Mobil Oil Change Business - To purchase a Franchise or Not to purchase a Franchise, That Is the Question

If you are thinking of going into the Mobil Oil Change Business - you may have asked yourself; Should I purchase a franchise or not. After running a franchise business called The Oil Change Guys for many years, I had seen both pros and cons for franchisees who have bought into the concept. Not long ago, anyone asked me:

What would be the advantages and disadvantages going with a franchise apposed to going at inexpensive auto insurance your self?

Now first off you must realize, that there are not that many Mobil Oil Change franchises available on the market in the first place. There is only one mobile franchise business that comes to mind, that has any strong brand-name identity; Oil Butler. There are however, several fairly well-known business life insurance cover that sell Mobil oil change business packages.

A person can purchase a Mobil Oil Change business opportunity and use whatever name they wish for their business, that would be good for an entrepreneurial type, who wishes to build a strong local brand in a community, or servicing fleet business in the region.

If one is to purchase a Mobil Oil Change franchised outlet, typically they will pay a $20,000 franchise fee, which is a definite big upfront cost. Those that purchase a business opportunity will be buying a trailer, or equipment that they can put inside of a pickup truck or van. The prices for Mobil oil change equipment amongst the business opportunity crowd is pretty competitive, so, there is no one gouging you on price.

Likewise, a franchise or cannot charge its franchisees too much money for the equipment or use of the brand-name, because that would put its franchisees at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace and the franchisee would must recoup the initial startup costs, by charging more to its clients. There is strong demand in the sector, but there is also competition from fixed site locations and even Wal-Mart Auto Centers, where I get my oil changed.

Many Mobil Oil Change franchisors will tell you that they have fleet business available and contacts with large companies and that could start your business off at a fast pace. that is important because it takes a long time to build a serious customer base, without thoroughly blitzing the local market.

Building mobile oil change routes is buy meridia difficult, and to make money, these routes must be very efficient, and the clients must be very close together, especially considering the price of feel right now at three dollars per gallon. Additionally, in many markets, there is a quite a bit of traffic, and it cost a lot of labor to drive through that traffic to get to every customer.

So, if the routes are not tight, the costs of the operator will skyrocket due to labor and remember that automotive technicians are commanding a very high price right now in the market due to the shortage of auto mechanics. To make money in that business it is all about efficiency.

If anyone is a very entrepreneurial driven individual then they may not like taking Sell structured settlement or having persons tell them how to do things. If that 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 are built out of the business. So the franchised operator generally will go through a much quicker learning curve and thus, they will say if the money that they paid for the initial franchise fee.

One thing that many new Mobil oil change operators do not realize is that just because you sign up a customer does not necessarily mean that you will make a lot of money off of every one. that is because the average customer only changes the oil in their car every three months or 5000 miles.

The real money is not in the personal car market, but rather the fleet business market, where there are lots of trucks, buses or cars all lined up in a row. The mobile oil change business does not work well running like a pizza deliver service on call, unless properly grid out the city and that is a whole different Florida Lemon Laws of business, but it can be done and it is fun to do.

Securing key accounts in fleet business is paramount and if a franchisor can assist you do that quicker, then I would say they are worth every dollar. If they do not offer that type of marketing or assistance, then they may not actually be the great advantage that it would be franchise buyer might believe. If you know nothing about the business, then a franchisor generally has pretty good training, and many of the competitors who sell business opportunities do too, although, I have never attended any of them.

One other issue that is important to the Mobil Oil Change franchised sector, is that many franchisors have specific deals with certain oil companies, and you will be locked into using a certain type of oil. that is good for bulk purchases at a relatively low price, but problematic when you find a specific fleet customer that will only use a specific brand of oil in it is not the one that you are allowed to sell or carry. that can hurt Marketing, so ask such questions upfront.

So if you are thinking about buying a Mobil oil change business as a franchise or starting your own these are some the things that you will need to consider. If you have any additional questions, you need to seek an expert. There is a great book online that you can purchase called Melric's Mobile Oil Change Guide. I hope that answers your question.

"Lance Winslow" - Online www.WorldThinkTank.net/Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest creator for www.ourspokanemagazine.com/Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington