If you are thinking about getting into the Mobil oil change business, you may have wondered; Should I buy a franchise or not? After running a franchise company called The Oil Change Guys for many years, he had seen the pros and cons of franchisees who had embraced the concept. Not long ago someone asked me:
What would be the advantages and disadvantages of going with a franchise instead of doing it yourself?
Now, first of all, you have to realize that there are not many Mobil Oil Change franchises available on the market in the first place. I can only think of one mobile franchise company that has a strong brand identity; Oil Butler. However, there are several well-known business opportunities that sell commercial Mobil oil change packages.
A person can buy a Mobil Oil Change business opportunity and use whatever name they want for their business, this would be good for an entrepreneurial type, wanting to build a strong local brand in a community or service fleet businesses in the region .
If one is going to buy a Mobil Oil Change franchise, they will typically pay a franchise fee of $20,000, which is definitely a great up-front cost. Those who buy a business opportunity will buy a trailer or equipment that they can put inside a van or van. Mobil oil change kit prices among the multitude of business opportunities are quite competitive, so there is no one to beat the price for you.
Similarly, a franchise cannot charge its franchisees too much money for equipment or use of the brand, because this would put its franchisees at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace and the franchisee would have to recoup initial start-up costs. , charging more to their customers. There is a strong demand in the sector, but there is also competition from fixed locations and even from Wal-Mart Auto Centers, where I do the oil change.
Many Mobil Oil Change franchisors will tell you that they have fleet business available and contacts with large companies and this could kick start your business at a fast pace. This is important because it takes a long time to build a serious customer base, without completely bombing the local market.
Building mobile oil change routes is very difficult and to make money these routes have to be very efficient and customers have to be in close proximity to each other, especially considering the sensational price right now of three bucks a gallon. Also, in many markets, there is a lot of traffic and it takes a lot of work to manage that traffic to reach each customer.
So if the routes are not narrow, operator costs will skyrocket due to labor and remember that auto technicians are commanding a very high price right now in the market due to the shortage of auto mechanics. To make money in this business everything is a matter of efficiency.
If someone is a very enterprising person, they may not like taking orders or being told how to do things by people. If this is the case, then they will not like being in a franchise system. Theoretically, a franchise system has already made all the mistakes, and the mistakes stem from the business. So the franchise operator will usually go through a much quicker learning curve and therefore say whether the money he paid for the initial franchise fee.
One thing many new Mobil oil change operators don’t realize is that just because you sign up a customer doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll make a lot of money from each one. This is because the average customer only changes the oil in their car every three months or 5,000 miles.
The real money is not in the personal car market, but in the fleet business market, where there are many trucks, buses or cars lined up in a row. Mobile oil change business doesn’t do well as an on call pizza delivery service unless you properly unplug the city and that’s a whole different kind of business but it can be done and it’s fun to do.
Securing key accounts in the fleet business is paramount and if a franchisor can help you do that faster then I’d say it’s worth every dollar. If they don’t offer that kind of marketing or support, they may not really be the big advantage the franchise buyer might think. If you don’t know anything about the business, then a franchisor is usually pretty well trained, and many of the competitors selling business leads are, too, although I’ve never attended any of them.
Another issue that is important to the Mobil Oil Change franchising industry is that many franchisors have specific agreements with certain oil companies, and you will be required to use a certain type of oil. This is good for relatively low-priced bulk purchases, but problematic when you find a specific fleet customer who will only use a specific brand of oil and not the one you can sell or transport. This can hurt sales, so ask those questions up front.
So if you are thinking of buying a Mobil oil change business as a franchise or starting your own, here are some of the things to consider. If you have any additional questions, you should seek an expert. There is a great book online you can buy called Melric’s Mobile Oil Change Guide. I hope this answers your question.