It Is Not Just An Oil Change

here is no such thing as “just an oil change.”

For years in our industry, the oil change has been used as an excuse for poor communication between the service facility and the customer. Let’s get the vehicle in with a cheaply priced oil change and when it’s on the hoist we will look for and try to sell immediate work with a common excuse for the lack of sales being that the customer has no money.

If we step back and put ourselves in the customer’s shoes, think about how we would react if our expectation was that we were just coming in for an oil change and now it becomes, “You need $400 worth of work and we need to keep your car all day.”

If you as the vehicle owner haven’t budgeted the time or the money for the work, the likely response will be, “Just do the oil change for now and I’ll think about getting the other work done later.” The problem is the needed work doesn’t go away, but it piles up and gets added onto the next service interval, which may again be perceived as just an oil change.

If all of the systems on a vehicle have a life cycle, and most systems can be monitored, then there should be no excuse as a service professional to not be aware of this and communicate service needs ahead of time, not just when the vehicle comes in for that oil change.

The challenge for a service operation today is that with new vehicle technologies and better quality parts, the intervals in the maintenance schedule for many of today’s vehicles is spread out over a greater number of kilometers than before. Oil and fluid changes are now often recommended every six months or 8,000-16,000 kilometers. Some parts and systems on today’s vehicles are rated to last up to 160,000 kilometers before needing to be serviced or replaced. We also see that the factory service schedule may not include servicing some of the sub-systems during the scope of the warranty period, with the implied conclusion that they should never be serviced.

At the same time, preventative maintenance is more crucial than ever in order to keep the vehicle operating safely and reliably.

That is where the need to improve our communications about the most frequent maintenance opportunities comes in. J.D. Power and Associates’ most recent look at customer satisfaction with dealership and independent service operations points to how extended service intervals are changing the dynamic of the service visit. Today’s customer is likely to visit a service operation only twice a year rather than three or four times a year as was common before. It is during those times that service operations need to be identifying and pre-selling preventative maintenance, needed inspections and maintenance service on vehicle systems and presenting a budget for the work needed during that next scheduled oil and fluid change.

Today’s vehicles also demand oils and fluids that have to be correctly matched to the technology. A mistake can be costly. Technicians have to keep several important things in mind when doing an oil or fluid change:

•  Energy efficient engine designs now run hotter and have tighter tolerances

•  Is the engine diesel or gasoline powered? Does it operate with flex fuel and biodiesel?

•  Performance designs, including turbocharging and supercharging will dictate what kinds of oils and fluids can be used

•  Diesel EGR will also dictate the oils and fluids used

•  GDI

•  Various viscosities to meet CAFE requirements as well as internal technologies:

•  VVT (variable valve timing)

•  MDD (multi displacement on demand)

•  Hydraulically actuated timing chain tensioners

•  Low tension rings

The options available to service these technologies are also growing every year:

•  Mineral based petroleums

•  Semi-synthetics

•  Full synthetics

•  Engine cleaning chemistries to minimize the effects of combustion

•  Soot control in diesels

•  Piston ring cleaning to maintain compression

•  Oil conditioners and fortifiers to improve the function and service life of oil.

Too often, we allow vehicle owners to take a mandated oil change to a quick lube operation. We believe an oil change, on its own, is not enough of a revenue generator or that it is a loss-leader for attracting business into the bays on slow days. Sure a quick lube operation will change the oil and filter and have the vehicle on the road in half-an-hour for $70; but think for a moment about all the other critical vehicle systems that are neglected during that oil change:

• Who monitors the rest of the vehicle systems?

•  Who maintains the rest of the vehicle?

•  Who monitors the safety systems of the vehicle? (A Master Tech?)

•  Where will the owner take the vehicle when it breaks down?

• Does this enhance ownership satisfaction?

• Does this enhance brand loyalty?

• Does this enhance reliability?

Too many service providers build their business model on waiting for something to go wrong with a vehicle, rather than building a business model of preventing things from going wrong.

If we work with the old breakdown business model, then we create a situation of having customers coming to us unprepared for the time and cost of needed work to be done to their vehicle. In the end, the vehicle owner will leave the shop frustrated with the whole experience and not return when yet another problem comes up. This is not the way to build a long-term relationship with the customer.

There are reasons why family physicians and dentists schedule regular exams. If your dentist did not schedule regular cleanings, examinations and x-rays to monitor the condition of your teeth, they could not help you prevent a dental problem from happening or catch a problem early enough so that it can be fixed before it becomes bigger. Regular examinations will certainly not stop all problems from happening, but the dentist will be able to catch something and book a time needed to fix it, a time that works with both the client’s schedule and theirs and perhaps even help in budgeting for the needed procedures. Why do all this?

They know if you are aware of the need and that they brought it to your attention, then they are more likely to get the business.

So that oil and fluid maintenance is still fundamental to our business as it is an opportunity to educate vehicle owners on preventative maintenance, and the first step to building profitable customer relations.