One of the most important numbers to track as a quick lube owner or manager is your car count. Car count is the average number of cars you service in a day. Combined with your average sales per car (or “dollar per car”, as it is often called), car count is a critical piece of the financial side of what makes your business tick.
To understand why car count is so important, first take a look at the other side of the business: your costs. Your key costs are probably rent or lease, equipment, payroll, and inventory. Your rent or lease is going to be the same regardless of the amount of business you do. Similarly, your equipment can be thought of as a fixed cost, since it has a long productive life. Payroll is more variable, since you have the ability to raise or lower the number of employees working on a given day, but most stores have a certain number of employees that work every day, which makes payroll costs relatively steady as well. Lastly, inventory costs are not much of a problem, as long as the inventory is kept within reason, because you will sell the inventory at a higher price than you purchased it for.
Given all of that, your monthly costs are going to be relatively steady, whether you have 5 cars a day, or 20 cars a day. So given that you make money on each car that you service, car count becomes an extremely important variable in your profit equation. For example, if you have an average sized quick lube, at 5 cars a day, you may not even be covering your fixed costs. At 15 cars a day, you will likely be covering your costs and making a little bit. Anything above 15 cars a day becomes pure profit. If you can push that number to 20, 25, 30, and up, it will more or less fall straight into your bottom line.
So at this point you are probably wondering: how can I increase my car count? The two key aspects to think about are bringing in new customers, and keeping the customers you have. Greg’s Petroleum has experience helping dozens of quick lubes do both of those things. There are many ways to bring in new customers. Advertising via radio, newspaper, or online is a great way to let people know you are there. Combining that with a promotional offer will help lead more new customers into your location. We have seen that hosting a one day event with aggressive advertising and promotions can give you a chance to prove yourself to 100 or more brand new customers.
Obtaining loyal customers and repeat business also drives increased car count over time, so there is no point in bringing in new customers if they never come back to your store. We previously wrote about providing a great experience for your customers here, and that is key to creating repeat customers. But you should also develop ways to stay in contact with your customers over time. Investing in a system to contact customers via email or text message periodically is a great way to stay in your customers mind. Offering existing customers special deals is another way to create loyalty.
By bringing in new customers and creating better customer loyalty, you will increase car counts and your bottom line in no time. Greg’s Petroleum has the resources and knowledge to assist you in these endeavors. If you would like to learn more, please contact darla@gregspetro.com for specific questions, contact us here for more general questions, or chat now on the bottom right of the page for an instant response.