starting up mobile oil change business

[al500]

hi i am looking for advice on starting up a mobile oil change/servicing business for cars and vans, the business will focus fully on service items for vehicles, oil changes, filters and brakes being the main sources of income. kind of like a mobile kwik fit...

there are many garages and mobile mechanics in my area however no one that focus solely on oil changes and service items, my idea being if i can specialize in this area with modern vehicles requiring oil changes every 6 months or 6,000 miles nowadays, i could build up repeat customers that do not have to spend their time waiting in a garage while charging what the garages charge, halfords offer this service however i have checked and they do not operate this in my area.

an example a simple oil and filter change on a fiesta at a local garage is £50, which requires a £5 oil filter and £11 - £12 of oil, would take me less than an hour

i would like to start as a mobile mechanic however the amount of tools required to work on modern cars is something i do not have the funds for, i have already got most of what i would need to start out with the oil change idea and would only need to invest a few hundred pounds and purchase a van to get started. i can start off buying items such as oil filters, oil etc as and when i need them, eventually buying in bulk to cut down my costs.

a waste licence maybe needed however is not to much of an expense, i have a place to store waste oil which can be collected by a company free of charge as and when i need to.

i believe i will only need standard van insurance as im not going to be driving customer vehicles.

what would be the best way to market this business ?

any advice/comments will be greatly appreciated

al

 

[alan1302]

Where do you get the idea cars need an oil change every 6 months/6,000 miles?

Recommended is 10,000 miles or every 12 months. And cars bought new often have longer intervals up to 20,000 to sway the fleet buyers although not necessarily good for long term.

 

[billybob99]

Depends on the car, Toyota recommend changing the oil every 5,000 miles for a Yaris while Ford suggests that an oil change is only required every 10,000 miles on a Fiesta, and had a BMW that used to be 7,500.

 

[Mr D]

6 months?
Darn there was me getting it done annually.

You have the offline advertising methods - newspapers, leaflets, shop windows etc.
Online a basic web page should work giving details of your services, prices, area etc.
Don't rule out personal interactions - attend some local business meetings, not everyone has a lease car.

 

[Mr D]

Where do you get the idea cars need an oil change every 6 months/6,000 miles?

Recommended is 10,000 miles or every 12 months. And cars bought new often have longer intervals up to 20,000 to sway the fleet buyers although not necessarily good for long term.

Fleet take account of spare vehicles and drivers - companies don't need the people driving the cars off the road for a day while car being serviced multiple times a year.
And some it is multiple - a friend had his done quarterly (around 15000 miles) and changed his car annually.

 

[Karimbo]

interesting idea, oil change places are common in the US but it's never been done here in the UK. Cannot work out why. I do maintain my cars and take good care of them, but that's because I drive an old banger.

I don't think we have a culture of maintaining vehicles in the UK. People treat cars like appliances, majority of fleet vehicles are on PCP where part of the agreement of the lease is to service the vehicle at main dealer, which would rule out a oil & brakes only service.

modern cars aren't very robust and have all sorts of design flaws as they were built to such tight tolerances to squeeze out as much fuel economy as possible.

Such as ford ecoboost with his a head gasket russian roulette. Also Audi TSFI which drink oil and can run it down to below minimum in one drive from London to Aberdeen.

 

[al500]

it varies quite a lot, between 5,000 - 10,000 for most vehicles, was just using as an example, like you say going a longer period between changes can cause problems further down the road, i could use this in my advertising possibly ?

could possibly get into a few companies that do high mileage and like to stay on top of their servicing ?

what would be the first step you would take to advertise ?

does it sound like a viable business ?

 

[Mr D]

it varies quite a lot, between 5,000 - 10,000 for most vehicles, was just using as an example, like you say going a longer period between changes can cause problems further down the road, i could use this in my advertising possibly ?

could possibly get into a few companies that do high mileage and like to stay on top of their servicing ?

what would be the first step you would take to advertise ?

does it sound like a viable business ?

Its quite possible a company with high mileage will not use you. Because they do not decide who to use.
May have to do searching around to find the non maintenance contracts, there will be a few.

Just a thought, could you do subcontract work for other businesses?

 

[al500]

interesting idea, oil change places are common in the US but it's never been done here in the UK. Cannot work out why. I do maintain my cars and take good care of them, but that's because I drive an old banger.

