Mobile Oil Change Business and Wrong Profit Numbers

I was just on Lube and Location's Wesbite and noticed the following.

This is dangerous. Watch out for this crap. I am sorry for saying this but these figures are what cause people who get into the Mobile Oil Change business to go bankrupt. These figures are pure wishful thinking. I like Lube on Location, almost bought my van from them, would have way better if I bought my set up from them than Oil Extreme, but even they provide false figures. How are you going to make a decent profit on 10 oil changes per day at $30.00. Please explain to me how??? I really get made about this!! I am dead serious. Anyone who is in the Mobile Oil Change business and is successful can tell you that the following figures are nonsense.

And six days a week?? Hum?? If you get into business to work six days a week than you are stupid. Go work for the school district and you can work 5 days a week with the summer off. Six days. That is not the reason I started my own mobile oil change company. Look at the following figures and totally make a mental note in your head that they are wrong. Sorry if you were excited. I just saved you thousands of dollars.

Again, I am not trying to just be negative. But I am trying to chop up the crap. And there is a lot of crap in the mobile oil change arena. I helped a potential competitor of mine a year ago. He was in the Valley offering oil changes for $25.oo. I sent him an e-mail basically calling him an idiot and asking him to reconsider. He upped it to $40.00. That is still cheap but at least he is not working for free. If your area does not support at least $35 oil changes reconsider this great business opportunity.

SERVICE JUST 10 VEH. A DAY 6 DAYS A WEEK
AVERAGE OIL CHANGE TAKES 10 MINUTES
YEARLY INCOME AT $29.95 PER OIL CHANGE AND INCLUDING OTHER SERVICES. (WIPER BLADES, AIR FILTERS, AND TIRE ROTATIONS)
TOTAL INCOME FROM SALES $121,856.00

EXPENSES:

VAN OR EQUIPMENT PAYMENT IF FINANCED
$4,188.24
INSURANCE, VAN AND OR GARAGE LIABILITY $2,200.00
OPERATION SUPPLIES, FLYERS, INVOICES $900.00
TELEPHONE, PAGER,CELL, OFFICE $1,080.00
UNIFORMS $300.00
ACCOUNTING $960.00
LICENSES $60.00
FUEL $3,600.00
WHSE SPACE 10X10 STORE&LOCK $900.00
COST OF GOODS SOLD $9.00 PER VEH. $24,720.00
OTHER SERVICES WIPERS & AIR FILTERS $7,020.00
WASTE OIL DISPOSAL 10 CENTS A GAL. $936.00
TOTAL EXPENSES $49,864.24

NET PROFIT $66,991.76 PER YEAR

VAN OPERATOR WOULD BE 25% COMMISSION OF GROSS SALES IF MUTIPLE VEHICLE OPERATION

SERVICE 20 VEHICLES A DAY AND NET OVER $100,000.00 PER YEAR AS AN OWNER OPERATOR

Mobile Oil Changes for Corporate Campuses

Save your time with this one. If you plan for your mobile oil change business to get big off corporate campuses then you better think again. You'd better change directions really fast quite honestly. You cannot build a "profitable business" and I wanted to highlight that just for emphasis off corporate campuses. That is what I was sold on. We would start this a mobile oil change business with a great no fantastic looking van and have a great service and a really great product and after doing just several people at a hospital or big building the phone would be ringing off the hook and we would not be able to keep up with the demand. Our mobile oil change company would grow soo big soo fast that we would need the second van within the first year.

I tell you I was really sold on the whole "corporate campus" idea. And I know now that not only doesn't it work well for my type of business but others as well. It sounds great. You have a building that is comprised of one huge company or hundreds of small to medium sized companies. They are all under one roof you could say. There are can be anywhere from a few thousand employees to over ten thousand employees. Now all those people need oil changes. You I was sold on the fact, and many of you might have been as well, that all you have to do is talk with the human resources manager and find a way to get your name out there to those 1000s of employees. They would love to get their vehicle serviced by a mobile oil change business. Why wouldn't they?? All those employees are going to need several oil changes throughout the year, why not make it more convenient....

