small jobs

[junkyardwarrior]

I work at a dealership. Powersports if it matters.

Something that occurred to me recently (I've been there 2 years, prior 30 years at another dealer) is that customers are getting billed $180 for an oil change. Granted, we use only OE parts, and parts alone are about $60 depending on the model, usually 3 quarts of engine oil and an oil filter. Plus 0.75 hr labor, which includes a check over of the unit.

We're looking for a way to reduce that cost to the customer without hurting the techs. 2 techs, both work on salary + commission. Also have one guy who can possibly do oil changes, he doesn't get paid all that much and it shows. No lift in his bay, though. He does mostly accessory installation and audio systems and that's about the extent of his knowledge.

We thought about utilizing our accessory installer as an oil change tech, and do nothing but oil changes one or two days a week, say Tues and Thurs. Then work on reducing the cost of labor and parts so that we can have a competitive edge on the competition. Most everyone in the area is similarly priced. Of course while the oil's draining out he can go shake a wheel looking for wheel bearings, axle boots, tie rods, ball joints, etc. I'm after keeping customers safe and happy over trying to make a buck.

How do the "10 min oil change" places make any money? Volume only or??

 

[jhelrey]

Upsell. Engine air filter. Cabin filter. Nitrogen. Etc.

 

[dcg9381]

How do the "10 min oil change" places make any money? Volume only or??

Via all the things that they tell my spouse have to be done. 3 year old car with 20k miles? Needs throttle body cleaning, injector flush, brake fluid needs to be replaced. Cabin and engine oil filter are recommended every oil change without fail. Those are the recent ones. And yea, they'll absolutely tell her that the filter I just put in "looks bad" and charge her $40 for it.

I get a phone call from her, without fail, every single oil change.

It's probably not all gender based. I've had a Ford service writer send me photos of a dirty *** throttle body - whatever they photographed wasn't my vehicle. And I've had a RAM service writer tell me that per manufacturer guidelines, I'm due for a transmission flush at 25k. The latter, I signed the ticket "authorizing maintenance per manufacturer schedule in owners manual". They billed me for it. I made a big stink to the manager and the dealership ate it. The service write backpeddled and blamed it on the mechanic as a "mechanic recommendation". Whatever.

We thought about utilizing our accessory installer as an oil change tech, and do nothing but oil changes one or two days a week, say Tues and Thurs.

Lots of liability in an oil change. How much variation do you see in powersports? On my Polaris, it's ridculously easy to strip some of the fill/drain plugs. Walmart does what you're thinking about. Apparently they pay their "lube" techs less than $15/hr average. I know they have a fair number of insurance claims, but they also see a lot of variation in vehicles.

 

[d.mcfarland]

Upsell.

This. Lower the cost of the oil change as a loss leader just like most place and once people are in the door, the courtesy check over results in a list of "recommended maintenance".


You can't reduce the cost to customer, keep payment to the workers the same, and keep profits to the owner the same as they are now. IMPOSSIBLE. In that business love triangle, somebody gets hurt.

 

[Bacon!]

This is not a hard one. You can probably find filter and 3 qts oil less than $60 without sacrificing quality.

You can probably spend a lot less than 0.75hrs per vehicle checking the things listed, which can be checked in the amount of time it takes to drain the oil. The extra 0.5hrs per vehicle what are they doing? As a customer I'd be fairly irritated if I had an appointment booked and still had to wait nearly an hour for an oil change, by the time I was processed in, paid and left. That's my time wasted after having to drive back and forth too, when I could do it at home in ... 10 minutes and probably $15 for filter and oil.

 

[dgithens1]

I'm someone who pays the price at a local shop, they are honest and will give me a list of things that will need attention in advance. It's worth it to me to pay they extra in a situation where all parties are content. I always heard growing up " cheap work isn't good...good work isn't cheap".

 

[P0234]

Are you that able to handle additional volume? If you have customers happy to pay full price, why short change yourself?

If it were me, I'd offer a coupon for the tightwads and note on it that you don't do any inspection. Let the accessory guy do two at a time (or more if he can handle it), there is a ton of time lost in oil changes waiting on stuff.

