I, Fast Lube
The Future is Now for an Industry Poised for Financial Success

by Garrett McKinnon
NOLN Staff Writer

Robots. Let’s face it; we’re in love with them. Even before Czech writer Karel Čapek coined the term in his 1920 play “R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots),” mankind has been fascinated by mechanical devices that can ease our workload. When those devices can walk and talk and, to a limited extent, think for themselves, all the better. In the minds of many, robots represent a brighter, more prosperous future for humanity.

A bright future is certainly something all of us hope for, but especially in the fast lube industry. For too long, owners and operators have dealt with critical issues like declining car counts, increasing competition and extended oil change intervals. Couple those with a recession that left consumers with less money in their pockets, and it added up to tough times for many segments of the industry.

But, wait! What’s that peeking out from behind the clouds? Could it be there is good news on the horizon? Higher sales. Lower costs. Better profits. Are things really turning around? And will lube operators in the future have it so easy they can sit around all day pushing buttons to direct a robotic staff? Well, we can’t promise the latter (after all, would you really want Robbie the Robot trying to educate a customer about a cabin air filter), but as for the former, we can say, “Yes!”

How, you might ask, do we know these things? Well, just as we do every year, we ask. We ask lube owners, operators, managers and corporate officials from across the nation to help themselves and their industry by anonymously sharing data from their company operations. We call it the Fast Lube Operators Survey, but you can call it the most in-depth study you will find anywhere on this particular segment of the automotive aftermarket. From a questionnaire mailed out and posted online, we gather data regarding average ticket totals, car counts, popular add-on services, customer demographics, etc. If you’re looking for information on the industry, chances are you’ll find it here. (And if you don’t, never fear; just contact us about a question you have regarding industry data and we’ll do our best to include it in next year’s questionnaire.)

This marks the 23rd year we’ve compiled this detailed industry study, and we would be remiss if we didn’t offer a sincere word of thanks to the more than 300 people who took the time to gather and share their data with us. Without their remarkable assistance, you wouldn’t be able to understand what is really happening in the industry.

Now, before we begin examining the results from the study and attempting a bit of analysis regarding underlying trends, it is necessary to set some ground rules. Not necessarily the “Three Laws of Robotics” created by Isaac Asimov, but close.

First, there’s the issue of sorting the data. After all, a handful of the responses we receive come from large companies that operate dozens, hundreds and, in some cases, even thousands of facilities. If you drop data from these questionnaires into the survey at large and then weigh the data (as is our survey’s typical methodology), it can create very wide swings. That’s why we divide the results of our survey into two categories. The first represents those lube companies operating less than 30 stores (henceforth known as LT30 operations) and those operating more than 30 stores (henceforth known as MT30 operations).

The data from the LT30 category provide a real-world glimpse of the per-store averages for a “typical” independent fast lube, while data from the MT30 category provide a unique perspective into how larger corporations are faring in their own attempts to speed ahead of the competition. Taken together, the data yield a clear picture about the state of the industry.

We have to note, too, the contribution of CITGO in presenting this survey. In some years past we have only presented a portion of the data collected, distributing the rest solely to our paid subscribers and others willing to pay a premium for the survey. Thanks to CITGO’s sponsorship of this year’s survey, however, we’re able to present all the results from this exclusive industry study.

So sit back and get ready to push a few buttons as we imagine a world where robotic helpers are lending operators a hand (or claw, whichever the case may be) in running a successful and profitable business.

BASIC FACTS
Robots don’t get much more basic than our good friend WALL-E, a favorite of my children. After all, WALL-E is dependable, reliable and performs the same tasks decade in, decade out. Can you imagine the little guy handling trash duties at your lube shop? He’d be an oil filter crusher on treads!

Just as WALL-E resolutely performed his programmed task year after year with little variance, so too are there data sets in our Operators Survey that just don’t seem to vary much. For instance, it doesn’t matter how many times we’ve posed the question, but for lube operators the busiest day of the week is usually Friday or Saturday. In the same vein, July is the busiest month of the year, followed closely by June and August — the fact that fast lubes are busiest in the summer is not exactly a news flash.

What else? Well, about one in six lube shops still offers a time guarantee, and the average shop takes 14 minutes to perform a full-service lube, oil and filter (LOF) change and multipoint inspection. Nine in 10 shops still push 3,000-mile oil changes. Slightly more than half of shops have technicians drive vehicles into bays, while the rest risk YouTube infamy by having customers drive vehicles into bays. Finally, about one in five shops have customers wait inside their vehicles during LOF service, while three-quarters have customers wait in a waiting area; the remainder simply let customers make the choice where to wait.

OPERATIONS
What lube shop wouldn’t benefit from the presence of R2-D2 and C-3PO, a robotic duo that we wouldn’t think of separating. Just imagine it: R2, with his diminutive profile but bevy of hidden arms, would make a perfect lower-bay tech, while C-3PO with his linguistic and mathematical skills (“I predict the odds of today’s add-on sales beating yesterday’s are two to one”) would make a great counter-man (er, droid). From the day they first graced the big screen in 1977’s “Star Wars,” the metallic pair have found a special place in the hearts of millions. In some ways, they are now and will always be what we think of when we think of “typical” robots.

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