I don't think we have a culture of maintaining vehicles in the UK. People treat cars like appliances, majority of fleet vehicles are on PCP where part of the agreement of the lease is to service the vehicle at main dealer, which would rule out a oil & brakes only service.

modern cars aren't very robust and have all sorts of design flaws as they were built to such tight tolerances to squeeze out as much fuel economy as possible.

Such as ford ecoboost with his a head gasket russian roulette. Also Audi TSFI which drink oil and can run it down to below minimum in one drive from London to Aberdeen.

they are everywhere in the us, quick lube or whatever they are called, brand new cars that have to be serviced at main dealer for warranty purposes i obviously would not get, but not everyone has new cars, i think you are correct in saying people tend to not stay on top of it over here, until something blows up then wonder why its happened when the poor motor has been running round with no oil.....

 

[al500]

Its quite possible a company with high mileage will not use you. Because they do not decide who to use.
May have to do searching around to find the non maintenance contracts, there will be a few.

Just a thought, could you do subcontract work for other businesses?

i am thinking of small companies around here that operate out of units, for example a fruit and veg wholesale company down the road, however i believe the mechanic they would use for all the other work would just take the servicing as they already go there....

what sort of business could i do sub contract work for ?

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

I actually think this could be a nice little business for someone. You keep mentioning "oil change", I think to be clearer and more obvious to people, advertise it as "servicing".

For reasons mentioned above fleets may be difficult to target as they will have contracts etc but still plenty of individuals with their own cars (despite the trends towards PCP fully maintained etc).

I would target offices where you have a large number of people all driving to work - a polite call in to ask if you could put a flyer on their notice board etc. Maybe even a group discount if more than one person has theirs done on the same day - you turn up to a car park and service a few cars all in the same place.

I would aim your advertising along the lines of "Can you remember when you last had your car serviced? If not, it's probably overdue". It's amazing what people forget or can't be bothered to do when it comes to their cars. Also gather some statistics if you can such as "services are recommended annually yet only 6 in 10 people do this" - there may be research out there already with some examples like this. And/or, create your own. For example "did you know that the average service recommendation is every 8000 miles (you can average out different manufacturer recommendations for this) - this 8000 miles equates to only every 9 months on average (again I am sure you can find statistics on average miles driven per year). As long as you are careful with your wording there is no problem with using this to try and get people thinking about when they should be using you.

There will be loads of information available about what happens if you drive with a clogged air filter, used oil, etc etc, these can be used as "look what could happen if you don't have your car serviced regularly".

Don't miss a trick with your addons and extra checks - free wiper blade check as part of the service and sell them a new set if they are on their way out. Free battery check and offer to fit a replacement if the battery is on its way out and winter is on the way.

Good luck!

 

[Blaby Loyal]

What kind of oil are you getting for 4 or 5 litres at £11-£12?

Nigeria's finest stuff still costs me upwards of £20 for five litres even in bulk.

 

[Gordon - Commercial Finance]

Personally, I do all my servicing on my cars and motorbikes myself, but I know I'm well in the minority, so I think this is a fantastic idea.
Initially it would be fine to get parts as and when you need them but it could be a sticking point if you always have to order parts, and wait on them before you can visit and carry out a service. Would also be an issue if you came to service my car and you had filters in stock, but then in the process of completing the full service (which is more than just fluid and filters!) you discovered I needed new brake pads or something. You would then have to visit again and jack the car up and fit new pads. Slight inconvenience to customer, but would really eat into your margin having to make a second visit and start taking things apart.
So it would be good then if you had stock of most of the basic consumables - different weights of oil to suit all vehicles, filters (air, oil, pollen, fuel), and things like pads, light bulbs. Maybe you could just build up a stock by buying two or three of anything you need one of. So you get asked to go an service a Corsa, so instead of buying 1 x oil filter, 4 litres oil, 1 x air filter etc, you buy 3 of each filter, and a big muckle bottle of oil and the rest goes into the van in your very organised storage system so you can find it in a hurry.

In terms of marketing - I would target big office buildings locally and see if you can get someone to put your card or flyer up on notice boards in communal areas perhaps? Loads of people who drive to work would probably love to get their car serviced while it is parked somewhere and sitting idle and they don't need to think about it or get it to a dealer.

Out of interest, where are you based?

 

[AllUpHere]

The figures don't stack up. You are engineering a disadvantage into your business from the start.