 

[rd65]

First, most responders didn't read Powersports in the original posting. Powersports aren't cars, oils are expensive, especially if you use factory oils/filters/drain gaskets. The amount of time it takes to do a "simple" oil change can easily take 30-45 minutes by the time to roll the bike onto your lift, get your parts, and actually do the work.
Second, if you are going to start using oil changes as an upsell be sure to talk this over with your parts dept manager. When I was in the industry we would go to Lemco meetings once or twice a year. During one trip we toured a dealership in Denver that claimed to sell something like 1500-2000 tires a year, in Powersports that is a crazy number of tires. They sold tires cheap (almost no markup) tire prices to inspect and upsell related parts. Yet as we walked through the parts and service departments, we saw no large backstock of these parts they were upselling; brake pads, belts, chain/sprockets, etc. If your parts dept can't support you by having parts on hand then what is the point?

 

[theoldwizard1]

How do the "10 min oil change" places make any money? Volume only or??

Most do NOT use OE oil or filters.

 

[kbeefy]

Then work on reducing the cost of labor and parts so that we can have a competitive edge on the competition. Most everyone in the area is similarly priced.

Instead of reducing cost, increase service/value/trust.
Our motto was the car only gets what it needs, no frivolous upsells. If I was pitching an upsell I had hard evidence from the customers vehicle that it was a good idea, and we weren't afraid to take the customer back and show them. I think my lube techs favorite thing to do was bring cabin air filters up to show customers. Many quick lube shops skip them and they are often a mess.

I was able to increase profit margins by buying in bulk and large volumes at trade shows.
I cut my cost of oil and filters basically in half, but it took a large investment up front and a lot of inventory sitting around.
We were a small independant shop w/ 3 mechanics, I think our last purchase before I sold the shop was 350 gallons of bulk oil and 500-600 filters.

If it were me, I'd offer a coupon for the tightwads and note on it that you don't do any inspection.

Thats the last customer I'd want in my shop. I'd give them the address and phone number for my competition.

 

[kbeefy]

Most do NOT use OE oil or filters.

Yeah, they get garbage from wholesalers like 'Champ'. About $1/ filter. Not on my car.

 

[seber]

Pretty easy to make a profit if you use the cheapest oil and filters available. An oil change can literally be done in ten minutes. One guy in the pit drains the oil and changes the filter if it is there. One on top dumps the appropriate oil and changes the filter if it is on top. The guy on top can serve two bays. That way, three men can change oil in two cars in ten minutes tops.

 

[Bacon!]

Yeah, they get garbage from wholesalers like 'Champ'. About $1/ filter. Not on my car.

These aren't cars but... there's usually a middle ground, not getting raped by the OEM pricing structure, and not buying the cheapest junk, either.

(the rest of this is not a response to your post, just comments on the rest of the topic replies)

I noticed Powersports just fine, and it is not likely that someone hasn't stepped up to the plate to make good quality $10 filters and oil... don't try to tell me it's special. It's not, if you buy a major brand you might even get better than OEM oil.

It's not being cheap to refuse to overpay for things. Want to earn the money? Then do it. $180 for a 3 qt oil change is absurd. The people paying that probably shouldn't be operating the vehicles in the first place, OR are not your typical consumers, are sponsored or rich but lazy, and just want to detach themselves from *things*.

 

[Bacon!]

Instead of reducing cost, increase service/value/trust.

LOL, there is no way to do that. If they come in for an oil change, it's already untrustworthy to charge $180 and piling on the *gravy* looks like a con artist. If someone wants a higher level of service, that's an inspection line item, not something you try to attach to an oil change. An oil change is only that. Multi-point inspection, it's a common thing for sure, but only if it adds no extra cost and the shop bears that time (expense) by paying for it if/when they find legit problems... except see below.

Our motto was the car only gets what it needs, no frivolous upsells. If I was pitching an upsell I had hard evidence from the customers vehicle that it was a good idea, and we weren't afraid to take the customer back and show them. I think my lube techs favorite thing to do was bring cabin air filters up to show customers. Many quick lube shops skip them and they are often a mess.

