Key Highlights
- Negative stereotypes about quick lubes often stem from misconceptions about quality, upselling, and technician expertise.
- Building trust through transparency and personal relationships is key to overcoming industry stigmas.
- Maintaining detailed vehicle records allows technicians to proactively identify and address potential issues.
- Educating customers and establishing dependable communication can position quick lube shops as trusted automotive service providers.
Nationwide, quick lube shops come in all forms—from franchise locations to independently owned facilities, and from two-bay centers tucked into the corners of shopping plazas to freestanding multicare centers with attached car washes.
Their goal is to offer customers oil changes that are speedy and convenient. To stay true to the quick lube name, some operations even allow customers to stay in the comfort of the driver’s seat during the oil change.
Although efficiency is the name of the game, for some skeptics of the industry, “quick” puts shops at risk of delivering questionable quality. These stereotypes often are accompanied by misconceptions about unnecessary upselling, quick lube techs’ professional experience and education, and the effectiveness of shops’ fast-moving procedures.
These negative stigmas can be damaging for quick lube businesses, many of which rely on repeat customers and high car counts to keep their bays open.
A Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey, maintenance facility— known as Magic Lube & Rubber— has found a multitude of ways—through years of experience—to combat the stigmas sometimes associated with quick lubes.
Learning Through Experience
Shawn Gilfillan, owner of Automotive Magic & Magic Lube & Rubber, has been in the automotive industry for more than two decades. In 2003, he founded Automotive Magic, a 6,000-square-foot preventative maintenance and repair facility located in Kenvil, New Jersey.
Nineteen years later, he opened the auto maintenance facility known as Magic Lube & Rubber.
Although not necessarily labeled as a pure quick lube operation, Magic Lube & Rubber provides similar services, including oil changes and preventative maintenance, as well as tire installation and services.
“Even though we are considered a maintenance facility and not a quick lube, I still feel we are combatting this negative reputation industrywide,” says Gilfillan, who is also a member of the NOLN editorial board.
As an owner with skin in the game, Gilfillan has learned that creating trust with the customer is key to combatting negative perceptions of the industry.
Trust Through Transparency
One of the biggest issues Gilfillan faces at his shop is new customers often believe that his employees are trying to unjustly upsell them.
To combat this, he encourages his employees to build strong relationships with the customers.
“I tend to believe that a lot of vehicles come through the quick lube lanes, and they just want a quick oil change,” Gilfillan says. “Something convenient. Get in and out the door, and spend as little as possible. But if we don't do a good job of discovering what the customer wants to get out of their vehicle, they’ll end up being dissatisfied with our services.”
By connecting with new customers on a personal level, perhaps asking what they do for a living and how far they drive in a conversational tone, techs can discover how often the customer is going to need an oil change, as well as other services they might require to keep their vehicle running smoothly.
“Learning about the customer allows techs to transparently steer the conversation towards educating the customer about programs, what the operation does, and what their car needs,” Gilfillan says.
Predict, Document, Deliver
In addition to creating a relationship, techs should also maintain detailed records on their customers and their cars.
Creating detailed records on customers can helps techs ensure that they are ready for problems before they even appear. This will help the customer to view the operation as a place that does more than just a quick oil change.
For example, during a visit for quick lube service, a tech can identify and discuss with the customer additional issues for their vehicle that could surface at a later date.
The next time the customer comes in, the tech then can proactively look at their file and know if there are any probable issues they should revisit at the current appointment.
Taking photos of such probable issues can also help techs in these discussions with customers, as they are able to present before and after views of a potential leak or worn part.
“I think building confidence in what we're communicating and educating is the biggest thing that's often missing at quick lube operations,” Gilfillan says. “A lot of times it comes down to the operators training their staff to be able to do that.”
If techs can communicate problems with the customer before they appear, customers will come to rely on quick lube techs for more than just an oil change. They will start to recognize them as dependable automotive technicians.
“I believe that it all ties back to good records, good history on the vehicles, and creating a relationship with the persons vehicle you’re servicing,” Gilfillan says. “For better or for worse, it all boils down to relationships.”