I wish the mobile oil change business was that easy. It would have been very nice. Let me cut to the chase and tell you why it did not and does not work. First, when you talk to the building or HR department you are going to have to literally pull teeth to get them to work with you. They are going to think your mobile oil change idea is "cute" but they get people asking them to promote their business all the time. If they promoted every business that asked them then it would turn into a full time job. The most you may get is a mass system wide e-mail sent out that barely anyone reads. And you will be a really good speaker and salesman or saleswoman if you get them to do that. What most companies have is a "work life" program or "discount book" where people like you get into this coupon book that they give out annually to everyone and your coupon would be for like "20% off any oil change" or "$19.99 oil change to all employees and family of XYZ Hospital". And not many people look at their company coupon books. Only the really cheap people will call you, won't want any add ons even if they really need them, and as soon as you raise your prices to the normal rate they will not want to pay it. Doctors, lawyers, nurses, and professionals are some of the cheapest people when it comes to that stuff. They want that really cheap oil change and then they go 6,000 miles on regular oil. They do not care because rarely do any of those people keep their cars more than 2-3 years. Maybe 4 years if they are feeling thrifty. So they Oil Extreme Synthetic was worthless for us as far as they went. In addition to this, many companies or campuses will get very uptight about "oil changes" being done in their parking lot. You can show them or tell them out your mats, how you suck it out, safety procedures and they do not care. Your mobile oil change business is seen as a potential liability to them that they do not want to have or think is worth it. Especially if they promote you. We live in a sue happy world. If they put up fliers, send out e-mails, and actively promote you then they are in way either directly or indirectly partners with you. And if anything goes wrong including damages or accidents while you are doing or have done an oil change then not only can your mobile oil change business be sued but they right high priced lawyer could go after them as well. Which would produce a better settlement you and your 1 million dollar insurance or that company with a 100 million dollar insurance. They have a whole department whose only job is risk control and your "cool service" is not worth them getting sued in the future. And most people do not care about oil changes. Its sounds good but unless the campus really worked with you and advertised you everywhere then people will not be looking for an oil change service especially a mobile one. They will see Jiffy Lube one day, look at their sticker, remember they are 2,000 miles overdue, and go there. You will get a few but most will be cheap and many of them will not turn into repeat business.

And I say this with confidence and two and a half long hard years of going after the corporate campuses. I got a hospital with 10,000 employees, made a deal with Alaska Airlines that went through but was peacemeal and never really pushed, got several deals with other buildings with 4-6,000 people where they send out flyers and e-mails to every company, and Merryl Lynch. None of it ever paid dividends. I really have to thank a friend at Meryl Lynch he really did try. He sent e-mails to all his friends. And we did get 2 or three. But at the end of the day it was not worth it. Do not try to build your mobile oil change business off the individuals or corporate campuses. If you do want some none fleet customers go for construction works or tradesmen. They are very busy people and appreciate a good service. Most of them can do it themselves but do not have the time and are willing to pay a decent price to get it done. Plus a lot of those guys have trucks that they love and keep for years.

So let me say this again. Repetition is the mother of skill and success. As I stated in a previous post your mobile oil change must get 95% of its business from fleets. No buts about that. Do shoot for a 50/50 split. You are a business to business mobile fleet services business. I really want to rename my company. I say mobile oil change but we are really a mobile fleet helper. I see what fleets need, whats hard to get or coordinate and then try to make that as easy as I can while charging reasonable prices but not trying to undercut the going market rate. I love to please but only fleets. I have done the individuals. It used to be fun but its not. I have gone through so much trying to please them and it never paid off in good dollars. My fleet accounts did. And I go out of my way for them. That's why they like me. I try my absolute best to get whatever they need or make whatever I can easier. Oftentimes I have thought my prices for something was high and they thought I was undercharging b/c it was so valuable.

Do not let anyone or any company or any franchise sell you on a stack of cards. Your mobile oil change business is a niche business and it caters to medium to large fleets. You really want diesels but we will get into later. Let me know what your experiences have been in this area. Has anyone go any profitable corporate campuses. ONE???? The owner of the franchise Oil Extreme, though its not a true franchise in any sense of the word, lied to us about having a Microsoft and Boeing contract that never existed through another BS company called DOC 1. HA HA. I was such an idiot. When I think about all the mistakes I made at first its amazing I was able to survive. I must have been blessed big time. I was set on a course for failure but I hope that through this blog I can help other people who are starting or thinking about starting a mobile oil change business succeed and actually make money.

