Future of Quick Lube Places

[BossMoss]

So with BMWs going 18k miles between oil changes and electric cars coming, these businesses are seeing the writing on the wall.

There is money to be made, but they need to evolve.

Tesla is famous for not providing any guidance for DIY owners wanting to fix something; I think it's because Teslas are so simple that they'll lose market share on repairs easily. And even sales as people go about making their own. There's a YouTube video of a Tesla powered Audi.

But I think these quick lube joints must now start offering more and more services esp whatever electric car owners need, which isn't much to begin with. Maybe discounted charging.

 

[CT8]

There are that many electric cars?

 

[Leo99]

Eventually, there will be many electric cars and cars that have very extended OCI. But by then most people won't own cars. We'll just Uber everywhere.

 

[bdcardinal]

Why do you think quick lube places, and frankly dealers also, push so many upsells? You take an oil change that you either break even on or maybe lose money on and add profit to the repair order.

 

[eljefino]

I remember when Midas and Meineke were "Muffler shops" then "mufflers and brakes", "undercar experts" and now some happy sounding maintenance place that mentions oil changes and tires in their commercials.

Exhausts used to rot out in 2-3 years with leaded gas and non-stainless pipe.

 

[RooflessVW]

It's all about the upsell. Cheaper wins to get people in the door, period.

There are more cars than ever and their operators are less informed.

The average vehicle age keeps climbing and will continue to climb as new cars get more and more expensive.

 

[NHGUY]

I don't think diesel trucks and normal gas pickups/SUVs are going anywhere.

 

[Mainia]

Originally Posted by Leo99
Eventually, there will be many electric cars and cars that have very extended OCI. But by then most people won't own cars. We'll just Uber everywhere.


A utopian Progressive /Marxist dream you have. And then we will have 25 more Nuclear power plants to contend with, with your mass electric car dream.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Modern nukes are very efficient and have gotten a bad reputation only through distortions pushed by the radical environmentalists.


Add to that the unbelievable expense of radical modernization of our power grid...

 

[camrydriver111]

Everything I don't like is Marxism.

 

[supton]

Trends come, trends go? General stores came and went (sorta), mail order, full service gas stations, milk delivery, TV repairmen. Quickie lubes could be the same thing, marginalized to outer corners if there is no money to be made. Not every business opportunity will last forever.

They could morph into quickie charge & vac places. Pull in, plug your car in for a 15 minute charge and maybe some guy does a quick vac on the interior. Maybe wash it too? Ok maybe that's for more upscale places. But you get the idea.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted by SteveSRT8
Modern nukes are very efficient and have gotten a bad reputation only through distortions pushed by the radical environmentalists.

Add to that the unbelievable expense of radical modernization of our power grid...

+1 I think the vast majority of members here are environmentally aware me included and do not want dirty air, water or see plastic trash or anything else polluting the earth.
I would also love to see nuclear power back as the standard. Its the radicals that damage the way responsible environmentalism is perceived.

 

[Tahoe4Life]

Originally Posted by BossMoss
So with BMWs going 18k miles between oil changes and electric cars coming, these businesses are seeing the writing on the wall.

There is money to be made, but they need to evolve.



99.9% of them need to out of business. All they do is rip people off. Worse then the stealerships.

 

[Ursatdx]

Quote
99.9% of them need to out of business. All they do is rip people off. Worse then the stealerships.

All gun owners are murderers.
Doctors are all quacks.
Lawyers are all unethical...........

Ignorant generalization and bad grammar.

 

[dtownfb]

in 2017, 17.6 million new cars were sold; only 200,000 were electric cars. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/0...er-for-electric-vehicle-sales-in-the-us/

With the quality of motor oil and engine reliability, oil change intervals are much longer but there are a couple hundred MILLION used cars still in circulation that need regular maintenance, 5k-7.5k oci. Most of these people don't go to the dealership and don't have a regular indie mechanic, so these Quick Lube places can fill the gap for at least another decade or two.

 

[chainblu]

There are still millions of gas/diesel vehicles on the road, electric cars are very much a small percentage. The average BMW driver doesn't use quickie lubes anyway. I'm not knocking quick lubes, but if I drove a BMW (or other high end car) I wouldn't be taking it to Jiffy Lube.

As long as people live in apartment complexes and HOAs, they are going to have to go somewhere to get their oil changed.

And with the up and coming generation who are afraid to get their hands dirty, much less know how to change oil, quickie lubes are going to be around for a long time.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Jiffy Lube pushes 3k OCI's and extra services you don't need regardless of the factory OCI. So it doesn't matter that a BMW calls for 18k because they'll still come in every 3k

For the electric cars, if Jiffy Lube made a Jiffy charging station with like 2000 V that can charge in 5 minutes, that might be successful. But still, like others have said, the EV market is still very small and not mature yet.

 

[MCompact]

FYI, as of several years ago BMW has backed that recommendation down to 10k...

 

[SeaJay]

At the same time that cars need fewer oil changes, there are more and more people in the car driving public that will never change the oil themselves. Its not clear the net impact of these two changes to the quick lube market. Loyal BITOGers who will always change their own oil as a population are aging out.

 

[PimTac]

The instant oil change places are already offering other services. The adaptation has already begun.

https://www.vioc.com