Oil Change Fleets

I know a lot of you all are struggling out there. I know how it is. The first two to three years I was in business I do not think I made a dime.

Here is an end of the year treat you might appreciate. I am going to give you a list of some fleets you might want to target. I cannot give you some of my top accounts. First, that would be suicide. My business partner John would kill me. You could open up a mobile oil change business in the same city as me and take all my customers. Good luck in dealing with the winter though. Second, some of my top accounts are not nationwide and would not help you anyway.

I am going to start with Best Buy's Geek Squad vehicles and also their Magnolia home theater install E-350 trucks.

In most cities I have been to I have noticed that they usually have several Volkswagen Jettas for their Geek Squad division, which all take synthetic by the way, and they have several E-350 install trucks for their home theater section.

I believe you have to have an account with Wheels, which is a fleet management system they use for some reason, and its a pain to deal with them. Plus, they take 10% of the gross.

To be honest this was a good account I used to have but I dropped it because I got tired of dealing with fleet management systems after I had all the business I could handle. It was just more of a pain dealing with them when I didn't need the money anymore. Now, when I get done with a job I like to submit the invoice and get a check in the mail no more than three weeks in the future. Anything more is not worth it.

The second company you may want to try is Schucks, O'Reiley, Checker, Kragen, or Murray Auto Parts, all of which are owned by CSK Auto. Each store usually have a couple Ford Ranger parts vehicle that will come due for oil changes fairly fast. They are on the road all day.

Again, for this company you are going to have to deal with a fleet management company. The one that deals with CSK is ARI Automotive. Make certain that you get the coupon from their coupon book in the glove box that corresponds with the oil change interval. It will make things go a lot faster.

The next company you want to try is Staples. Bet you never thought of these guys. I still have them today but I am going to tell you that they are a pain in the butt. They take forever to pay and can be an absolute pain to deal with. They bought out Corporate Express last June so a lot of locations have quite a few vehicles. They have mostly the Workhorse supply vehicles but also have several Isuzu Cabovers and large trucks as well. You may have to start out cheap to get them but after a while I would try to push them synthetic because they only have to get an oil change two times a year versus 3-4 which they will not end up doing and have vehicles 6,000 miles overdue. In my city there are about 12-15 vehicles and there is no more than 300,000 people who live in Anchorage so you can expect your city to have two or three times that number.

I am not going to go into details but you really want to talk to the managers of moving companies. They are going to be hard to get, and most of the time have their own maintenance department, but when you get them they are good. Be prepared to know what you are doing as far as diesels go. That is what they have.

The next company you want to try is the armored companies in your area. Most of them have the big International trucks and these vehicles are on the road from morning till night. Its nothing for these vehicles to average 6,000 miles every month. And if they go by the hours, forget about it! These armored trucks never cut off. The first couple times you do an oil change for these guys, if you can swing the account, be prepared to have employees with shotguns and handguns in their hands. Its policy. The first three times we did an oil change at their yard we had two guys stationed there with guns drawn the whole time. But its a huge pain for these companies to get their trucks in so you are providing a huge service to them.

Other than that try banks, credit unions, distribution companies (ie. fruits, vegetables, bread, ice cream, cookies, etc)

I cannot emphasize enough that you need to have a garage keepers policy of 1,000,000 aggregate and show that to a prospective client when you see them. This will put you above the rest. It will cost you $1,700 per year but you need it for yourself and its something that any legitimate company has. This is one of the first things I show when I talk to a new customer. I want him to know that I'm not a mickey mouse operation that has oil pans in my back truck. I hope nothing goes wrong but if it does I am more than covered. If you cannot afford this than you did not have enough money to start this business. Legitimate companies like to do business with other legitimate companies.

If you need to know which equipment you should start out with read a former post of mine about the best oil change equipment to purchase.

And if you need some sales advice on how to get prospective oil change customers you should definately read this. I think I outlined with fairly well.

Remember that you are selling a premium service and you do nobody a favor, including yourself, but slashing your prices to compete where you make no money. The is the number 1 mistake I see. You hurt yourself and the rest of us. How can you pay your bills on $15 oil changes.

Sure you might get a lot of customers at first but as soon as you raise your prices they will go to Sears or Midas for a $10.00 oil change (and end up getting robbed in the process I might add when they end up with a $400 brake job they did not need). Bottom feeders looking for deals with always be bottom feeders. You are looking for clients be it fleets or individual customers who do not mind paying for decent service. You get what you pay for. Don't be a joke!

You can get 100s of customers tomorrow if you charge cheap cheap oil changes but you will not be able to pay your mortgage, truck note, insurance, taxes, utility bills, accounting costs, printing fees, or yourself if you do.

On a side note I would highly recommend you invest in a waste oil furance when you get some extra cash. If you have a boiler set up you can also get get a waste oil boiler. I purchased mime from Nueraheat which is a distributor of Energy Logic waste oil burners in the northwest.

My business partner John purchased one of these and he heats his whole house for free. Even in the middle of the winter when it is -20 degrees and all of his neighbors have $350 heating bills his natural gas bill is $10.00. Not a bad investment. If you have a mobile oil change business you will most likely have an abundance of used motor oil so instead of giving it away or paying to get rid of it I would strongly recommend you turn it into free heat.

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.