Mobile Oil Change Equipment

All the mobile oil change business advice posts I have been writting have had a negative slant to them. I have done that on purpose.

I have highlighted five negative aspects to every positive I have mentioned when it comes to owning a mobile oil change business or mobile oil change franchise. I have done this 100% on purpose. Its not so much that I am not a negative person but I feel that it is my sworn duty to start real negative and stay negative for a long time.

Why is that? So I can show you how hard this business really is and you can honestly make an assesment if you want to get into it.

That was not done for me. Oh, if I had just a little insider information when I started off! When I started in 2004 all the information I recieved about owning and operating a mobile oil change business was complete "BS." I have to be honest about it.

First, I bought that utterly useless Melrics oil change guide which was the worst $35.00 I ever spent. Do not buy that guide if you want to succeed in the mobile oil change arena. They will give you a lot of nice fluff and nothing that I at least deemed useful. They give you a lot of "duhh" advice. Its advice like "when you brush your teeth in the morning make sure you put toothpaste on your brush." Oh brother.

As I stated in an earlier post we started with a "franchise." Unfortunately you will find that a franchise means little unless its name is backed up by something valuable. Its kind of like the US currency thats becoming worthless with each passing day. Me and my uncle just bought into a awesome name.

It was Jet Set Life Technologies with their worthless Oil Extreme. Another piece of advice that will save you thousands!!! Do not believe a word they say.

They do have a great product. Oil Extreme is great. It is some of the best motor oil you can put inside your vehicle besides Amsoil. If you like it so much go to Mr. George French's website and buy the oil. Its $8 per quart plus shipping but do not start a mobile oil change business from it. You will fail.

I promise you that his system does not work. I am not bitter or hateful but he is delusional and thinks that Oil Extreme is the best thing known to man and while I cannot fault the old man for his passion and he does have some good and likeable qualities, he will sell you the world and will not deliver.

We thought that we were smart and asked him for referrals and he gave me two people who were already a part of his mobile oil change " empire. The first guy was the one who fabricated his vans, which are nice BTW but highly impracticable. The second was one who had just bought into Oil Extreme several months before us. We find out a year later that he had leveraged himself to the hilt and had barely done any oil changes during his period of ownership. It turns out that later he sold all his equipment dirt cheap to another guy who found window chip repair to be more lucrative.

They both told me that no only staring a mobile oil change business was a great idea, and that I was going to make tons of money, but that Oil Extreme was the only way to go!!

"Wee, I'm going to get rich," I thought after getting off the phone with them.

I still can remember me and my uncle meeting for breakfast at Arctic Inn Restaurant talking about what we were going to do with all our money made from our mobile oil change business. How could we loose? Great product with a great service.

Here is a big lesson that I am going to give you right now. If you have read through this post and what to gleam some crucial information take out a notebook and rewrite the following sentence and burn it into your mind: 90% of people know nothing about oil, in fact they just think that if wait too long (meaning 5,000 miles) to get an oil change that their car will blow up.

Besides that even less individuals know or care about specific brands no matter how good it is. You could put cat piss in their car and as long as it ran they would care less.

They only thing that will motivate most people to even switch a higher priced oil is maybe the extended drain intervals meaning that instead of going every 3,ooo miles they can do 6,000 miles.

So as a mobile oil change operator your job is to get the right oil at the least possible price. Let me say this again, and re-phrase it a little bit. As a mobile oil change operator you want to get the cheapest oil you can find and a lot of times I can tell you it will be at Wal Mart. Hate the store with a passion but love their prices. In fact I can guarantee that nobody, not even the jobbers or distributors, will beat Wal Mart's prices on motor oil. They buy so much oil that on a national level they recieve the best prices and are the only store that has 5 quart containers. If you are a mobile oil change business operator you know how important that is.