You tell us that a local garage would do the oil and filter for 50 quid. You can't possibly compete with that and still make money. You'll be working for less than 30 quid an hour, even during the hours you are actually working. At the start of the business you'll also spend half your time driving from one client to the next, and back and forth to the motor factors.

Mobile mechanics can market their business for peanuts because an awful lot of work is picked up doing additional bits and pieces that have presented themselves during the service. If you are only replacing service items, you will have to turn down all the more lucrative work you find.

 

[Ally Maxwell]

Where are you getting 5L of engine oil for £11 ??

 

[Mark T Jones]

I'd agree with @AllUpHere

Your thumbnail costings indicate a business that would struggle to make any meaningful money once you have accounted for things like stock-holding, vehicle depreciation and, above all, time and distance between jobs.

If you run a cashflow you will see what I mean!

You need to look at ways to add value to the service to make it viable

 

[Gecko001]

Seems like a good idea. Building up trust will be your key to success. With a bricks and mortar business, at least people will be able to assess what type of firm they will be dealing with. With a mobile service all they have to go my is a business card and a promise. For all they know you might be just trying to get rid of a bunch of cheap oil and air filters and have no mechanical background whatsoever.

I just saw this youtube video at lunchtime. It will show what you are up against. BTW the particular presenter of the video knows his stuff about vehicle maintenance and I would not be put off by his style.

 

[billybob99]

Seems like a good idea. Building up trust will be your key to success. With a bricks and mortar business, at least people will be able to assess what type of firm they will be dealing with. With a mobile service all they have to go my is a business card and a promise. For all they know you might be just trying to get rid of a bunch of cheap oil and air filters and have no mechanical background whatsoever.

I just saw this youtube video at lunchtime. It will show what you are up against. BTW the particular presenter of the video knows his stuff about vehicle maintenance and I would not be put off by his style.

Scotty Kilmer is an absolute legend.

I don't know why but I've watched tons of his videos about fixing all sorts of issues on cars I didn't even own, with problems I never even had.

-

Just got a quote from ClickMechanic and it came back with the below. They are essentially sending out mobile mechanics on their behalf, but those guys do a bunch of other stuff as well.

 

[Gecko001]

Scotty Kilmer is an absolute legend.

I don't know why but I've watched tons of his videos about fixing all sorts of issues on cars I didn't even own, with problems I never even had.

I think he is great as well. I like his style but many do not like that rapid-fire American style. Any budding Youtubers should watch his videos to see how to make a good youtube video.

 

[billybob99]

I think he is great as well. I like his style but many do not like that rapid-fire American style. Any budding Youtubers should watch his videos to see how to make a good youtube video.

Agree. 1.4m subscribers says he is doing something right!

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Most engines now have high service intervals and very few people would want to waste money on unessaasay servicing that the manufacturer does not recommend
I have a small workshop here and look after the older vehicles myself but when you have to do oil change there are after two or three in-depth jobs that crop up ie a split CV boot last week.
Would you be prepared to undertake work that is unplanned.

 

[Gordon - Commercial Finance]

Agree with comments above that to viable you need to be able to offer add-ons. That requires stock.
The last time I ever took my car to a main dealer for a service, they charged me more than £200 for the service, and then also called me in the process with a list of things they were offering to sort for me. One of those things was that they noticed the battery in my key was low (keyless start/stop and keyless entry), and they could replace this for me. Curious, I asked them how much. They were prepared to deal with this minor item for me for the measly sum of £16.

I told them to jog on. Bought a battery for 40p and did it myself in less than 3 minutes.

 

[Financial-Modeller]

So a summary of responses so far, is:

• Brilliant idea!
• Difficult to make money from though
• OP would be better off making YouTube videos telling other people how to change their own oil!

 

[al500]

thanks for all the replys very useful info !

I actually think this could be a nice little business for someone. You keep mentioning "oil change", I think to be clearer and more obvious to people, advertise it as "servicing".

For reasons mentioned above fleets may be difficult to target as they will have contracts etc but still plenty of individuals with their own cars (despite the trends towards PCP fully maintained etc).

I would target offices where you have a large number of people all driving to work - a polite call in to ask if you could put a flyer on their notice board etc. Maybe even a group discount if more than one person has theirs done on the same day - you turn up to a car park and service a few cars all in the same place.

I would aim your advertising along the lines of "Can you remember when you last had your car serviced? If not, it's probably overdue". It's amazing what people forget or can't be bothered to do when it comes to their cars. Also gather some statistics if you can such as "services are recommended annually yet only 6 in 10 people do this" - there may be research out there already with some examples like this. And/or, create your own. For example "did you know that the average service recommendation is every 8000 miles (you can average out different manufacturer recommendations for this) - this 8000 miles equates to only every 9 months on average (again I am sure you can find statistics on average miles driven per year). As long as you are careful with your wording there is no problem with using this to try and get people thinking about when they should be using you.

There will be loads of information available about what happens if you drive with a clogged air filter, used oil, etc etc, these can be used as "look what could happen if you don't have your car serviced regularly".

Don't miss a trick with your addons and extra checks - free wiper blade check as part of the service and sell them a new set if they are on their way out. Free battery check and offer to fit a replacement if the battery is on its way out and winter is on the way.

Good luck!

thankyou, i am thinking along the same lines as towards comments towards advertising using the stats etc. and what could happen if you dont keep on top of servicing, i think i would offer a free inspection with each service on stuff such as like you mentioned wiper blades , batteries , power steering fluid and so on, this wouldn't take me very long and could earn some extra money, servicing vs oil change i think your right, i was just thinking that maybe advertising as servicing would not be as focused on my target

Personally, I do all my servicing on my cars and motorbikes myself, but I know I'm well in the minority, so I think this is a fantastic idea.
Initially it would be fine to get parts as and when you need them but it could be a sticking point if you always have to order parts, and wait on them before you can visit and carry out a service. Would also be an issue if you came to service my car and you had filters in stock, but then in the process of completing the full service (which is more than just fluid and filters!) you discovered I needed new brake pads or something. You would then have to visit again and jack the car up and fit new pads. Slight inconvenience to customer, but would really eat into your margin having to make a second visit and start taking things apart.
So it would be good then if you had stock of most of the basic consumables - different weights of oil to suit all vehicles, filters (air, oil, pollen, fuel), and things like pads, light bulbs. Maybe you could just build up a stock by buying two or three of anything you need one of. So you get asked to go an service a Corsa, so instead of buying 1 x oil filter, 4 litres oil, 1 x air filter etc, you buy 3 of each filter, and a big muckle bottle of oil and the rest goes into the van in your very organised storage system so you can find it in a hurry.

In terms of marketing - I would target big office buildings locally and see if you can get someone to put your card or flyer up on notice boards in communal areas perhaps? Loads of people who drive to work would probably love to get their car serviced while it is parked somewhere and sitting idle and they don't need to think about it or get it to a dealer.

Out of interest, where are you based?

this is something i was worried about, like you say eating in to my profits using fuel to run around to get parts, but then i suppose mobile mechanics will have the same problem ? they are not going to carry every part for every car obviously and have to plan when they will get what they need, for example if you get called out to do brake pads and it turns out the customer needs discs as well or maybe a caliper surely every mechanic that operates on a mobile basis is going to have this problem.

i am based in Essex, south east

The figures don't stack up. You are engineering a disadvantage into your business from the start.

You tell us that a local garage would do the oil and filter for 50 quid. You can't possibly compete with that and still make money. You'll be working for less than 30 quid an hour, even during the hours you are actually working. At the start of the business you'll also spend half your time driving from one client to the next, and back and forth to the motor factors.

Mobile mechanics can market their business for peanuts because an awful lot of work is picked up doing additional bits and pieces that have presented themselves during the service. If you are only replacing service items, you will have to turn down all the more lucrative work you find.

it has been bugging me about the garage charging only 50 quid, this was the price advertised on the site maybe it was a from price i will have to double check, i was trying to figure out how they would earn any money themselves on a service at 50 quid, they have rent, utilities, staff to pay etc. is it because like you said with the mobile guys they can grab work off a service ? but if they dont get another job off the service they must be making near to a loss on each one at this price ? maybe going into the mobile mechanic route is a better option, however i only have around 4k max to invest in tools, so will limit myself on what work i can carry out, which in my mind will be bad for business as you look a fool telling a customer you cannot do a job because i dont have this or that...

Where are you getting 5L of engine oil for £11 ??

price of oil does vary, in the example i used with the fiesta i can get 10L drums of fully synthetic 5w30 ford spec oil for £27 delivered to my door, the car requires 4.1 L so would cost me around the 11 - 12 quid mark for this car, other models require more expensive oil and this would reflect in the price

I'd agree with @AllUpHere

Your thumbnail costings indicate a business that would struggle to make any meaningful money once you have accounted for things like stock-holding, vehicle depreciation and, above all, time and distance between jobs.

