About Us - The History of The Oil Change Guys
Lance Winslow
- CEO/President
Below is the story of how we got
started in the mobile oil change business. The story is written from our point of view and
opinion. We claim freedom of speech, of the press in it's entirety since a good part of it
is opinion based.
Lance Winslow, started out in
the Aircraft and Car Detailing Business about 26 years ago. Mobile Oil Changes did not
exist for the consumer at that time. There were only preventative maintenance services for
over the road trucks and off-road heavy equipment. During this time Jiffy Lube was growing
in size and convenience started to take hold. Jiffy Lube in less than 15 years cornered
the market. Mr. Winslow watched this trend take hold and thousands of quick lube shops
started to spring up across America, similar to the original Midas Muffler Model, but this
time for oil changes. This was occurring as gas stations turned from service station
garages to C-Stores for higher per square foot profits.
Eventually several companies sprung up to fill this niche,
few lasted as consumers were not ready to except this new trend of mobile oil changes and
cities and property managers frowned upon it. In some markets they did well and in others
they failed miserably. Eventually many companies learned through trial and error what the
consumers needed and wanted. Recognizing opportunity, Lance Winslow began
making plans, as it seemed the operators in the industry were learning how to market these services. Now
we see National Oil and Lube News has a whole month dedicated to the mobile oil change
sector. The winners in this mobile on-site oil change market today are Location Lube, Lube
and Go, and Oil Butler.
In 1998 Mr. Winslow was marketing a new franchise in San
Jose, CA for his Car Wash Business when he ran into Dave who was the co-founder of Oil
Maxx. Oil Maxx was founded back in 1995 after a study of the market revealed that there
was a great potential for a mobile oil and lube service. Many people had never even heard
of a mobile lube service in Silicon Valley. Dave and his partner then borrowed money from
family and friends and started Oil Max, a name they chose to franchise with. Although this
confused their current customers they thought it was a smart move. Soon after they
discovered Oil Max was taken as a name and changed to Oil Maxx with two 'X's. Prior to
that there were only Biz-Ops and all were East Coast based and only one was a legitimate
franchise. Dave and His partner and newly formed marketing staff spent many days and
nights perfecting their system and building an even stronger customer base.
Lance Winslow again saw opportunity.
Oil Maxx provided service to many major companies and
individuals throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and surrounding communities. They were
members of the National Association of Fleet Administrators and a preferred vendor with
many fleet service/leasing companies including GE Capital, PHH Vehicle Services,
Wheels/Map, US Fleet Leasing, and Enterprise Fleet Services. Oil Maxx decided to team up
with our franchisees of The Car Wash Guys and The Truck Wash Guys in the California Bay
Area. By co-marketing and bundling services each of the two companies doubled business
over night by sharing customer lists. We immediately sent Oil Maxx to our customers at
Adaptec, Fujitsu, and HP. They sent us to Budweiser Distribution, a courier service, a
uniform service and the cable company.
We also worked together to leverage other
competitors out of the market, such as our once rival Texas "T", by bundling
services with the many Concierge Services, which started popping up to cater to corporate
employees at the height of the DotCom and Tech Bubble. The synergies gained were so
intense, they were scary, so both companies grew closer and even shared data bases of
customers, billing information, scheduling routes lists and sales teams. Without any
non-competes, lawyers or guarantees, all on a hand shake between company founders.
(January of 1999). Lance Winslow was just barely getting into the
business.
Seeing the potential of this incredible synergy, Mr. Winslow,
introduced Oil Maxx founders to his then sole mentor in franchising, Lou Gurnick of franchisebusiness.com. Lou Gurnick was the
Chief Operating Officer for Midas Muffler from it's inception with only $100,000 in
capital to over 400 Million in sales which was still over 30 years ago. Lou Gurnick was
also a consultant to Ray Kroc who franchised McDonalds and to Tom Monahan Founder of
Dominos Pizza. Mr. Winslow was looking to duplicate this synergy he found with the Oil
Maxx Company across the nation. He was anticipating Oil Maxx's rapid expansion through
franchising on a promise from the Oil Maxx founders to catch up to the then only Car Wash
Guys then 181 franchises in 14 states at the time.