At first I was reading this and was like, okay that's a good philosophy. Then I realized, NO! I don't want to pay extra to have my cabin air filter checked. That is not an oil change. As often as not, someone messing with filter housings is going to screw something up, break a plastic latch or housing then not own up to it, and even worse, the filter housing for an engine won't latch down so dirty air gets in until the next mechanic (or owner) notices. Seen it happen a few times, enough that I sometimes instruct people "TELL THEM SPECIFICALLY TO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING BESIDES DOING THE OIL CHANGE".

The usual problem is that the person doing the oil change, and these probative checks, is the low paid grunt, and in a hurry at that, and makes mistakes, and is afraid to own up to them. Far better to just ask the customer, "how long since your last cabin air filter replacement" which is minimal time, no labor, and not intrusive surgery.

I was able to increase profit margins by buying in bulk and large volumes at trade shows.
I cut my cost of oil and filters basically in half, but it took a large investment up front and a lot of inventory sitting around.
We were a small independant shop w/ 3 mechanics, I think our last purchase before I sold the shop was 350 gallons of bulk oil and 500-600 filters.



Thats the last customer I'd want in my shop. I'd give them the address and phone number for my competition.

You have a point in that there are customers from hell, but you sort of bring it on yourself in that if you try to charge an obscene price for service, they want the red carpet rolled out and some (blank) kissing happening.

This topic seems to be turning into people trying to justify ways to extract more money from customers than they deserve. It's the age old game, can you pre-plan and out-think someone less knowledgable than you to get maximum money out of them. This fraud has been around since the beginning of money and... I have no respect for that. You deserve to earn a living, the key word here being earn.

 

[junkyardwarrior]

That is exactly what some shops do, charge an absurd amount of money for nothing-and pile the "upsells" onto it.

I'm at a powersports dealership, one major brand 2 smaller brands. 90% of the major, 5% of the other two in sales numbers.

The major brand, we are looking at an oil change of about $180. That's 0.75 hour labor plus 3 quarts and a filter. Taxes and fees. It ends up at about $177 and change. $180 to any customer because customers never round down.

There are issues getting cheap fluids and filters. Other dealer I was at for 30 years, we did this. It bit us hard 3 separate occasions. First one was a Mule 2510 oil change. Big deal it's just a lawn mower engine. We (dealer) had to eat a $1300 (MSRP at that time) engine because a $0.87 chincanese oil filter failed while running, owner didnt know it and kept going. Grenaded it. Had another Mule do the same thing, same filter. Thought we'd have learned from the first one. Final nail in that coffin was another cheap filter that wouldn't pass enough oil on a Yamaha Venture 1300. You don't buy Venture engines. You buy every single part to build them. That engine might as well have been an Audi. Overcomplicated, way too many pieces and parts, and way too expensive. We (shop) were into that one around $6800 (dealer cost) for parts alone, plus we lost a customer and countless others who the owner told. "We" did nothing wrong, customer wanted a cheap oil change and that's what he got. Unfortunately there was no way for us to prove that he asked for the cheapest, and that filter...proven defective, the company doesn't stand behind them-at all. That's the downside to using aftermarket stuff. Polaris, had one filter fail and Polaris ate the entire cost to repair, 100% of it.

I spoke to the boss about this the other day and we discussed how much an oil change costs, and how that impacts the customer's perception of the business. We kind of came to the conclusion that some customers will pay that extra cost knowing that we actually do check stuff over, but then there's some that will go across town to the cheapest repair shop that they can find and pay 'em $50 to do the same job using aftermarket stuff. We can also do that, however there needs to be some clarification as to what the shop warranty will cover. In other words, if they want a cheap oil change, there is no guarantee. Normally we carry 90 days which is what Polaris parts warranty is, and I would assume that most OE manufacturers are similar if not the same. Yamaha and Kawasaki were/are, Honda I think is as well. Kubota too although getting through Kubota's warranty system is a nightmare in itself, which most techs prefer not to use for that reason alone. Sometimes spend more time on the administrative end than the actual job, and that's assuming you actually get paid. Some claims went a year or more before getting paid which is absurd. And some didn't get paid at all...those are losses. You don't get to eat many losses before the boss is breathing down your neck. Customers never see that stuff though. Had a $32,000 excavator engine repair go unpaid. Job completed the first part of July 2019, I left the dealer in Oct 2020 and it was still not paid. Anyway....