If you run a cashflow you will see what I mean!

You need to look at ways to add value to the service to make it viable

ok so maybe charging a premium for the service as i am saving the customer the hassle of going to a garage and sitting around ? people are busy nowadays and im sure they can think of better things to do on lunch break or after work, the time and fuel is my main worries this can kill my profit if i get stuck in traffic for example....

Seems like a good idea. Building up trust will be your key to success. With a bricks and mortar business, at least people will be able to assess what type of firm they will be dealing with. With a mobile service all they have to go my is a business card and a promise. For all they know you might be just trying to get rid of a bunch of cheap oil and air filters and have no mechanical background whatsoever.

I just saw this youtube video at lunchtime. It will show what you are up against. BTW the particular presenter of the video knows his stuff about vehicle maintenance and I would not be put off by his style.

i watch the youtube videos all the time, scotty, south main auto, very entertaining....

i suppose a professional looking setup/van will help me out with the trust problem that matches my website/advertising

Scotty Kilmer is an absolute legend.

I don't know why but I've watched tons of his videos about fixing all sorts of issues on cars I didn't even own, with problems I never even had.

-

Just got a quote from ClickMechanic and it came back with the below. They are essentially sending out mobile mechanics on their behalf, but those guys do a bunch of other stuff as well.

QUOTE]



watch them daily, hours go by without realizing lol, what make and model was this quote for please ?

 

[al500]

Most engines now have high service intervals and very few people would want to waste money on unessaasay servicing that the manufacturer does not recommend
I have a small workshop here and look after the older vehicles myself but when you have to do oil change there are after two or three in-depth jobs that crop up ie a split CV boot last week.
Would you be prepared to undertake work that is unplanned.

i would love to take on all the work i can, the problem being that i only have 4k to invest, the amount of stuff needed to work on modern cars/vans i would struggle just to buy the diagnostic equipment for that and would have to turn down a lot of work which will make my business look unprofessional in my eyes, maybe starting out smaller and building my way up is the way to go i just dont know.... i would only recommend what the service interval says for that vehicle and was thinking of sending a reminder to the customer via text message when the next one is due by getting an idea of the mileage they do

Agree with comments above that to viable you need to be able to offer add-ons. That requires stock.
The last time I ever took my car to a main dealer for a service, they charged me more than £200 for the service, and then also called me in the process with a list of things they were offering to sort for me. One of those things was that they noticed the battery in my key was low (keyless start/stop and keyless entry), and they could replace this for me. Curious, I asked them how much. They were prepared to deal with this minor item for me for the measly sum of £16.

I told them to jog on. Bought a battery for 40p and did it myself in less than 3 minutes.

its looking like it will be hard to make good money, however ive been out of work for a long time with health problems so something is better than nothing, its just a case of if its worth it at all or will i just be chasing my own tail

main dealers are a rip off, perfect example with the battery, big it up to be something it aint .

 

[al500]

So a summary of responses so far, is:

• Brilliant idea!
• Difficult to make money from though
• OP would be better off making YouTube videos telling other people how to change their own oil!

too ugly for youtube

 

[fisicx]

So I'm at work and the car is in the carpark. You turn up with the van and block the road. You get the drip tray and slide it under the car but you can't reach the drain plug. What do you do now? And the oil is cold so will take forever to drain even if you do get the drain plug out. Security has just turned up and asked you to move the van. Eventually you get the drip tray back out from under the car and pour the old oil into the waste drum in the van. You now have to go find me and get the car keys. But I'm in a meeting and you aren't allowed in to the building. An hour later you get the keys and open the bonnet only to discover the car need to be on ramps to access the oil filter. But the car is wedged in so you can't use the trolley jack. And it's a 174D filter but you only have a 174E filter in the van. So you leave the car up on ramps and drive to the autofactors to get the filter. Finally 3 hours after you started you finish the job.

And it was chucking it down so you are now soaking wet and well fed up.

All for £50 less the cost of the oil, filter, diesel, insurance and van repayments.

Sounds like a great way to earn money.

My car is 5 years old and I pay for a servicing pack. The whole car gets serviced and MOT'd once a year for just over £120. Not going to pay you £50 to just do the oil.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

It is a horrible idea to have a mobile oil change business. 2 reason why.