So I will repeat. Do not go with Mr. French and his Oil Extreme franchise. Learn from my mistakes. Going with Mr French set me back two years and put my uncle in a massive amount of debt that was never necessary. He lied to us, told us about contracts he never had, and did worse to other franchises. I just have to be honest. A part of me still has great respect for Mr. French. A heck of a salesmen. If I could have the salesmanship of him and my father, who in the past I despise but admire, I would be rich man. He knows what to say and exactly how to fire you up. But his superior product isn't even his own. He re-labels someone else's product. Its called EP Lube and they are the real makers of the famous Oil Extreme. Sorry I had to say it. I consider myself an honest person and never try to lie to anyone and yet as much as I really do like Mr. French he lied to us and everyone of his franchises.

The mobile oil change business is hard enough but when your "franchise HQ" is not telling you the truth and selling you overpriced product that makes it impossible for you to compete then you have to say something.

There are some others like Lube N Go and Oil Butler but they really just sell you a fancy overpriced van with fancy pumps that are worthless. They are not like Oil Extreme and I am not saying they are bad but you will have less of a chance of success if you go with those guys for your mobile oil change business.

I wish I would have went with Sage Vac. I have handled their equipment and can say they are the best. I actually contacted them and tried to get them to pay me for saying this. I really like their product but I figured I would make some money off this website. They never responded to me but I still love them nevertheless. In the process of trying to buy some equipment with them right now.

They offer the best mobile oil change set up equiped to deal with FLEETS. Remember I said that in one of my first posts. You want fleets and not individuals. The other mobile oil change fabrication companies make a system that is worthless to an operator as far as general practicality. They focus more on looks.

People see your van and are amazed but none of the pumps and equipment on your mobile oil change van are easy to use and in fact they are more trouble than they are worth. Try sucking oil with a diaphragm pump and see how long that takes you vs draining it. Sage Vac offers mobile oil change devices that are vacuum pumps, which is what you will need to quickly pump 15W-40 out of a truck, and their equipment is especially good for vehicles that actually pay well to do an oil change on.

I am not getting a kick back to say this. You can call our business at 907-677-8175 and I will tell you in person. I may not answer the phone but leave a message as I may be working or writing this blog and hate to be disturbed.

It is my hope I have been as negative as possible when it comes to the mobile oil change business. I have other blogs that I just write for money and don't care about. Those blogs are ones that I write for money. I did crunched the numbers and if this particular blog ranked well on all the major search engines I would make a wooping $30 a month. This blog is my baby and one I own where I am brutally honest. My mobile oil change business is my main business, it pays all my bills, gives me a lot of money, but most people are not cut out for it.

That is the truth. There is only a select few that will succeed in this business. I live in a state that has winter for 6 months out of a year. How do you think I feel that it is now February and I still will be dealing with heavy snow come April.

It sucks. I spent the first part of January changing oil in -15 degrees. Think that is any fun. My competition fades quickly. There has been 4-6 other guys to try this. They all failed. I dare anyone to try to start a mobile oil change business in Alaska. But I dare anyone to start a mobile oil change business in Texas or California or Missouri. Oil Changes there go for $10-15. Good luck having a mobile oil change company in semi pleasant weather but with no net profit.

There is no money in oil changes alone.

Again, and I will repeat it, Jiffy Lube makes their money from shear volume. I mean 100s of oil changes in one day. They attempt to make their money on transmission flushes, coolant flushes, fuel filters, battery replacement, belt replacement, air filters, tire rotations, emission tests, and a lot of other "add ons". They make no money from changing your oil.

Again, most quick lubes make very little to no money from changing your oil alone. They have to add on to a person's bill like there was no tommrow. If you leave their bay with just an oil change then the service manager has not done his job.

Oil changes are one of the least profitable businesses out there. Do you believe your mobile oil change business is any different. You might want to believe it is but its not. You will have to add on too. Not as much because your overhead will be significantly less but also keep in mind you do not have the large volume either.

I just gave you another secret.... I planned to tell you this much later. I do this 100% honestly but I push add ons as much as I can. Oil Changes represent 40% of my mobile oil change business. Oops gave away another secret....

I have to be careful. I want to go into detailed plans but I have to resist. My goal is to tell the truth and lead you into the right area. I will not tell you exactly what fleets to go after. Thats very valuable information and I am sorry if you want me to make sales for you but I will need top dollar to disclose that information. If you pay me I will drum up 1000s of business for you but some things you must do by yourself.

