Does anyone here own or work at a lube place?

[M1Accord]

I am thinking about opening a quick lube place since there is none around here. There is this closed out garage that was used as a tune-up/sup-up joint. The location is perfect and the garage still has all the lifts, jacks, and tool box (no hand tools left). It has 4 bays and a nice big parking lot. No one rents it for years as with many other good building around here.

I have been reading about this for a year and it seems like quick lube is a cut throat business. In order to survive, you practically doing less than agreement. In other words, only change half the oil out or just clean the filter. Since I can't sleep at night knowing that I wrong someone and neglect a machine regardless of how nice a profit is, I worry that positive profit may take much longer than my investment saving.

Any advice.

 

[Mr Nice]

There was a guy on BITOG that owns a quick lube place, maybe you can PM him and ask his some questions about what is needed/tips/advice on opening up your own quick lube business.

 

[alreadygone]

Been repairing/servicing cars in the same location since 1975. NEVER shortchange anyone on the products they are paying for. First off, you're not gonna get rich at it! Have you found property owner and checked if it's even available, and how much? First thing you need to do is check with franchisers, see what kind of deals are available, training,co-op advertising etc. You don't mention what inital investment you are able to make(don't blame you). But if not substantial you need to look for some other investment.

Bob

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Tough business.

 

[Gary Allan]

Franchises is what makes it a cut throat business.

Here's a Jiffylube franchise:

The initial investment for a Jiffy Lube® service center at a leased site is estimated to be between $214,000 and $273,000 with the following components:

* Franchise Fee: $35,000
* Equipment, signs and fixtures: $80,000 - $110,000*
* Initial inventory: $18,000*
* First month's rent and security deposit: $10,000 - $20,000*
* Opening marketing expenses: $15,000 - $20,000*
* Insurance: $10,000 - $20,000*
* Training: $1,000 - $5,000*
* Working capital and prepaid expenses: $45,000*

Total: $214,000 - $273,000* *Estimated amount.


So, if that place is available for any realistically sane price/lease, you've already paid for a couple of workers by NOT going the franchise route.

Pizza ..in the end it's just dough, sauce, toppings. It competes with the market price for pizza. So, you spend half a million dollars to compete with Vince the pizza man.

 

[eljefino]

Make sure there isn't an existing environmental liability.

The honest quick lubes do the work requested but make their money upselling air filters, ATF exchanges, etc during their routine customer contacts.

 

[turbomazda]

i drive a beer truck and see these places all over when im on the road, MANY times there are no customers in the bays and the lube techs are just standing around talking. if there is 1 car in the garage they are lucky, the most ive seen is 2 maybee 3 but most of the time its a big zero. they are definately not kicking the doors in to get into these places. any business is tough and i think this one would be tougher than many others. just my observation.

 

[turbomazda]

ive often wondered about doing a mobile oil change thing, there are many office buildings near me in silicone valley. the overhead would be very low and it would be nice for someone to have their oil changed when at work, just dont know about the environmental thing and if its legal to change oil in a parking lot.

 

[Shannow]

M1accord,
I'd think about turbo-mazda's suggestion (I was going to post and saw his post).

We've got nearly as many service centres (not quick lubes) as pubs here. I can get my car serviced in 3 places and not walk 1.5 miles home after dropping it off. 5, and not walk three miles.

A mobile van entered town, and is doing great service, within a mile of the service stations...at a premium, for "doing it right", in their driveway, while they watch TV.

 

[rjundi]

What is the local customer base?

The two(independant only) in my town are located near large office parks and sig arms factory. The other is located near downtown area and hospital and walking distance.

I have used both on my old Honda during week and noticed a bulk of customers dropping off cars for the day and walking to work.

I spoke a bit to owners while there and they stated 60% of business were drop offs.

 

[Warlord]

I was at a restaurant beside one of these places the other day and there was and average of 6 cars lined up to go into the bays the whole time I was there. I couldn't believe people were willing to wait 30 minutes to have their oil changed. They had a girl who would bring bottles of water and snacks to all the people waiting. Madness.