Knowing that it would bring fleet
business and corporate onsite car washing to Mr. Winslow's team and also provide Oil Maxx
Franchisees with instant business. Mr. Winslow had a long range plan to either buy all or
part of Oil Maxx after the fast and explosive growth and then take the company public or
trade for Car Wash Guys stock. That never came to be, Mr. Winslow is much more savvy as
Oil Maxx failed to capture enough inertia to attack the franchising market. Most of this
was due to bad management and under capitalization.
Before Oil Maxx's downfall, Oil Maxx with the foresight of
Mr. Winslow and the help of Lou Gurnick was a registered California Franchise poised to
dominate the industry as companies like New Jersey based Oil Butler. Oil Butler had
already sold some 50 franchises and were getting ready to go for an IPO. Lance and Dave
decided they needed very much to kick butt on the West Coast so they could dominate the
market before Oil Butler could. This similar strategy was used against FleetWash, also out
of New Jersey as they marched westward to attack our strong hold position in the truck
fleet washing business (Truck Wash Guys).
Meanwhile we were advancing our Detail Guys
Brand in FL with plans to move into the South East market for a foothold in the personal
and corporate employee oil change market by co-branding those two brands with Oil Maxx.
Mr. Winslow had been promised up until then that Oil Maxx would make good on their word to
launch a nationwide franchise campaign. A quote comes to mind from the Late Vince
Lombardi, that there are few willing to go the distance in the pursuit of victory, only
the strong survive, it is a matter of individual will. Not everyone has what it takes.
Oil Maxx Company had worked as a perfect synergy with our
washing franchised system in Silicon Valley up until then. Click here Since we were operating in Silicon
Valley we worked on perfecting our WashGuy online ordering systems as well, Click here. We eventually added a system to order car
washes via customer's PDA Wireless devices during the Ricochet Rage of Venture Capital Alley. We
even set up Team Yellow, and co-marketed with
other mobile services. We had spent thousands of dollars getting ready for the nationwide
co-branding efforts with the Oil Maxx Company. Unfortunately after two years Oil Maxx was
unable to expand much out of the Bay Area with regards to franchising.
Mr. Winslow put the
Co-marketing project with the Oil Maxx company on hold and looked immediately to create
synergies with any Independent Mobile Oil Change Business and look for a new Nationwide
Partner. Oil Maxx finally went off the air in late 2001 after the prolonged inevitable
death. We could not understand after we sent them business and our franchisee's paid part
of their shop space to park our wash trucks at night as a favor to help with their
start-up and operational costs. After all the work to create a viable synergy, they could
not over come their lack of business acumen, undercapitalization and bad management
(opinion). But we know from our experiences in studying franchising www.franchising.org that only one in five
franchisors survive in America due to stringent regulations.
In CA the failure rate is
even higher since CA is just about the worst state due to onerous regulators like junior
examiner Gabriel Eckstein in Los Angeles. In 2002 California was rated in Wall Street
Journal as the worst state to do business in, with the worst anti-business regulations. As
Car Wash Guys worked through it's own growing pains, we were able to take what we had
learned and use that to help us co-market with other independent mobile oil change
companies across the country. Even at times substituting on-site Preventative Fleet
Maintenance, Mobile Tire Service Companies and even mobile fleet alignment companies.
Although Car Wash Guys was severely damaged monetarily by Oil Maxx's failure to make good
on the promises, our Car Wash Guys franchisees persevered in the area to bring services to
the customers and masses.