I think that's about the only way we can do this. Offer a cheap oil change, which can not take more than 30 minutes' time, and cannot use OEM parts, only aftermarket. 3 quarts of cheap junk costs us about $18 and a cheap filter costs us about $5 as best I can tell. I haven't looked very hard yet. Just our two aftermarket vendors so far. Then have to make it perfectly clear to the consumer that there is no warranty on the cheap oil changes. The downside to cheap oil changes is that it attracts every type of customer. Generally speaking, those who choose to pay extra for OEM (as it is currently) expect a higher price-and a higher level of service (checkover, etc). Cheap customers don't have very high expectations and they can often be harder to deal with if you see a loose wheel bearing while it's on the rack. Also we'd have to pay the assembly tech (strictly hourly) to do this and hope that he knows what he's doing. Stripping out an allen head drain bolt turns a $50 (or whatever) oil change into a very expensive one quickly.

another idea I had. Offer a cheap OEM oil change with no check over as a level two oil change. Level one being a cheap, no frills, aftermarket stuff. On L2, offer (but not push) a wash job. My girlfriend? She does NOT let me change oil in her car. Why? I'm a mechanic. She goes to wally world and they do it for the same cost, plus they halfway vacuum out her car while she's shopping. Convenience. I don't vacuum it, I tell her to get off her lazy **** and do it herself while I'm barbecuing dinner or mowing the grass or doing the laundry...you get the idea. Level three, oil change + check over + hand wash. We have a detail guy and he does a decent job, for little money. I don't know how long he'll stay but the boss has a list of others who can do the same job for the same money. One is a halfway decent lookin' 30 yr old young lady who loves just being around the equipment in general...she washes people's side-by-side's at big events, and gets paid pretty good to do it in just tips. I told the boss that if she wants to work and she's reliable, let her work with the current detail guy until he quits.

Lots to think about on this deal and I certainly appreciate most of the comments. I find them constructive.

 

[Copymutt]

Simple!
Customer drops off their vehicle, it goes out the back door to the quick lube down the street. Your techs are now freed up to make money. Have a dealer courtesy driver run em or make arrangement w/ the quick lube to pick up & deliver.
Any other problems?

 

[2ndGearRubber]

What is the goal? Why do you want oil changes? As others said, these are loser tickets with high levels of liability. Keep it at $180 and actually fix vehicles, powersports or otherwise.

Oil changes take resources away from the front desk and the shop, to at best break even. If you want to pressure sell gravy, that's "fine" in a business sense, morally not so much. But reading the OP it sounds like the shop is trying to do cheaper oil changes for the purpose of oil change "business", which itself has zero value. When the lube blows up the first motor, who is paying for that? The techs getting paid their full rate to swap it?


Sell a process to inspect the vehicle for safety and reliability to concerns. You want to go riding this weekend, or drag a deer out of the valley with the quad? Don't be broken down, trust our factory trained techs.

Oil is a loser. Charge what you charge for it. Inspection by skilled tradesman is what you actually want, because you want to identify safety and reliability issues to correct. So forget the oil and sell you skill, not a cheap oil change.


EDIT: We still have people calling several YEARS after my employer discontinued a $19.99 oil change. God that was awful. And they're still bitching it has not returned. We barely make anything at $35/oil changes, but at least it keeps the riff raff out.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

FWIW - if you as a business are offering a shittier service, like an oil change with shoddy parts, or installing random customer supplied parts, you will still be liable in civil court. All the disclaimers you like, when their POS ebay radiator blows out a side tank, the judge will say YOU as the professional are liable for this. You're the pro, you should be qualifying all parts and processes to a professional standard. If you do a cheap oil change, and that wheel bearing that was loose fails the next day and kills someone when the quad hits a tree, your business WILL be litigated against for negligence. So be cautious prior to putting lube-**** in charge of "inspecting" a vehicle.


Your lube techs will primarily damage customer vehicles and consume marijuana via their vapes.