 

[bretfraz]

From what I've seen and read, the most successful quick lube outfits are combined with other services, such as a car wash. The busiest quick lubes local to me all have car wash operations attached to them. One of the places I took company vehicles to would give you a free full service car wash with every oil change. The basic oil change service was almost $30 but they gave you a $12 wash for free, so it was a good deal to a lot of folks. By comparison the stand alone quick lubes seemed to struggle. I mean, if you're gonna spend $30 on an oil change, most folks would want a free car wash too, right?

Also, talk to the city planning and zoning office to see if they're allowing vehicle repair shops to open in that area. I recently read that many cities are discouraging businesses like vehicle repair shops in order to attract more appealing retailers like coffee houses, book stores, clothing retailers and other similar lifestyle stores. Maybe the reason this particular shop has been shuttered for so long is the city would rather a Starbucks open a location there instead of an oil change place.

 

[CivicFan]

I pondered about mobile oil change service in year 2000. Thought about quitting my office job. The initial investment was low enough to make the venture profitable enough. But my calculations showed that I would not match my current salary at the time, and there was the concern of getting sick from the used oil, brake dust and stuff.

 

[moribundman]

Quote:

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near me in silicone valley

---

Beverly Hills? How about a plastic surgery drive-thru? Tuck'n Go

 

[Pablo]

If you own a lube place you can do bong hits at lunch and help your employees mess up people's cars in the afternoon.

Sorry, sorry I was ONLY making a particularly bad joke.

I was thinking about a Jiffy Lube and got about the same ballpark numbers as Gary. I figured I could do better on my money in the stock market and keep my day (and night) jobs.

I DO, however, like the idea of a mobile lube. Contact me off line.

 

[surfstar]

You guys are thinking about it wrong - you gotta offer something that the other ones DON'T...

...you've heard of Bikini Car Washes? How about a BIKINI OIL CHANGE?

I'm sure some blonde bimbos would do just as well as the standard iffy lube tech when it comes to changing oil and I bet they'd be GREAT at upselling! You'd probably have some customers coming in for weekly oil changes

 

[Schmoe]

You could also offer vehicle State inspections, if your State has that requirement. Be wary of the environmental problems. There may have been a underground storage tank there at one time and leaking like crazy. YOU'LL be the one responsible for cleaning that up. Sure you can sue the former owners,if you can find them, but you will be the one that will have to pay upfront.

 

[Gary Allan]

The MAN LUBE SHOP® (The Man Show).

You could still use males for the lube techs. Just have a female trampoline aerobics class within easy view of the waiting area.

 

[M1Accord]

There is no coffee house, clothing store or anything around here except a few lunch diners that cater to the Navy base. This must be a deadliest Navy town on earth even though the base has about 5000 workers in addition to 2000 contractors. This town is dead so I figure I start something like that. I figure I can go their office, pick the cars up, and return it with fresh oil and filter every 3k 3months.

The building itself was a tune-up joint that bellied up. I just want to be my own boss and have a fun job. I doubt I make as much with the lube place as my office job now, but I will be happier.

 

[GMGuy]

Whats located on the navy base? Somebody in there may run their own oil operation for folks on base. There goes one chunk of your potential customer base. Something to check into at the least.

What sort of offices are around? Is the customer base one that would be receptive to you taking their car for a joy ride down the road to a lube place? Who is going to drive the cars? You can't be in multiple places at once. What happens when you decided to add another car jockey to the mix? What if there is an accident? Missing items from the car? Other driveability issues? Quite frankly, too much liability as you WILL get blamed for the flat tire, the empty gas tank (theres another one you'll learn, people leaving you with an empty tank to deal with), the shimmy in the steering, the bad alignment (becuase you obviously hit a curb with their car), the rattle that wasn't there this morning, etc, etc.

What was the cause of the tune up joint to go belly up? Lack of customer base? - - - - - - management? Too many other independant shops scattered around?

You've got to look at the negatives as closely, if not moreso than the positives clouding the big picture.

Alex.