High-Mileage Motor Oils

It comes as no surprise that people are holding onto their vehicles longer than they were a few short years ago. In 2008, the median age of passenger cars on the roads in the U. S. was 9.4 years, higher than the previous two-year high of 9.2 years.

R. L. Polk & Co., which produced the report that was cited by both American and Canadian news media, found the medium age for all trucks in 2008 rose to 7.6 years from 7.3 in 2007, and light trucks increased to 7.5 years in 2008 from 7.1 in 2007.

Not surprisingly, the study’s consultant put this increasing vehicle age down to the growing anxiety people are feeling about the troubles in the economy.

“The current economic environment, coupled with high gas prices last spring and summer, have resulted in consumers delaying purchases of vehicles because their discretionary income has fallen,” wrote Dave Goebel, solutions consultant for R. L. Polk & Co.’s aftermarket team. “Based on the uncertainty of what the future holds consumers are trying to keep their current vehicles running longer, until their confidence improves.”

The report concluded that in such bad economic times, “consumers could feel as though paying a repair expense to keep the vehicle going for a year is more sensible or affordable than a monthly vehicle payment over an extended period of time.”

This trend, seen here in Canada as well, should be good news to independents. The potential for increased revenues and improved profits are to be had for those independents that can begin selling even simple kinds of work as preventative maintenance and charging a premium for the service. As the Polk study points out, an investment in keeping an existing vehicle running smoothly is more cost-efficient than buying or leasing a new vehicle for the consumer.

One place to start is with the simple oil change, a place where car owners are going to look first to help extend their vehicle’s investment and where independents can begin to educate car owners on the different kinds of motor oils available and what these oils do.

High-mileage oils are a profit centre

Like everything else in the world, a car ages and changes over time. Systems that once worked well begin to slowly wear and efficiencies are lost. A car engine is no different. Over time, age and the many tens of thousands of kilometers driven begins to take a toll on the engine’s various parts. Knowing this, oil makers have begun to develop a range of high-mileage motor oils to meet the specific demands of older vehicles.

Thom Smith, technical director of branded lubricants for Valvoline, says his company developed the Max Life motor oil after purchasing and examining engines in older vehicles. After tak ing them apart, several things became apparent.

“One of the big things we found is that seals had begun to shrink and grow brittle,” Smith says.

When the seals become brittle, drivers will notice their vehicles will begin consuming more motor oil than before or they may see smoke coming out of their tailpipe. A more telltale sign, and one that proves annoying to anyone who parks their car in the home garage, is the growing spots of oils beneath the car where they park.

Another thing found was sludge. Customers often have difficulty understanding what sludge is until it is too late and the engine becomes gummed up by that mess.

Brian Shaw, Canadian sales manager for Noco Lubricants, says anyone in the 1970s who tinkered with engines, like he used to with great enthusiasm, knows how it was quite common to open up an engine back then and see it junked-up with sludge. While less common with today’s engines and high-quality oils, sludge build-up has not gone away.

So this is a great time to explain what it is, why regular oil changes are needed, and why the switch to high-mileage oil is recommended. As an engine operates there are contaminate particles which need to be kept away from the engine parts. High-quality motor oil contains detergents that keep those particles suspended in the oil and away from the engine parts. Problems start when those particles begin

to build up and settle on the engine parts. Over time that sludge builds up and the customer notices such things as loss of oil pressure or reduced gas mileage for instance.

“One thing all high-mileage oils will have are seal conditioning agents,” says Mark Ferner, team leader with Shell Lubricants, makers of Pennzoil. “In an older engine, where some of the rubber seals or gaskets have started to dry up (due to age) and cause leaks, these additives are there to make sure the seals remain soft and pliable, which, in turn, helps reduce oil leaks. These agents also help with the O-rings at the top of the engine and help keep oil from getting down the valve stem.”

Ferner says another key feature of high-mileage oils, and

one that should be emphasized to customers, is the viscosity of the oils. In high-mileage motor oils the viscosity is thinner in order to contribute to fuel efficiency. This seemed to go against the traditional wisdom that when engines got older and the number of kilometers began getting up past 75,000 or even 100,000 km, that it was then time to switch to a thicker motor oil.

“In the past, if you had an engine that was consuming oil, the default position was to put in a thicker oil to try and slow down the oil consumption,” Ferner continues. Instead, the

oils are formulated so that the viscosity levels are thinner to provide improved fuel efficiency, but the oil is also formulated in such a way so that the thinner viscosity acts in a similar fashion if the oil were thicker.

“This allows you to use the same strategy of using thicker motor oil, but to still stay within the viscosity grade recommended in the vehicle’s owner manual,” Ferner says. “One place where this makes a difference is around the piston rings. The oil not only lubricates, but it also helps seal the combustion [better]. Furthermore, around the pistons the oil can encounter temperatures ranging from 400-600F, and could also be exposed to temperatures further up in the chamber of 2,500F, which is hot enough

to volatilize the oil. With high-mileage oils, the manufacturers will make the oils less prone to evaporate.”

The premium oil change

Because of the uniqueness of high-mileage motor oils and the vehicles they are intended for, these oils provide a profit opportunity for independents. “The key is to sell these oils as part of a comprehensive preventative maintenance package for high-mileage vehicles or to sell the premium oil change, where the higher cost of these oils can be factored into the price of a premium oil change,” says Dan Peterson, technical director with Amsoil Inc.

Again, referring to the R. L. Polk & Co. study, people are keeping their vehicles longer and they are willing to invest more in keeping their vehicle operating properly, rather than taking on the cost of a new vehicle.

Simply put, people are going to willingly pay more for a high-priced oil change if it is sold to them as something that helps maintain the value of their vehicle. By educating them on what happens to a vehicle as it ages, the need to keep such things as seals and gaskets operating properly, and how a high-quality motor oil can improve a vehicle’s longevity, it will make the sale of such an oil change that much easier.

“All specialty oils are profit centres for independents,” adds Noco’s Shaw. “The smart independents know that there are things people need for their vehicles, and independents have an opportunity to explain the benefits of using high-quality, high-mileage oils in a preventative maintenance package and improving their profits from that.

SSGM