1 You can not protect the ground enough from oil spillages and risk environmental pollution
2. Even if current legislation would allow to do it 1 change in the legislation and your business is over. In other European countries you would get arrested and go to jail for changing oil in public or private properly.

 

[al500]

So I'm at work and the car is in the carpark. You turn up with the van and block the road. You get the drip tray and slide it under the car but you can't reach the drain plug. What do you do now? And the oil is cold so will take forever to drain even if you do get the drain plug out. Security has just turned up and asked you to move the van. Eventually you get the drip tray back out from under the car and pour the old oil into the waste drum in the van. You now have to go find me and get the car keys. But I'm in a meeting and you aren't allowed in to the building. An hour later you get the keys and open the bonnet only to discover the car need to be on ramps to access the oil filter. But the car is wedged in so you can't use the trolley jack. And it's a 174D filter but you only have a 174E filter in the van. So you leave the car up on ramps and drive to the autofactors to get the filter. Finally 3 hours after you started you finish the job.

And it was chucking it down so you are now soaking wet and well fed up.

All for £50 less the cost of the oil, filter, diesel, insurance and van repayments.

Sounds like a great way to earn money.

My car is 5 years old and I pay for a servicing pack. The whole car gets serviced and MOT'd once a year for just over £120. Not going to pay you £50 to just do the oil.

i would need the keys to start off with to open the bonnet in the first place !, maybe get customer to leave them at reception, car is driven on a small set of ramps to get to what i need to for a service, oil does not take very long to drain while its draining i can be carrying out the filter change/basic inspection for the car, any sort of mobile mechanic will deal with parking vans carrying out bigger longer jobs and they seem to get on ok, i would know what car i am servicing and would make sure i have the correct filter before attending, weather is what it is, ive worked outside my whole life and not worried about getting wet, i will have a good set of waterproofs for these days, mobile mechaincs will also deal with the weather, and no mechanics is not the best job in the world but im working with what ive got

 

[al500]

It is a horrible idea to have a mobile oil change business. 2 reason why.

1 You can not protect the ground enough from oil spillages and risk environmental pollution
2. Even if current legislation would allow to do it 1 change in the legislation and your business is over. In other European countries you would get arrested and go to jail for changing oil in public or private properly.

i have thought about the risk of oil splillage which can be solved with a thick tarp which i will also use to lay on, no risk of oil hitting the ground then, that would then also mean that every mobile mechanic would go out of business as a lot of work requires you to drop fluids out of the car, not just oil, but coolant, brake fluid, gearbox oil, power steering fluid etc.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

I am used to countries where people actual care about the environment and I think the UK will add more protection soon as well which put you out of business. Normally garages need special sealed floors and a license to inspect it also disposal would be another question. You are lucky because nobody cares but it only need a tiny change in law. also went to Mercedes to get that info and asked about pricing for service and pricing is now pretty much in line with other garages working at the same level. A tarp is nowhere near a solution to prevent spillage. 1ml of oil contaminates easily 10000 liters of ground water. For serving I agree most time cars are on personal leases that include services anyway.

 

[billybob99]

watch them daily, hours go by without realizing lol, what make and model was this quote for please ?

It was for a BMW 3 series 3.0.

At the end of the day, most the bozos on here will give you ridiculous scenarios as to why you shouldn't do something, not just this idea, most ideas.

They are either in a completely different industry, have no industry knowledge or any real clue.

Only you can do your own market research and come up with a valid assumption. There are plenty of ways to validate an idea without actually starting it or doing it.

I've validated the silliest ideas with just a landing page, Facebook ads or Google/Bing ads. I can see there are a bunch of people searching for "oil change near me" and "oil change + city" its not going to be hard to see if there is a demand.

I've got too much time on my hands and happy to help you look into more if you want.

Halfordsoffer something similar. Check out all the players offering it right now, type in some car reg numbers and get quotes. They don't even mention each car usually has its own oil change interval, they just state "We recommend an oil change every six months or 6,000 miles, whichever is sooner."

Work out if you can undercut these costs and still make money, work out if like others said, you might have to offer additional services on top to make it work?

You might want to check out these guys - they bring fuel to you. If they came here first, they would have got laughed off the forum, but they did have to raise a ton of cash to get it going, as it was a loss leader to start off with.

You're just going to have to sum up the pros and cons and make the decision, and then take the punt.

 

[alan1302]

I actually think this could be a nice little business for someone. You keep mentioning "oil change", I think to be clearer and more obvious to people, advertise it as "servicing".