But for free I will lead your mobile oil change in the right direction. I hate fluff. I will not be easy or talk in smoothing talk that will "tickle the ears". I try to be real. I want to start negative and end positive. The mobile oil change business does work. I know everything involved. I have done everything and seen everything related to the mobile oil change business arena.

Nothing is new to me. If I told you how much I make you would faint. I hate to be cocky but I have figured this business out and am confident that I know what works and what does not. I love hot weather love basketball and would rather live in CA or some other place than Alaska.

I am not a huge fan of this state by any means. But I love the business I built with a lot of sweat and cannot leave it. I know what will work in the mobile oil change business and what will not. I am an authority. I am the authority. Ask me any questions and I will tell you. I know what works while trying to make money changing oil as a mobile outfit and what does not. I have done television commercials, radio, yellow pages, fliers, Val Pak, direct mail, doorknob stuffers, ect. I have done it all. I can tell you what worked for me in the my mobile oil change business and what only costs me money with no return.

Are you making good money changing oil? Tell me about it. I can tell you how to make better money more easily. I know exactly what I am talking about. I am not going to sugar coat it and say start a mobile oil change franchise and make $100,000 a year. It easy. Minimal start up costs. Thats nonsense.

How about making $4.50 an hour in your mobile oil change business. Does that interest you? Well if you do not know what the heck you are doing that is how much you will make and will sell all your equipment to someone else who doesn't know what he/she is doing.

Mobile Oil Change Business Advice

You want to start a mobile oil change business. You have not bought anything yet. The van, the equipment, the oil, the filters, nothing. Stop right there in your tracks. Do you have what it takes to make this work. I know it sounds like a good idea, I know you think the whole mobile oil change concept sounds nice but do you know whats involved. I wish someone else would have made this blog when I first got into business. It would have a)stopped me from doing it or most likely b)made me successful a lot sooner.

Besides going after the wrong type of business most mobile oil change operators just don't have the type of personality you need to make this work. You are not going to be able to sit by the phone and wait for your customers to call you. You are going to have to go out and get them. This is the the only reason why I am in business and most other mobile oil change businesses are not. Most operators are introverts to say the least. This is not to say they are dumb but I have found that a lot of people who start this type of business are not "sales oriented." What do I mean by that??

Let me tell you back in 2005 how I got a huge fleet. I will even say the name of this one. Its a company called Corporate Express. They got bought out by Staples last year in the summer. Anyway I was doing an oil change at an office complex. That was back in time when I was still doing the individuals or "onsies twosies" as my partner likes to say. I had just gotten done with an oil change that, by itself took 25 minutes but if you add going up the fifth floor and getting the keys then repositioning the car in an area in the parking garage that had more room and then after the oil chage is done going back up to the fifth floor to hand back the keys and recieve payment only to find out that she wants to pay with a credit card but did not tell you beforehand so you run back down and ride the elevator back up and hand her bach her keys and swipe the credit card, ends up taking over an hour. I noticed a Workhorse truck parked outside the front of the building. I do not even think about it. I quickly run up to the truck as the guy is bringing some packages in the building. I look at his oil change sticker. Surprise, surprise, the truck is 6,000 overdue on its oil change. Thats money! When the guy comes out, his name was Jason by the way, I ask him who is in charge of the fleet maintinace for his company. He is a little bit shocked and surprised but tells me anyway. I then go on to tell him that I own a mobile oil change business and that I noticed his truck was overdue. Of course he did not care, if fact could care less. But I had gotten the crucial information I needed. I found out the fleet managers name. That is the most crucial pieces of information you can find out. Once you find out who can tell you "yes" or "no" you have solved half the equation. Oh yes, I also was able to get from him how many vehicles they had. It turned out they had 15-20 vehicles. Again, that money. This is a fleet that has something worked out but its obviously not working or the truck would not be 6,000 miles overdue. It also tells me that the air filters, coolant, fuel filters, are most likely going to have to be changed since the vehicles are not being serviced like they should. Again, thats money. And I know what they have fifteen trucks and if I could net at least $30 per oil change I would make $450 just off oil changes if I could seal the deal with the fleet manager. And if you account for add ons or if I could talk them into going with syntheic oil, which I did, I could make $800 net minimum per oil change interval. And that is just what I did. I talked with the fleet manager. We worked out a deal. I told him I could come after hours, which was his main concern and showed him my 1,000,000 liability policy which was no concern to him but impressed him nevertheless, and I got the fleet. And when he left a month later one of his top drivers took over and I got him to swtich his whole fleet to syntheic oil and we did the coolant flushes for all of them.

