Manager Forum

"How much do you charge for an oil change?" is the question on the other end of the phone.

Being that there are so many different oils, filters, capacities, etc...how can M1 be setup so I can quickly answer this question in an accurate way? Is there a best practice for setting up canned items for LOFs or is it best to look up a price for each vehicle (which seems like it would take longer)?

Thanks for the insights.

I have canned jobs set up.

I open an estimate, right click, go to LOF4 or LOF 5, that brings up a parts menu that has all of our oils listed, i select the oil I want and click OK. As for the oil filter, all of our "everyday" filters are the same price, so I just make up a number "R85515" that i know we stock. I make sure to get the correct filter when the job is sold.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhJP-08 ... e=youtu.be

I think the days are gone where one size fits all. Too many oils and varying cost filters to reliably use canned jobs on these, unless you build one for each year, each make and each model. Unfortunately, the canned job does not drill down to engine, so you'd have to have one for each engine choice. We have a few generic jobs to start the process, then it's a matter of looking up quantities and filters.

The bigger question is why we menu price these? My opinion is menu pricing this service only helps to establish this as a commodity in the consumers eyes. Unless you're following the manufacturers guidelines for service intervals, I'll bet there are some real differences in what one shop calls an oil change as apposed to another. What we've been trying to do is sell the manufacturers recommended service, especially for vehicles with under 120k. This covers everything you need to do, and you get paid to do it.

This is kinda like my worst thing I hate to hear, " how much is a tune up?"......

I hate how much for a tune-up, how much for an oil change, how much for transmission flush, how much for differential flush, how much for transfer case flush, how much for coolant flush.

We have a dealer that pushes these flushes like no tomorrow. and they have a set price for each service.

I always look it up to see what fluid it takes and how much is needed. I do not have a set price. We have consumers that get shocked by the $1000 estimate they just got at this dealer then they call around price checking. I tell them I'd have to look it up we do not have set pricing because every vehicle is different.

They of coarse always want it looked up hoping we are half of what the dealer is and sometimes we are more. It's 99.9% a waste of time and I do not know how to keep the person on the other end of the phone happy unless I give them a price.