$86.44 for oil change? I feel screwed

[blacksandiegovitz]

Originally Posted by DerFlosser

You got raped....plain and simple. Seriously...oil changes on this car are sooooo easy.

No guff , but if your car is under warrenty you have to have your oil changed by a reputiable place to show a legit service record . But seriously guys if you buy 4 qts of royal purple thats 40 bucks right there +6-7 dollars for a oem toyota oil filter is still almost 50 bucks , this guy really didn't get reamed that bad . Fyi any oil change for at the bmw dealer is $130 minium and the volvo dealer charged my friend $190 for an oil change on his xc90 Lol

[supmet]

Originally Posted by blacksandiegovitz

but if your car is under warrenty you have to have your oil changed by a reputiable place to show a legit service record

Not true. DIY FTW

86 dollars is way overpriced.

There is markup on oil. If they aren't making profit at 85, how do they charge me 65(and still make a profit), and they aren't just doing it to bring customers in, its a going rate, at a lube only place... Auto zone made profit off me buying 5 qts pennzoil platinum and a mobil 1 filter for 27.99

[YarisSedan]

Originally Posted by supmet

Not true. DIY FTW

86 dollars is way overpriced.

There is markup on oil. If they aren't making profit at 85, how do they charge me 65(and still make a profit), and they aren't just doing it to bring customers in, its a going rate, at a lube only place... Auto zone made profit off me buying 5 qts pennzoil platinum and a mobil 1 filter for 27.99

Hate to break it do you but they make no profit. Thats whats called a loss leader. It something that they loose money selling to you for less than or at cost. Hoping while your there you might buy a air filter, some car wax maybe some terry cloths etc. Its something to get you in the door. To help some people relate think back to black Friday when they were selling flat screen tvs for 400. No one though oh wow how can they do that. They are just giving them away. Because they are. They just want you to come to their store and hopefully buy something else on the way out.

Ill tell you what my shop pays for oil. 1.89 per quart. We used to pay 2.25 for almost a year putting in high quality oil in every oil change. But people didnt care they just wanted cheap. So we finally compromised and went down to a lower quality oil at 1.89 a quart and dropped out coupon rate from 19.95 to 17.95. I also pay about adverage 4 dollars for the filter. Depends on the car some are more some are less.

So if i a car comes in that takes 5 quarts of oil. thats 13.45 for the parts my cost I only make 4 dollars and 50 cents. That dosnt even cover cost of things like the quarter can of brake cleaner. Thats maybe 50 cents. So really i make 4 dollars flat. I am paying the lube tech 15 a hour that means I dont even cover his salary. Let alone have enough left over to pay for the electricity, rent, etc. Oh yeah i forgot to mention that includes topping off of fluids. Some cars come in with no wiper fluid. Maybe thats 50 cents to fill it up a gallon and half of washer fluid. Some cars come low on coolant. If its toyota long life thats maybe a dollar to fill up a quart. If its low on transmission fluid well it adds up. Sometimes we end up in the negative.

There is no money in oil changes ill say it one last time its considered loss leader. Belive what you will but no shop can survive on oil change alone. Its just something to bring customers in. at 13.45 for parts there is no real room for markup.

If a shop is charging even 20 dollars labor that still dosnt cover it. Most shops labor rate is 95 dollars a hour. If your getting a oil change that includes checking tire pressure topping of fluids full undervehicle inspection full underhood inspection. Takes about 25 minutes to do complete from start to finish. Ad another 5 minutes for checking and checkout time thats half a hour. So really you should be charged half an hour labor rate at 47.50 but your paying 20 bucks still. Or i guess at my shop 4 dollars.

Thats what i mean when i say your not getting ripped off. That shop OP took his car do decides to take less of a loss than the next shop. Maybe they are busy enough they dont really need to do oil changes that they have constant flow of customers. So if they are going to do a oil change they want to make sure its worth thier while. Maybe they have no lube technicians they only have a staff of mechanics. So you may have a 30 dollar a hour mechanic doing your oil change for 80 bucks with 45 dollars in material for oil. You do the math. They are not walking away with pockets full of money.

The lube shops that do quickie oil changes dont really make money either. They charge a little more but poeple go for the quickie service. They make it up by selling you unessisary stuff like air filters that arnt that dirty. Fluid exchanges that arnt needed yet. And plus they use only generic fluids and mark it way up. They pay their technicians lot lower than other shops. Which is why usually thier experience matches thier pay. I am sure everyone has heard of or know about a horror story of such quick lube shops. Just watch dateline nbc.

[SilverGlow]

Originally Posted by YarisSedan

Hate to break it do you but they make no profit. Thats whats called a loss leader. It something that they loose money selling to you for less than or at cost. Hoping while your there you might buy a air filter, some car wax maybe some terry cloths etc. Its something to get you in the door. To help some people relate think back to black Friday when they were selling flat screen tvs for 400. No one though oh wow how can they do that. They are just giving them away. Because they are. They just want you to come to their store and hopefully buy something else on the way out.

