Lube Talk
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Chris Shepanek
Shepanek is chief executive officer of OCH International, Inc., franchisor of Oil Can Henry’s quick oil change centers. There are 88 Oil Can Henry’s centers in Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota and Idaho.

Q: What do you do to keep the “fast” in fast lube? Do you offer any services that take an extended period of time?
A: We recognize that convenience is a primary reason people choose Oil Can Henry’s for their vehicle maintenance. We also recognize that they want quality service they can trust, but they want it to be convenient and fast. So, Oil Can Henry’s keeps the “fast” in fast lube by:

• Greeting customers immediately; this shows customers we’re committed to quick service.

• Beginning service as soon as possible; we begin the service in line to reduce the amount of time required on bay and reduce the customer’s perceived wait time. This includes gathering customer and vehicle information, establishing the requested services and completing computer entries. By beginning service off bay, we also limit the number of drive-offs.

• Providing a comfortable service environment; no one enjoys spending time in a waiting room, and I’m sure time drags on and on for most people when they have to do it. Our customers relax in their vehicles throughout the service, where they can enjoy a free newspaper and watch and listen as we complete their services. This comfortable environment makes the service seem faster.

• Completing services that require extended time off bay when possible; most of our centers have a specially equipped area outside the building where we can complete these services without slowing down service on the bays.

• Relying on teamwork and effective use of time; we train our employees to perform the steps of our service in a specific order, so there’s little or no downtime.

While we’re best known for our “Famous 20-Point Full-Service Oil Change,” we provide a wide variety of preventative maintenance services to ensure we’re serving our customers well and to improve the profitability of our centers. Services that require the most time to complete include air conditioning recharge, automatic transmission flush, cooling system flush and serpentine belt replacement.

Q: What source do you get most of your technical information from? What do you do if there is a problem you’re not able to solve?
A: Our POS systems contain technical information from Motor (Chek-Chart), and we keep current copies of their manuals on hand. We also work closely with our vendors to keep current on fluid specifications, filter and belt applications. In addition, we access Alldata and numerous other websites for technical information.

Through the research we collect and our vendors provide, we have the information necessary to prevent most problems. If there is a problem that we can’t solve — for instance, if we could not clearly identify a fluid to meet a specification — we would err on the side of caution and decline the service. We never guess.

Nick Vuko
Vuko is the general manager of Quick Nick’s Snappy Lube in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Q: What do you do to keep the “fast” in fast lube? Do you offer any services that take an extended period of time?
A: We have a four-bay tire store next door that performs all the major service work, from brakes to shocks and struts to tire replacement to engine diagnostics.

We do all of our preventative maintenance work at Quick Nick’s, and we do have a rack to do tire rotations in case we are not able to do them next door. We also picked up a Zendex two-bag lift for the quick lube, which has been an awesome lift device. If you don’t have any lifts in your shop and don’t want to pony up the money for one, look at one of these.

The longest service we do is ATF pan drops, headlight restoration or windshield repair — those usually last anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes.

Q: What source do you get most of your technical information from? What do you do if there is a problem you’re not able to solve?
A: We get most of our technical information from ISI about filters, tire pressures, etc. When we have anything that goes beyond that, we use Alldata. Alldata is great for looking up drive belt patterns, engine code diagnostics, labor rates, etc.

If we have a real problem with a car and we can’t figure it out, we use Identifix. Identifix is awesome. If you ever wanted to have a computer program that would give you the capability of having an ASE master tech right at your fingertips, this is it. Type a problem in and you can get everything from what might be causing the problem to real life solutions that were performed by a technician on the same car with the same symptoms. There is also a feature — when you pay the extra charge — to call in whenever you want to one of their 50 ASE technicians, and they can offer their expertise as well. We use this program on our tire side and it has been very beneficial.

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