 

[rd65]

Too many Powersports GM's try to model automotive shops. They ARE NOT THE SAME thing. Not even close. I left the industry in Jan 09. Large dealership, 4 or 5 large brands plus a couple little brands. Very busy service department with 5-8 techs depending on the season (we had snowmobiles so stayed busy in the winter). Interviewed at another dealership that sold about the same number of units/month as we did but their service department had half the techs. I asked why that was. They didn't like that question and didn't have an answer for it either. Mind you this is an area north of Seattle, not California. Very seasonal here. Personally I would never work service in a dealership again, maybe parts as a hobby type job during retirement. Hard to make it a career in this area.

 

[purplezr2]

I work at a dealership. Powersports if it matters.

Something that occurred to me recently (I've been there 2 years, prior 30 years at another dealer) is that customers are getting billed $180 for an oil change. Granted, we use only OE parts, and parts alone are about $60 depending on the model, usually 3 quarts of engine oil and an oil filter. Plus 0.75 hr labor, which includes a check over of the unit.

We're looking for a way to reduce that cost to the customer without hurting the techs. 2 techs, both work on salary + commission. Also have one guy who can possibly do oil changes, he doesn't get paid all that much and it shows. No lift in his bay, though. He does mostly accessory installation and audio systems and that's about the extent of his knowledge.

We thought about utilizing our accessory installer as an oil change tech, and do nothing but oil changes one or two days a week, say Tues and Thurs. Then work on reducing the cost of labor and parts so that we can have a competitive edge on the competition. Most everyone in the area is similarly priced. Of course while the oil's draining out he can go shake a wheel looking for wheel bearings, axle boots, tie rods, ball joints, etc. I'm after keeping customers safe and happy over trying to make a buck.

How do the "10 min oil change" places make any money? Volume only or??

Does the OEM you rep for offer the oil in bulk?

This is one thing that lots of dealers don't take advantage of, instead will use the kits because it is easier. I know that some OEM offer oil in bulk under a different sku.

 

[kbeefy]

Just to reiterate, oil changes are the highest liability, with the lowest profit, often being done by the guy with the least experience.
The only 2 motors I had to buy were due to our own botched oil changes. 3 that I changed for customers were due to other shops botched oil changes.

LOL, there is no way to do that. If they come in for an oil change, it's already untrustworthy to charge $180 and piling on the *gravy* looks like a con artist.

There is, but not if you treat your customers the way you describe.

Clean Lobby, Clean restrooms, well lit building and lot, clean shop, polite and personable service adviser.
Good coffee, snacks available, my wife (who worked in the office) would often make breakfast for our mechanics and any customers that happened to be there, same (but less often) with lunch. Courtesy rides for pick up/ drop off if available.

We had many customers, referrals, and good reviews because we were just nicer and cleaner than most other shops. I don't believe I ever took anyone into the shop to their car for whatever reason that didn't comment 'wow, this is way nicer than I expected'.


When I was looking into getting into powersports service and repair, there wasn't any 'LOF', it was a 500 or 1000 mile 'service' and it started at $500. And everyone local was backed up 3+ months... maybe different in different areas.

 

[P0234]

Just to reiterate, oil changes are the highest liability, with the lowest profit, often being done by the guy with the least experience.
The only 2 motors I had to buy were due to our own botched oil changes. 3 that I changed for customers were due to other shops botched oil changes.



There is, but not if you treat your customers the way you describe.

Clean Lobby, Clean restrooms, well lit building and lot, clean shop, polite and personable service adviser.
Good coffee, snacks available, my wife (who worked in the office) would often make breakfast for our mechanics and any customers that happened to be there, same (but less often) with lunch. Courtesy rides for pick up/ drop off if available.

We had many customers, referrals, and good reviews because we were just nicer and cleaner than most other shops. I don't believe I ever took anyone into the shop to their car for whatever reason that didn't comment 'wow, this is way nicer than I expected'.


When I was looking into getting into powersports service and repair, there wasn't any 'LOF', it was a 500 or 1000 mile 'service' and it started at $500. And everyone local was backed up 3+ months... maybe different in different areas.

That stuff does help up to a point, but just keep in mind, there are customers like me that see all that **** and say, awesome, I don't really want to pay for Cleetus sitting in the corner eating snacks and drinking sodas and watching HBO. It might be why I used to take my wife's leased Acura to Honda for oil changes. Clean but basic lobby, no snacks or drinks, but same oil and filter for 1/3 the price.