The point is you have to be ready to talk to anyone at all times. At no time I am waiting by the phone. I hate the phone. You have to be ready to go up to fleet managers, fleet workers, business owners, and just start talking. You are going to mess up but if you want your mobile oil change business to work you will make yourself get good at it. I have only meet a few guys who understand this.

You have to talk to people. You have to be ready at all times. You are going to have to do cold calls. I have done 100s of cold calls and got hung up on so many times. I have just steeped into office building and acted like I knew people there when I did not. I do not care. I cared about my mobile oil change company working. I have actually gotten lazier over the past two years. I do not do what I used to do. I have really toned it down. I still do some crazy tactics here and there but I just do not have to any longer. I don't have the desire. But the first two years I was like a fireball. I was ADD. It was always the next deal. The next deal. We just got a brand new fleet, who cares, next deal. That is why I have a viable company now.

So now you know two componets to having a profitable and successful mobile oil change business. You have to be comfortable talking with people, be bold, be corageous, not care about anything, and know that you have to go after medium to large fleets bypassing the individual to make having a mobile oil change business succeed. If not I hope you live with your parents or your girlfriend has a good job because I am sorry you just will not make any money at all. I live in the coldest state in the country, I get paid more for ONE OIL CHANGE that you do for three, and I swear if when I did the individuals even alot of them I was not making any money. And I will continue to emphasize this on every post. Your mobile oil change company needs to be a business to business company and nothing more. Do not waste your time. Please! I want to see more people suceed in this business b/c it can make you alot of money. But noboby knows how to do it right.

Mobile Oil Change

If you want to make money in your mobile oil change business you need to listen to me.

Most of the people doing mobile oil changes are not making any money at all. Most of you all are going out of business or will go out of business soon. I know this to be a fact. You thought that this was a great idea. Your friends said that it was a good idea. How could something like this fail? Everyone needs to have an oil change anyway. Usually they have to go to JiffyLube or something like that. Why not bring the service to them. They can get an oil change at their home or at their office.

Most of you all need to throw out what you have been taught or what you think because it is wrong. The mobile oil change business is not easy, quite the opposite, and it will stay hard unless you do it right. You think you are going to make money making $15 bucks off an oil change. Think about it! Its foolish. The going cost for a typical oil change in this country is $30.00. But the price of oil is going to cost you $10.00 at least and the oil filter another $2.00. Then add three more dollars for fluids or and your fuel to get there. You are going to make fifteen dollars if you are lucky. Complete bullshit. I live in Alaska and I make way more than anyone else doing this business off a regular oil change and even making that I still don't make enough money so don't tell me you can too. Even if you had a couple add ons you fall behind. Go and get a job. Don't waste your time and money if you are even thinking about running your mobile oil change business that way.

Let me tell you first how JiffyLube makes their money. I am going to get into how you can make money in the mobile oil change arena but before I do I will tell you how an average quick lube makes money and you will see why I am telling you this later in the post. And JiffyLube had the best oil change system around so what they do is industry standard.