You cant call it servicing though if you are not doing anything else other than changing the oil.

 

[MBE2017]

In my area you can get a garage to do an oil change plus filter from £30, but you need to drop it to them. I think you would struggle to make real money unless you offer something special, such as doing the work through the night to avoid being off the road.

That said, Iwould charge more for such a service.

 

[al500]

It was for a BMW 3 series 3.0.

At the end of the day, most the bozos on here will give you ridiculous scenarios as to why you shouldn't do something, not just this idea, most ideas.

They are either in a completely different industry, have no industry knowledge or any real clue.

Only you can do your own market research and come up with a valid assumption. There are plenty of ways to validate an idea without actually starting it or doing it.

I've validated the silliest ideas with just a landing page, Facebook ads or Google/Bing ads. I can see there are a bunch of people searching for "oil change near me" and "oil change + city" its not going to be hard to see if there is a demand.

I've got too much time on my hands and happy to help you look into more if you want.

offer something similar. Check out all the players offering it right now, type in some car reg numbers and get quotes. They don't even mention each car usually has its own oil change interval, they just state "We recommend an oil change every six months or 6,000 miles, whichever is sooner."

Work out if you can undercut these costs and still make money, work out if like others said, you might have to offer additional services on top to make it work?

You might want to check out - they bring fuel to you. If they came here first, they would have got laughed off the forum, but they did have to raise a ton of cash to get it going, as it was a loss leader to start off with.

You're just going to have to sum up the pros and cons and make the decision, and then take the punt.

thankyou for your help billybob, its much appreciated, ive looked on google trends and there is a lot of search for oil changes and car servicing which as you say shows a demand

the halfords mobile service for oil changes is not currently covered in my area, they just say the service is unavalible when you try to get a quote

i am looking at prices and they vary so much its hard to set a price point, for example one of my familys car, 2003 honda crv, to take to a halfords garage just for a oil and filter change and inspection is £135 (cheapest package) where as the click mechanic site you mentioned earlier will be £85 (no inspection) and they come to you, kwik fit is only £55 however there inspection is very basic with this package, the next package gives a much more detailed inspection similar to halfords for £92 and you have to go to them for either, one of my local garage website just gives a table with the engine capacity and prices, which underneath says prices may vary subject to specialist make and model, they want £60 for this capacity engine with no inspection just straight oil and filter, £100 with the inspection, however i suppose to get an accurate price i will have to ring them tomorrow.

to service this car it would cost me around 25 - 30 quid for oil and filter, the inspection costs me just my time and i have to factor in diesel and insurance cost, i think i really need to be around the click mechanic price of £85 to make it viable and offer the inspection as part of the package.

how can i work out fuel prices for myself, i could get a job around the corner or 10 - 20 miles away, i suppose i need to figure out the maximum distance i would want to travel and factor this in to the price of the service, say a job 20 miles away going to cost roughly 5 - 10 quid diesel there and back so need to keep this in mind when setting a price for the servicing ?

there are people that have said on here that a local garage will charge 30 quid for an oil and filter change, i dont see how this is possible to make any money on, something is not adding up there, you could just about do it for that if you did your own servicing.

at the moment im thinking that if i were to do it i would offer the 'multi point inspection' in just the most basic package, which wouldn't take me very long to do and could drum up other work for me such as brakes, battery, wipers, problem is there i will not always have the parts on board to do it there and then and will have to return to the customer, but i suppose it does not matter where i am, im going to be somewhat near a parts supplier so wouldn't be to much of a big deal to go and get a set of pads for example if the customer wanted them done, i would have to be careful if i have other appointments booked however so i am not late to the next customer.

i know im not going to be a millionaire any time soon, just want to try and earn a decent wage for myself, been off work for a good few years with severe depression/anxiety and working for myself is the only option for me at the moment due to this, so would like to make this work.

fuel company is very interesting, amazing how that can work with a petrol station every 5 minutes

again thanks for your help

 

[al500]

You cant call it servicing though if you are not doing anything else other than changing the oil.

i would offer inspection, brakes, wipers, fuel filter, air filter etc all basic service parts

In my area you can get a garage to do an oil change plus filter from £30, but you need to drop it to them. I think you would struggle to make real money unless you offer something special, such as doing the work through the night to avoid being off the road.