 

[Ton ton]

Thank you for the thread, OP. I don't have any answers but I did learn a lot reading through it.

 

[junkyardwarrior]

Does the OEM you rep for offer the oil in bulk?

This is one thing that lots of dealers don't take advantage of, instead will use the kits because it is easier. I know that some OEM offer oil in bulk under a different sku.

yes we have drums of engine oil as well as drums of trans oil. Now, if I could get the boss to order a drum BEFORE we run completely out, it'd sure save us some headache. But that's another ordeal. You don't order a drum on a regular order. You order it on an "oil order", which incurs a discount and free freight. The freight on 4 drums is pretty substantial so those who're watching this with intentions of learning things, there you go. Keep an eye on the mfg "sale" prices too. We take advantage of them every opportunity we can.

 

[junkyardwarrior]

FWIW - if you as a business are offering a shittier service, like an oil change with shoddy parts, or installing random customer supplied parts, you will still be liable in civil court. All the disclaimers you like, when their POS ebay radiator blows out a side tank, the judge will say YOU as the professional are liable for this. You're the pro, you should be qualifying all parts and processes to a professional standard. If you do a cheap oil change, and that wheel bearing that was loose fails the next day and kills someone when the quad hits a tree, your business WILL be litigated against for negligence. So be cautious prior to putting lube-**** in charge of "inspecting" a vehicle.


Your lube techs will primarily damage customer vehicles and consume marijuana via their vapes.

been through this and you're not wrong, however the frequency of these things happening is quite rare relatively speaking. Maybe in the automotive business it could be more common. I've only experienced one instance in 32 years in powersports and Ag. This occurrance was Ag and was a shared fault between the manufacturer designing the equipment as such, and the tech doing the repair. This instance was due to a double-gasketed oil filter. On that particular unit, the oil filter is, at best, inaccessible. I can think of other terms that techs use that are much more appropriate for the situation. You don't see it, you just barely kinda feel around for it and hopefully it comes off by hand (most of them do) because a wrench does not get in there. Once off, you cannot fell the gasket. The filter drops into a skid pan, also inaccessible unless you take the pans off-which takes about an hour if you're quick (and requires pole jacks and a lift because the pans are ~1/4" thick steel). Now you fumble around and pull the filter out of the pan. Gasket is missing? Well it's probably laying in the bottom of the pan and in itself is of no issue. Screw new filter on by fumbling around....drop the new filter in the pan a couple times fumbling around trying to get it to start onto the ******. If you're lucky it'll go on the first time. IF that happens, buy powerball tickets on break!! You cannot reach the block without pulling the pans and/or the engine to feel for the gasket, can't see it (buried behind coolers, hoses, pipes, belts, and about everything else). Manufacturer picked up the tab on this deal (destroyed engine) but it left a mark in the customers' eye, as well as the tech. The tech was I. I'd warned the manufacturer about this happening several times and the reps didn't listen. It finally happened and they owned up to it obviously but it doesn't matter as I lost a customer, I felt like an idiot, the boss looked at me like I'm an idiot, and in the end nobody won.

the vape thing, drives me stupid. We've got 3 people in the dealer that use them and they just think that vaping around everyone else is just fine since "it's not smoking". Nobody knows what's in that stuff. I don't know, they don't know, maybe the people who make it know but they ain't telling. It was a HUGE deal at the last place I worked at and untimately was one of the major reasons I left that job-29 years there. Boss wasn't enforcing anything so I had to go higher up, the owners didn't really care since they were 500+ miles away, then I had to go to the state since vaping is legally considered smoking, and in this state is illegal inside public places. I hated to have to do it but it needed to be done based on customer feedback. Had one instance where an idiot "lube tech" (there are better more fitting terms for him) jumped into a customer's cabbed tractor, lights up a cigarette and drives it around for the customer to pick it up. This customer is real picky and, like me, extremely sensitive to smoke. Dude climbed up into his tractor to drive it off, and got right back out, hollers at me and throws a fit-and he was right to do so. I had to pay a detail guy to come clean that sucker. $225. "Lube tech" was terminated. He wasn't really a lube tech but you get the idea.

