At the most basic level, customers’ expectations for the quick lube industry have held steady for decades. The traits valued by guests 40 years ago ring true for those pulling their vehicles into bays for an oil change in 2026.

“People have always looked for speed, convenience, and mostly trust,” says Rod Black, senior vice president of marketing for Strickland Brothers. “Trust has kind of always been, I think, the recurring theme that has never changed. … People have always wanted to get their oil changed quickly, pay a fair price, and know the job is getting done correctly—that their vehicle is taken care of, that they are taken care of, and (that they are) building a relationship with their mechanics and team members.”

Dave Seelhoff echoes Black’s sentiments.

“I think a lot of the core expectations have probably remained the same,” says Seelhoff, operations manager for Performance Plus Quick Oil Change Centers. “You know, the industry itself was sort of created around convenience and not having to leave your car at a repair shop or a dealership and not having to schedule appointments and those things. So, I think some of those core expectations have very much remained the same.”

Black joined Strickland Brothers in December 2025, but his roots in the fast automotive maintenance industry extend back nearly 15 years. After beginning his career in agency roles in which he worked with car dealerships and other automotive chains, Black moved to Express Oil Change and Tire Engineers in 2017.

Seelhoff, meanwhile, has been in the industry for 27 years. He joined Performance Plus in 2007 and has served in his current role since 2011, working in Wyoming, Michigan.

But while the core values of the quick lube customer experience have remained largely intact, Black and Seelhoff agree that the ways in which shops have met guests’ expectations have steadily evolved in several ways, from how information is presented during visits to how companies stay in touch after drivers pull away.

Digital Age

One area that has seen significant evolution in the quick lube space over the past two decades, Black notes, has been digital innovation. While customers have always expected a convenient quick lube experience, how exactly that experience is delivered has evolved.

“(The digital experience) didn’t exist 20 or 30 years ago,” Black says. “There was no mobile phone to quickly search for an oil change near me. There were no map directions or a clickable link. So, while the expectation for convenience hasn’t changed, the entire experience from offline to online has.

“Customers expect a personalized experience. They expect an easy experience and a high standard of convenience. It’s our job to meet them where they are at.”

To accomplish this, modern quick lube brands have embraced offers and communications, including SMS messages and email, that are segmented to the right customers and personalized to meet the needs of guests and their specific vehicles, Black says.

“Our CRM, for example, allows us to create a personalized experience on the online side before (customers) even get to the shop,” Black explains.

Digital innovations have extended beyond just marketing, Seelhoff notes. Invoices and manufacturer recommendations can now be emailed instead of printed.

Elevated Experience

Over the past two decades, Seelhoff says the level of professionalism exuded by the quick lube industry has increased significantly, elevating the experience that guests have come to expect.

“The old experience was often provided by people that fall closer to the mechanic side of service, and what you often find nowadays is people that are a little more customer service-oriented in the industry,” Seelhoff says. “That increased the professionalism in the communication and the way customers are treated. The way they’re provided information has changed in that aspect. It’s very information-based communication and much less opinion-based communication (now).”

Seelhoff says Performance Plus employees are trained to bring a facts-first mindset to their interactions with guests.

“The way we present information to them and that they make decisions about the information we provide, I think that's changed pretty drastically over the years,” Seelhoff says. “You know, it used to be a very manual process, and often the information that was presented from a technician would be almost opinion-based. And now the information comes directly from the manufacturers, and the customer has an ability to source the information themselves as well. So, there's this increasing need for that information to be extremely accurate.”

The increase in the professionalism at quick lube shops is also reflected in the appearance of the facilities themselves, Seelhoff says.

“People thought of it as a relatively dirty industry (decades ago),” Seelhoff says. “And I don't mean figuratively, I mean literally. And so, our expectations and our aim is to always provide very clean, very well-organized facilities. We believe that to be a reflection of the work we do. And I think that most customers expect that nowadays.”

A driving factor in the evolution of customer expectations is the increasing sophistication of the vehicles they drive. Modern vehicles deliver alerts when it is time for an oil change and/or other services. But such notifications aren’t foolproof, and it is on quick lube shops to make sure vehicles are being properly maintained.

“Vehicles are certainly more sophisticated in terms of telling you exactly what services you need, but there’s still a human element, right?” Black says. “You trust the mechanics. In my case, the mechanics and oil change techs I work with, we’re building a relationship to where I can trust that what they are suggesting to me and recommending are things I really need.

“Take air filters, for example. I don’t know that vehicles are going to tell you that you need to change your air filter. At Strickland Brothers, we rarely are going to suggest to you that you must change your air filter. We’ll show you a dirty air filter and a clean air filter, and then leave it up to you to make the decision.”

Ultimately, Black says, taking a pressure-free approach to customer interactions helps to increase the likelihood guests will return.

The Big Picture

At Strickland Brothers, meeting evolving customer expectations has required a more holistic approach that begins before guests pull their vehicles into the service center, Black says, starting with making it easy to find Strickland Brothers locations in online searches and maps. The emphasis on high visibility extends to the road, where Strickland Brothers aims to make it “very clear in what we offer in terms of services, making sure that they're choosing the right service that they need for the vehicle, the right oil, what's going to be best for their vehicle, and then communicating with them continually over the course of the period between their oil changes and ultimately, hopefully drive them back to the store for that second, third, and fourth visit,” Black says.

To ensure its service centers meet expectations, Strickland Brothers leaders analyze customer interactions and provide feedback to improve future visits, Black says.

At Performance Plus, innovations that aren’t necessarily customer-facing by nature ultimately serve to help the company meet its guests’ needs, Seelhoff says. Having access to vehicle histories and other data has helped with providing customers with accurate information and fact-based recommendations.

“I think just the overall ability to source accurate and correct information from the manufacturers has also been a very positive influence and allowed us to advance,” Seelhoff says.