Customers who cannot get their vehicles serviced because Shop B is so busy that they will not return and they will not recommend you and your “Yelp” review will be yelping… Even though, your bays may be full, you will barely, if even breaking even with the Ancillary Costs of running a business (salaries, mortgage/rent, electricity, taxes, insurance, water, sewage, trash, and so much more…) exceed your income… :moneybag: :moneybag: :moneybag:

Running a business is Rocket Science if you want to maximize profits and offer the most employment with the best wages… Good wages attracts good people. You take care of the people and they will take care of you…

If you just want to play business, ask any price that will keep you afloat, but you will only make enough money to hire the least qualified, never be able to afford new or modern equipment, and your facilities will slowly deteriorate until you do not attract enough customers to even stay afloat. :sailboat:

I also know that a big shop in a busy metropolitan area will find it easier to apply these principals and a small shop in a small town will be very much economy driven… And in this case you will have to decide how many chickens you will take in trade for the service… :chicken: :baby_chick: :baby_chick: :hatched_chick: :hatched_chick:

50

As many of you guys have said over the years . . .

You want to be priced, such that the low-life customers that are more trouble than they’re worth aren’t even tempted to show up at your shop and waste everybody’s time

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51

Well many times things like oil changes are loss leaders to get you in the store, like milk and bread. The inspection may find other services to be recommended then or at least it is a chance to get acquainted for when you really need something done. A $30 oil change doesn’t necessarily mean quick low ball service with no other inspection done. The whole point is to get you in. If you blow it by dishonesty, or poor treatment, they will not be back, regardless of a legitimate $30 or $60 service.

Last time I had Tran, transfer case, and differential fluid changed at the dealer, the cost of that was maybe $125, and with it came a two page inspection sheet. Sure some of it may be fudged, but then they said we’d recommend changing the brake fluid while you’re here. After asking how much and how long, I said go for it. They made an extra $100. Then when I had the timing belt changed,they suggested new plugs for $300. I said I’ll wait till the next trans service and do it then. I don’t mind at all their suggestions and no pressure. That’s how it works.

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52

Of course they can do all that. But the focus here is the simple oil change.

At the very basic, what does it take to change oil to a satisfactory level? You pull it in, you get under it, unbolt the drain, let it drain, take off the filter, put a new one in, rebolt, refill correct amount.

All that could be done in less than 10 minutes. That’s just the natural procedure of an oil change. The very basic of basics.

So you have to consider, people could do it in 10 minutes to a satisfactory level. You have to take into account what it is that you are doing that is taking you longer than 10 minutes.

There is a technique, method, and competitive factors to take into account when you run a business. If someone is doing something faster and better, you have to perk your ears up.

53

I can’t do an oil change in ten minutes. It’s usually 30-45 by the time I change, get the oil and filter, drain pan, etc. out. Then there is recording the change in the book and resetting the oil meter. I’m not as fast as I used to be. But then I don’t have to drive anywhere to do it or make an appointment.

Not fully understanding the point of this conversation. Everyone can do what they want and pay whatever they want for whatever level of service they want. But fast would not be my main criteria.

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54

Oil change time ranges within an hour. I’m just stating that it can be done in 10 minutes or even less. In oil shops who wants to make money, that timing is relevant to them.

55

So you would line up 50 cars a day to change at ten minutes each for a gross of $1500? Seem like you’ll run out of cars pretty quick. Then gain no residual work from them either, so why bother. Not much profit in 10 minute oil changes, plus clerical time to take the money.

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56

Around here, there are two business models relevant to this discussion. The first is a traditional service facility that also offers oil changes. The second is a business that only does oil changes. The latter is the one that typically defines itself based on quick and cheap. They do not do any other services so there is no additional revenue to be had by doing inspections. Comparing the two is apples to oranges.

Both can attract enough business to be viable, as evident by the plethora of them scattered about the community.

Some of these quick and cheap places are starting to branch out into other services. I suspect they have maximized their potential in the oil change only business and to keep growing, they need additional sources of revenue. When they do this, I believe it breaks their existing model.

I would argue that the existing model is already somewhat broken in that not all vehicles are created equal and some are not possible to do in 10 minutes- safely and effectively. But now add on inspections and the quick aspect is in jeopardy. In addition, your volume goes down as it takes more time per vehicle and so the profitability of the model is also in jeopardy. You also need to dedicate bays to servicing vehicles and so the volume capacity for oil changes only is adversely affected even more. They start morphing into something more closely aligned with the traditional service business. Or they resign themselves to the “quicky” model and eventually stagnate in an area. They can only grow by penetrating other areas with their model, perhaps franchising…

57

I can’t upvote this enough!

I have had a couple of coworkers try to get me to work on their cars for free (or for pizza or beer) because they knew I could and they were cheap. When I told them my hourly fee… for a degreed engineer with a masters… they decided that was too rich for their tastes.

For a friend or other deserving person, I am happy to help for free.

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58

I had someone ask me one time why all my friends were mechanics… I said cause I don’t work for free, besides that I can buy my own beer and pizza…lol

But yeah, I will go out of my way for someone that really needs my help…

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59

lol its always been that way with oil changes though.

Consider that places like subway makes $5-$10 per customer, getting maybe 50-100/day for a gross $1000, not taking worker pay into consideration.

Oil change is also recurring so you won’t run out.

But you should charge more per oil change if you need to keep the business afloat with a margin of profit. Key word is “need to”.

60

I guess that sandwich prices are a LOT higher in your neck of the woods than they are in my area. Subway’s small sandwich around here is $6.99, and the large is $10.49.

After factoring-in the cost of supplies and also overhead–such as rent and electricity–I think that someone would have to be a magician in order to wring $5-10 profit from each customer’s order. Then, after taking worker compensation into account, I submit that the owner of a franchise would be lucky to “make” more than $1 per customer.

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