The JiffyLubes that make money are in busy corridors with a lot of traffic. Not just any traffic but shopping traffic. This is important. The JiffyLubes by Costco, Sams Clubs, shopping malls, outlet stores are making money. People are in a buying mode and while they are doing that they get an oil change real quick. They barely think about it. Nobody plans for an oil change but while you are out shopping or running errands you look at your sticker, see you need an oil change, get it, and forget about it. Okay, because the quick lubes need to be right by BUSY SHOPPING CENTERS with tons of traffic they are going to have to pay outregeous rents. And they have employees. Minimum wage employees but lots of them. And a lot of overhead. And they do not make a dime off oil changes. Oil Changes may barely pay for the free coffee in the lobby. For them to make money they need volume and they have to.....add on like hell. Wipers, batteries, belts, transmission flushes, power steering flushes, air filters, fuel filters, nitrogen, cabin filters, coolant flushes, lights, youth....you name it. Many of these services are valid but alot of time they have to push them even when you don't need them. And even with add ons they have to do A LOT and I mean A LOT of oil changes to make money. In fact your typical quick lube operator, with all the work involved, with all the hours involved, rarely is able to put more than $50-60K per year in his pocket even if his store does very well. Thats not a lot considering the costs involved in start up, the hours, the risk, ect. In most cases a quick lube that looks good and is in a decent spot will cost half a million. And you mean to tell me that the operator may be able to put 60K in his pocket. Exactly. If he is lucky then in twenty years when he pays everything off he might make a little more. But at the end of the day the key to making money in the oil change business is owning multiple quick lubes. If you own several of them and each make minimum 40K then you can make a decent income. But I would say that more than half of the oil change operators are just glorified employees who "own their job." The overhead needed and involved to even get the business is just so big and those places are almost forced to be dishonest if they want to stay in business. The whole model is flawed. Especially when I see advertisements for $19.99 oil changes and the cost and material is at least $13 and the labor is costing another $10.00. Most oil change business are loosing money off the actual oil change in hopes of getting something else. Some operators who have their quick lube business in a place that support higher costs, bought and paid for their place when prices were low, and everything else goes right make money. They make a lot of money. But I they are in the extreme minority.

So you have a mobile oil change business or thinking of starting a mobile lube business and you think you can make money when most fixed locations cannot. Most of you all try to undercut the competition. If the going standard rate is $35 you try to do $25. But I am going to tell you this fact...you are not going to have the volume. I know your overhead is going to be WAY less than fixed locations but you still have overhead, you still have your personal overhead, and you will need tons of volume not JiffyLube volume but tons of volume to make money. You need twenty per day to support your mobile oil change business but first thats hard to get and second its physicaly impossible for one or even two guys to do that many and third there is not enough time in the day to service twenty vehilces unless they were all in the same place. And that is one of the keys to owning a mobile oil change business. I just told you the secret. The main secret. There are others but this is number 1. Your mobile oil change business must do multiple vehicles at ONE LOCATION to make money. That is the only way it will work. First I want to tell the majority of you all that even saying that most of you all will fail, this business is tough, find another good idea, or get a job. But if you are intent on starting a mobile oil change company or want to make yours work, forget about doing individuals. They are an absolute waste of time. I will say that again. Doing vehilces at multiple locations are a waste of time and money and will lead to you going out of business. Your goal is to get as many vehicles at one location as humanly possible. This means focusing in on fleets.

Your mobile oil change business should be business to business only. Maybe you can do your grandma's car but thats it. I get calls all the time from the phone book "I want to set up a oil change" and I quickly say "sorry, we only service fleets and businesses". I do not want them. The mobile oil change business is not for individuals. Its for businesses. Even if you make $15 per car but you do 20 of them, thats $300 bucks net. You will learn later thats nothing but you could live and grow your business of that. Later I will show you how to make that in one hour, sometimes in thirty minutes, but right now I want to get you off going to multiple destinations trying to make money. Good luck with that. Make your mobile oil change company only do business with other companies. No exceptions. I have gone to the hopitals, I have serviced vehicles for doctors and lawyers and businesses at offices and I made very little. It looked great but I made very little. Never again. I did that for 2 1/2 years. I got corporate campuses and hospitals and this and that and it was hell. I looked good, the appearance was good, we even were voted most valuable company for a major hospital because everyone loved our company but our mobile oil change set up made nothing. It paid the bills. Every month I took a $300 draw. Great.................

I was given terrible advice. We were a franchise of oil extreme and we thought we had something. I was so pumped. I was 19 years old when I started this company. My uncle gave me the money to do it. He put over 50K on the line for me and we went with a franchise that screwed us. They gave us a great looking van with a great but impractical setup nice uniforms but terrible advice. Extremely terrible advice. If I continued to follow their advice at Jet Set Life Technologies I would be out of business. The owner knew nothing about starting a mobile oil change business. He has charisma charm and was a great motivational speaker but knew nothing about starting a profitable mobile oil change company that actually made money. I will tell you how to do that. Please, listen to me.