And the poster is right, Powersports is completely different than automotive. I've known that for decades but managers and owners seem to use the automotive industry model to compare. Now if we could only get customers to understand the differences....

 

[bobg03]

Why would you want to become the Jiffy Lube of the Powersports industry.

A reasonable customer is going to look at your levels of service and say FI, they're gonna use the cheap **** anyway why pay the higher level.

I had a collection of MC's all Harleys, and a local independent that was a one man show. Having 3 bikes I could leave one and still have 2 to ride, as an oil change might be 5 days. He was more $$$ than the Mothership was but he made care recommendations based on what he saw and also built two of the motors and I felt he had a vested interest.

B4 Joe DIY comments, I worked an unusual schedule and traveled, when I was home I didn't want to do oil changes. I wanted to ride.

 

[P0234]

Why would you want to become the Jiffy Lube of the Powersports industry.

Oh I dunno, maybe because they have 1.7B in revenue a year? Enough spare change to buy this:



A great quote from Henry Ford: "Sell to the. masses, eat with the classes." Look at all the business that cater to the masses, Walmart, Home Depot, huge, very successful businesses. Businesses that deal with high profit, low volume never scale up.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Oh I dunno, maybe because they have 1.7B in revenue a year? Enough spare change to buy this:



A great quote from Henry Ford: "Sell to the. masses, eat with the classes." Look at all the business that cater to the masses, Walmart, Home Depot, huge, very successful businesses. Businesses that deal with high profit, low volume never scale up.

LOL

The Mexican cartels make a lot in revenue too.

Nobody wants to dump oil with a max wage of 15/hour and no benefits. 50 cars a day and your ARO is sub $100 because all you're doing is spilling oil.

Unless youre.going to pressure sale, the model does not work. JL themselves will tell you that.

 

[Ton ton]

You can sell the used oil to people with clean- burn style waste oil furnaces. Especially if you have a cold winter.

 

[rd65]

Everybody wants low prices but they dont want the lowest paid rookie to work on their bike either. I spent 13 years working in Powersports service departments, never again. It is one thing to battle with customers but to have to continue that battle with GM's and Sales Managers is just too much to take. As I say "Sales dept may be one of my best customers but, I am your ONLY service department" If there was a small shop near me I would love to work there in my retirement years - in the parts dept.

 

[P0234]

LOL

The Mexican cartels make a lot in revenue too.

Nobody wants to dump oil with a max wage of 15/hour and no benefits. 50 cars a day and your ARO is sub $100 because all you're doing is spilling oil.

Unless youre.going to pressure sale, the model does not work. JL themselves will tell you that.

Do you see the mexican cartels trying to sell a premium product? Nope, all they try to do is expand their territory and lower their prices. Exactly what Sam Walton was a pro at. Anyone thinking they are going to get rich by increasing prices and offering premium services should look around.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Do you see the mexican cartels trying to sell a premium product? Nope, all they try to do is expand their territory and lower their prices. Exactly what Sam Walton was a pro at. Anyone thinking they are going to get rich by increasing prices and offering premium services should look around.

Actually they've made their product quite premium by cutting in Fentanyl.


Feel free to open a shop doing cheap oil changes on anything you choose. You'll quickly see its a loser.

 

[P0234]

Actually they've made their product quite premium by cutting in Fentanyl.


Feel free to open a shop doing cheap oil changes on anything you choose. You'll quickly see its a loser.

I'm sure that's exactly what someone told the owners if Jiffy Lube. Ignore what's undisputed in business, doesn't bother me. Good luck with your Premium Power Sports repair shop.... ping me when you get to the franchising phase, ok?

 

[junkyardwarrior]

well, an update

we got the assembly guy trained up to dump oil. He likes doing it, too. The problem is (and you guys warned us) is that you don't make any money, and the bigger problem is that when you push volume you get more chances for mistakes to be made. I do spot checks and have found loose filters and a couple times, underfilled. Not "out" just not quite full. He seems to think he can make more money elsewhere doing less work and he's probably right. So long.