That said, Iwould charge more for such a service.

wow, dont know how they possibly make money on this, sounds to me like they are either just screwing a filter on and calling it job done, or taking a loss in order to gain other work, how you can earn any money at all on 30 quid for a oil change, especially when you have got all the costs of running a garage....

 

[billybob99]

i know im not going to be a millionaire any time soon, just want to try and earn a decent wage for myself, been off work for a good few years with severe depression/anxiety and working for myself is the only option for me at the moment due to this, so would like to make this work.

This is why it can work, you're not looking to scale up and across the UK overnight, you're just a local guy looking for local work. I'd say there is potential. Local garage in Bath, charge £59+ VAT for oil change, obviously you have to go to them and wait until they get around to you, pros and cons.

fuel company is very interesting, amazing how that can work with a petrol station every 5 minutes

Its purely one thing, convenience.

Is the petrol they bring a rip off compared to petrol stations, no.

The fact is saves you time and you can have a full tank without even going to a petrol station after work might be another pro.

If you can narrow down on your ideal customer, the busy professional, the office worker etc. that is a start.

I think someone else mentioned it already, can you give it a little twist, in terms of the pros or convenience factor and you might be onto a winner.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

It was for a BMW 3 series 3.0.

At the end of the day, most the bozos on here will give you ridiculous scenarios as to why you shouldn't do something, not just this idea, most ideas.

They are either in a completely different industry, have no industry knowledge or any real clue.

Only you can do your own market research and come up with a valid assumption. There are plenty of ways to validate an idea without actually starting it or doing it.

I've validated the silliest ideas with just a landing page, Facebook ads or Google/Bing ads. I can see there are a bunch of people searching for "oil change near me" and "oil change + city" its not going to be hard to see if there is a demand.

I've got too much time on my hands and happy to help you look into more if you want.

Halfordsoffer something similar. Check out all the players offering it right now, type in some car reg numbers and get quotes. They don't even mention each car usually has its own oil change interval, they just state "We recommend an oil change every six months or 6,000 miles, whichever is sooner."

Work out if you can undercut these costs and still make money, work out if like others said, you might have to offer additional services on top to make it work?

You might want to check out these guys - they bring fuel to you. If they came here first, they would have got laughed off the forum, but they did have to raise a ton of cash to get it going, as it was a loss leader to start off with.

You're just going to have to sum up the pros and cons and make the decision, and then take the punt.

This Bozzo has 35 years of experience owning. a Workshop and restoring old cars as a hobby. I then have 30 years experience of running my business
You draw your own conclusions if my advice is not usful

 

[Gordon - Commercial Finance]

I think you should give it a crack. You've said you have been out of work for a while and you seem to have a real interest in this and a bit of a fire about it. You have also answered well the negative responses you have had here, some of them have merit but you have addressed them well.

£4,000 is actually a lot to get set up with a pretty good range of equipment for the van. As long as you're not buying Snap-On....
Diagnostic tool...ok the garage ones are expensive, but you're going mobile! Why not get one of the plug-in code reader units? Or the ones that plug in to a laptop? They can be as little as £15, and would do the job nicely.

As well as financing the van, you can also finance garage equipment by the way. Myself or probably more likely @Mark T Jones could help with that.

I think you should stop looking to compete with garages on price. They are using servicing as a loss-leader to get other work. If you try to undercut that then you don't make money and you also devalue your product. You're selling convenience. You're going to them! No need to wait at a garage, drop your car off there, nothing. The situation described above with car park issues may happen from time to time, but generally I don't think you will have an problems. Especially at out of town offices that have their own car parks, where you might get 5 or 6 cars to do eventually, then you're laughing because you've cut your travel down significantly.

Use your head, and you can make it work.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

You tell us that a local garage would do the oil and filter for 50 quid. You can't possibly compete with that and still make money.

Personally I'd have thought that mobile mechanics could get away with charging more.

Customers essentially pay a premium to have the mechanic come to them and do the work while the customer sits in their own home with a cup of tea watching The Chase. It's certainly better than sitting in a windowless waiting room reading an 8 month old copy of Motorsport Weekly.

I would consider positioning this as a more premium service. Provide the convenience of a home visit, include good-branded oil, and provide add-ons such as a free vehicle inspection to inflate the value. You could even include a free wash and/or vac (time and cost permitting).

I think you would have to expand the offering though to make it a full service worthy of a stamp in the service book (often one of the only reasons a lot of vehicle owners bother to get the service).