Ill tell you what my shop pays for oil. 1.89 per quart. We used to pay 2.25 for almost a year putting in high quality oil in every oil change. But people didnt care they just wanted cheap. So we finally compromised and went down to a lower quality oil at 1.89 a quart and dropped out coupon rate from 19.95 to 17.95. I also pay about adverage 4 dollars for the filter. Depends on the car some are more some are less.

So if i a car comes in that takes 5 quarts of oil. thats 13.45 for the parts my cost I only make 4 dollars and 50 cents. That dosnt even cover cost of things like the quarter can of brake cleaner. Thats maybe 50 cents. So really i make 4 dollars flat. I am paying the lube tech 15 a hour that means I dont even cover his salary. Let alone have enough left over to pay for the electricity, rent, etc. Oh yeah i forgot to mention that includes topping off of fluids. Some cars come in with no wiper fluid. Maybe thats 50 cents to fill it up a gallon and half of washer fluid. Some cars come low on coolant. If its toyota long life thats maybe a dollar to fill up a quart. If its low on transmission fluid well it adds up. Sometimes we end up in the negative.

There is no money in oil changes ill say it one last time its considered loss leader. Belive what you will but no shop can survive on oil change alone. Its just something to bring customers in. at 13.45 for parts there is no real room for markup.

If a shop is charging even 20 dollars labor that still dosnt cover it. Most shops labor rate is 95 dollars a hour. If your getting a oil change that includes checking tire pressure topping of fluids full undervehicle inspection full underhood inspection. Takes about 25 minutes to do complete from start to finish. Ad another 5 minutes for checking and checkout time thats half a hour. So really you should be charged half an hour labor rate at 47.50 but your paying 20 bucks still. Or i guess at my shop 4 dollars.

Thats what i mean when i say your not getting ripped off. That shop OP took his car do decides to take less of a loss than the next shop. Maybe they are busy enough they dont really need to do oil changes that they have constant flow of customers. So if they are going to do a oil change they want to make sure its worth thier while. Maybe they have no lube technicians they only have a staff of mechanics. So you may have a 30 dollar a hour mechanic doing your oil change for 80 bucks with 45 dollars in material for oil. You do the math. They are not walking away with pockets full of money.

The lube shops that do quickie oil changes dont really make money either. They charge a little more but poeple go for the quickie service. They make it up by selling you unessisary stuff like air filters that arnt that dirty. Fluid exchanges that arnt needed yet. And plus they use only generic fluids and mark it way up. They pay their technicians lot lower than other shops. Which is why usually thier experience matches thier pay. I am sure everyone has heard of or know about a horror story of such quick lube shops. Just watch dateline nbc.

This is A BIG LIE!

They in fact made a profit. If you look at what the dealership pays for the parts, and oil, and the fact that the labor is just minutes, so if you factor all this in THE PROFIT IS BIG!

You must work at a dealership and buy all their BS...this is FAR from being a loss leader!

[YarisSedan]

Originally Posted by SilverGlow

This is A BIG LIE!

They in fact made a profit. If you look at what the dealership pays for the parts, and oil, and the fact that the labor is just minutes, so if you factor all this in THE PROFIT IS BIG!

You must work at a dealership and buy all their BS...this is FAR from being a loss leader!

I guess you cant really understand what overhead is if you never owned a business or taken a business class in school. The dealership has the biggest overhead of any shop. Which is why they have the highest labor rate to cover it. Compared to a smaller independent.

You are not just paying for the lube tech. You are paying for the secretary that answers the phone. You are paying for the so called free coffe in the fancy waiting room. The food for the fish in the fish tank. The people that come and mop the floor every night. The security guard that walks the lot at night. The massive rent i could go on and on. They are not making some massive profit. put it this way if the dealership did ONLY oil changes. Nothing else. Do you really realistically think they would be making loads of money.

Yes i agree lots of things the dealership charges people can be very high. But you have to understand their overhead is so so high. If you dont want to pay a lot i have suggested time and time again find a good local mechanic that you can trust just like your doctor or dentist. My shop is in a complex with about 4 other shops. Two of the shops out of the 4 are 1 man operation 1 bay facility. Very little overhead. The owner is also the mechanic. Of course if the dealership may charge 400 dollars for a particular service he can do the same service for 200. because he has almost no overhead. He may be even willing to do it for 150. You can even find someone on craigslist to do the same service for 75. But guess what the guy on craigslist has zero overhead so he dosnt care.

But yet theres people that go to my shop cause they prefer the professionalism, appreciate the service and the fact that we use only OEM factory parts and have a 1 year warranty just like work done at the dealership but yet we are cheaper than them.

