Home, Sweet, Lube Shop
(Continued)

The house’s original basement still holds Center Quick Lube’s five bulk tanks, Klaas reported.

“We have five tanks down there,” he said. “Two of them are 1,000-gallon tanks and one is even a 1,500-gallon tank.”

This little quick lube with a rather odd beginning has been prospering in recent years. “Our average car count is about 68 per day,” Klaas said.

Servicing nearly 70 cars per day, Center Quick Lube moves a lot of product.

“We went through close to 300 air filters last month,” he said. “I have a 1,000-gallon tank of 5W-30, and I get that filled twice and then probably another half before the end of the month. We sell a lot of synthetic, too.”

Klaas said they carry both Pennzoil synthetic in bulk, along with Mobil 1 and various other brands in bottles for customers who request them. And he reports his percentage of synthetic sales is upwards of 15 percent. Another impressive statistic is that more than 90 percent of customers return for additional visits.

How does Klaas keep car counts high, sell so many synthetics and keep customers coming back?

“Service, location and reputation,” he said. “I’ve had people tell me they’d rather pay a little extra because they’re in and out of here so quick and not wait for their free oil change for two hours at the dealership.

“We give people good service. Our lube isn’t brand new, so it might not be the best looking in town. But if people have special requests, we’ll do it without charging them. It’s just a friendly little place.”

Klaas said he actually doesn’t push synthetic sales, which is surprising given the numbers.

“I believe in the customer telling me what they want,” he said. “I don’t want to talk them into something else. We’re in an older-based community, and these guys and ladies have been around the block. If they want a synthetic, they’ll ask for it.”

To keep things running smoothly at the shop, Klaas said they always have two courtesy technicians, one tech under the hood, one in the pit and one cashier.

“There’s times on Saturdays when it gets really busy,” Klaas said. “I think the most cars we’ve done in an eight-hour period is 120.”

And with such a successful shop, what does Shinaberry think of his accidental leap into the lube business? “It was one of those things — if I couldn’t sell that house, I had to do something with it,” he said. “I had never dreamt of being in the automotive business because I was always in the hardware business. At that time I had five hardware stores. I was looking for something to use this property for if I couldn’t get rid of it, and with the problems I was having (getting vehicles serviced), it just fit right in. That’s how we got here.”

If walls could talk, one in a quick lube in Western Pennsylvania might just say, “Home, sweet, lube shop.”

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