The reason we have been considering doing this is because of some customers complaining about the cost of a basic service. So what we've done is give them a 50 point check. In other words while the oil is draining we go shake a wheel to check bushings and bearings and such. Tires look worn? Mark it down on the checklist. What I have been noticing is that the SM will call customer once the unit is finished and then explain the issues that were found. In all but one instance, they had no idea. I guess they're used to the suspension clunking and rattling, I don't know. But, regardless, it's been a way to justify the cost of us techs doing oil changes. Out of maybe 50 "oil change" customers, I'd say we've been able to identify problems or potential problems on 35 of those, and out of those theoretical 35, 34 of them agreed to repair those issues. Several of those were safety-related issues (seat belts, etc).

Appreciate all the ideas and such, gives me a lot to think on.

 

[joecon]

If you go the low-cost route all you will attract is people who do not spend money or have no money to spend. The most important part of the oil change service is the inspection. The oil change is the only chance you get to inspect the customer vehicle, the customer drives the vehicle day after day, do they check it to see if it is safe to drive, or do they wait until something fails then bring it in to be repaired, or they have damaged it beyond repair (hopefully without hurting anyone). If you use high quality parts and provide a thorough inspection, charge what you have to and if the customers do not want to pay for that work, do you think they will pay to replace the brake pads that are worn out or the ball joint that is out of spec. They will decline the repair and ignore it or take it down the road for a lower price. If you go cheap you can get more customers, but will they be the ones you want.

 

[rust in the eye]

I have not read the other replies so forgive me if missing something here.
My understanding from the original post is that you wish to reduce customer costs without hurting the "techs".
By my reckoning, using your figures ($180 total charge, $60(max) parts cost and .75 hrs. labor) it appears you are charging $160/hr. for labor. To change oil.
$160/hr. for unskilled labor seems a bit much. No?
The quick lube joints recognize that no special skill, beyond the ability to fog a mirror, is required for this task so pay and charge accordingly.
Seems to me your customers are being gouged so relieving that ought to be easy enough.

 

[P0234]

well, an update

we got the assembly guy trained up to dump oil. He likes doing it, too. The problem is (and you guys warned us) is that you don't make any money, and the bigger problem is that when you push volume you get more chances for mistakes to be made. I do spot checks and have found loose filters and a couple times, underfilled. Not "out" just not quite full. He seems to think he can make more money elsewhere doing less work and he's probably right. So long.

The reason we have been considering doing this is because of some customers complaining about the cost of a basic service. So what we've done is give them a 50 point check. In other words while the oil is draining we go shake a wheel to check bushings and bearings and such. Tires look worn? Mark it down on the checklist. What I have been noticing is that the SM will call customer once the unit is finished and then explain the issues that were found. In all but one instance, they had no idea. I guess they're used to the suspension clunking and rattling, I don't know. But, regardless, it's been a way to justify the cost of us techs doing oil changes. Out of maybe 50 "oil change" customers, I'd say we've been able to identify problems or potential problems on 35 of those, and out of those theoretical 35, 34 of them agreed to repair those issues. Several of those were safety-related issues (seat belts, etc).

Appreciate all the ideas and such, gives me a lot to think on.

Do you actually want this to work, or do you want it to fail? The way I'm reading it, it sounds like you are happy to prove your management wrong.

 

[toolenthusiast]

$160/hr. for unskilled labor seems a bit much.

1. There’s no such thing as unskilled labor
2. Mechanics are not unskilled labor
3. Used engine oil is flippin’ carcinogenic
4. There’s no such thing as unskilled labor
5. Just the ability to hoist a car without squishing yourself to death is a skill
6. I’ll wager that you want a “skillful” person working on your car
7. There’s no such thing as unskilled labor

 

[ForrestT]

I’ve enjoyed this post. Unfortunately this post and things in it are why I’ve started to learn how to do my own service: mowers, four wheelers, cars, and truck. I’d much rather take it to the dealer, but when my wife’s Subaru runs $110 for an oil change, I figured I can learn how to do it. One step daughter in college, one in high school. Prices rising, inflation, etc. it’s time I learned.

 

[rd65]

Once again everyone is comparing automotive work to powersports work. They are NOT the same thing. Automotive pays WAY better, therefore better quality employee. Powerports doesnt pay doodlie squat. Any idea how hard it is to find a decent wrench in that industry? It is one of the reasons I left that industry and that was in Jan 2009. Cant imagine trying to hire decent technicians in a shop these days.