If they were only concerned with price they would probably find a mechanic on craigslist and go the cash no receipt gig and pray to god nothing happens to their car when they are done. But to me that is just insane. Thats like looking in the pennysaver ad for a coupon for laser eye surgery.

[SilverGlow]

Originally Posted by YarisSedan

I guess you cant really understand what overhead is if you never owned a business or taken a business class in school. The dealership has the biggest overhead of any shop. Which is why they have the highest labor rate to cover it. Compared to a smaller independent.

You are not just paying for the lube tech. You are paying for the secretary that answers the phone. You are paying for the so called free coffe in the fancy waiting room. The food for the fish in the fish tank. The people that come and mop the floor every night. The security guard that walks the lot at night. The massive rent i could go on and on. They are not making some massive profit. put it this way if the dealership did ONLY oil changes. Nothing else. Do you really realistically think they would be making loads of money.

Yes i agree lots of things the dealership charges people can be very high. But you have to understand their overhead is so so high. If you dont want to pay a lot i have suggested time and time again find a good local mechanic that you can trust just like your doctor or dentist. My shop is in a complex with about 4 other shops. Two of the shops out of the 4 are 1 man operation 1 bay facility. Very little overhead. The owner is also the mechanic. Of course if the dealership may charge 400 dollars for a particular service he can do the same service for 200. because he has almost no overhead. He may be even willing to do it for 150. You can even find someone on craigslist to do the same service for 75. But guess what the guy on craigslist has zero overhead so he dosnt care.

But yet theres people that go to my shop cause they prefer the professionalism, appreciate the service and the fact that we use only OEM factory parts and have a 1 year warranty just like work done at the dealership but yet we are cheaper than them.

If they were only concerned with price they would probably find a mechanic on craigslist and go the cash no receipt gig and pray to god nothing happens to their car when they are done. But to me that is just insane. Thats like looking in the pennysaver ad for a coupon for laser eye surgery.

I have owned a business since 1983; a California corporation. I have a Stanford MBA, 1998 grad.

It is sad that it is you that is ignorant of how a business works, and you proved it by speaking to a dealership's overhead.

The dealership's overhead is a weak justification for it's screaming way too high prices. What a dealership needs to do is price to compete, and since they often don't they collectively have a very bad reputation in the country. People are just so untrusting of them and what they really are is STEALERSHIPS.

You really need to take a basic finance class and then you might understand.

Using your backward logic, an angry over charged consumer should feel better and be happy once the service writer explains the massive overhead of the dealership....."Oh, I see, in that case, I feel so much better for having been bent over and shafted without lubrication, and no reach-around"....

Get real, dude!

[b_hickman11]

Originally Posted by YarisSedan

I guess you cant really understand what overhead is if you never owned a business or taken a business class in school. The dealership has the biggest overhead of any shop. Which is why they have the highest labor rate to cover it. Compared to a smaller independent.

You are not just paying for the lube tech. You are paying for the secretary that answers the phone. You are paying for the so called free coffe in the fancy waiting room. The food for the fish in the fish tank. The people that come and mop the floor every night. The security guard that walks the lot at night. The massive rent i could go on and on. They are not making some massive profit. put it this way if the dealership did ONLY oil changes. Nothing else. Do you really realistically think they would be making loads of money.

Yes i agree lots of things the dealership charges people can be very high. But you have to understand their overhead is so so high. If you dont want to pay a lot i have suggested time and time again find a good local mechanic that you can trust just like your doctor or dentist. My shop is in a complex with about 4 other shops. Two of the shops out of the 4 are 1 man operation 1 bay facility. Very little overhead. The owner is also the mechanic. Of course if the dealership may charge 400 dollars for a particular service he can do the same service for 200. because he has almost no overhead. He may be even willing to do it for 150. You can even find someone on craigslist to do the same service for 75. But guess what the guy on craigslist has zero overhead so he dosnt care.

But yet theres people that go to my shop cause they prefer the professionalism, appreciate the service and the fact that we use only OEM factory parts and have a 1 year warranty just like work done at the dealership but yet we are cheaper than them.

If they were only concerned with price they would probably find a mechanic on craigslist and go the cash no receipt gig and pray to god nothing happens to their car when they are done. But to me that is just insane. Thats like looking in the pennysaver ad for a coupon for laser eye surgery.

By your standards, no company ever makes any profit. I'm glad you're not the president, everyone would be homeless.

[SilverGlow]

Originally Posted by blacksandiegovitz

No guff , but if your car is under warrenty you have to have your oil changed by a reputiable place to show a legit service record .

This is so not true!!!

Even a log entry in an excel spreadsheet would be good enough. You NEVER have to take it to a dealer, nor any other place to prove you got the oil changed.