Mr. Winslow was looking for another franchise company that
had nationwide ambitions. In mid 2001 he met with a Japanese Company in Malibu, CA who
could provide patented Oil Additives for fleet vehicles, which could expand the life of
the oil interval up to 100,000 miles. The Japanese firm had been using the product fro 10
years in Japan and it was proven with 1 million miles worth of tests on trucks from Yellow
Freight, the largest LTL Trucking company in the nation and with Roadway. The product was
great and the North American rights were available with their main contact who was a
former board member of the American trucking Association.
Mr. Winslow also met with another Nationwide Oil Additive
Company representative in Reno, NV, who had come to The Detail Guys original prototype
8-Bay Detail Shop to discuss another oil additive. Their product which guaranteed the
engine life of any car to 150,000 miles after a certified inspection almost too good to be
true. All guaranteed through Lloyd's of London. Lance thought gee whiz, I now have a
product for the car dealerships, trucking industry and mom and pop. Mr. Winslow then met
with people from Lucas Oil Additives and Kendall Motor Oils after trying both for over
40,000 miles each in the Blitz Mobile Command Center and Corporate Office on wheels.
Mr. Winslow offered to buy an Oil Change Company out of Tampa
Florida, a franchise system, with only three franchisees, one of which was in a market we
also serviced with our Car Wash Guys Franchise in Jacksonville, FL. The Jacksonville
franchisee of the Mister Mobile On-site Oil Change Company was not doing so hot and we
knew we could fix that, since we had tons of contacts there and were already kicking the
crap out of our competition FleetWash in Gainesville, Tallahassee and Jacksonville. We
figured we could buy the company, hire back the founder in Tampa for training and fix the
customer base issue in Jacksonville. 
Unfortunately the founder of that company Mister Mobile
On-site Oil Company, Dave Henddelson, did not want to work anymore and wanted to retire
and coming to terms on the price of the franchise was another issue. Meanwhile we learned
that the Owner of the Tampa Franchise On-Site Oil Change was a former franchisee who never
paid royalties and the former Franchisor who went out of business was suing him for
stealing the proprietary rights of the system. So defending that lawsuit would have to be
figured into the price as well as taking over many leased vehicles which were financed by
sleazy leasing companies and had left the owner upside down in payment to value ratios. A
prefect scenario ruined by litigation and bad fiscal policy. Mr. Winslow was getting a
little upset at this point as many of the current franchisees of Car Wash Guys, Detail
Guys and Concrete Wash Guys were
asking to add on these services.
Lance was determined not to give up knowing the market
potential and also studying the needs of future Hydrogen Cell and Electric Hybrid Cars (click here for more), which would be
needing other services such as special filters, capacitors and carbon tipped injector
nozzles, which are wearable parts too. Knowing this Lance contacted Oil Butler for a
possible acquisition only to find out that they were out of their minds on price, whether
a stock swap or not and were having growing pains to boot. In fact as he learned more he
became more excited at the potential and lack of organized competition. Many of the
original Oil Butler Franchisees had gone out of business. Which was typical of low cost
franchises were the buyers did not take the businesses as seriously due to the small
investment.
Such issues were prevalent during the high flying 90's with other companies
such as Decorating Den (click here for
more). 
Oil
Butler had a good deal for a franchisee who wanted to save a little money and get into
their own business, with dedication it works. Oil Butler is such a low cost franchise it
is a very low risk opportunity for many people and we actually recommend it for those who
cannot afford our franchise.
Lance then contacted Location Lube who offered to customize
their units to WashGuy's Corporate Yellow and put on our insignia. Also with this deal
they would guarantee financing and training all for about 30% mark-up. However Mr. Winslow
was concerned because Location Lube had their
own brand and any innovations such as patented oil additives, customization or marketing
techniques would be given to all the Location Lube "Biz Op" customers and thus
fall into competitors hands. Lance was also worried that the Location Lube website had
earnings claims on it that could not be substantiated and therefore in violation of FTC
laws, and by that time Mr. Winslow had, had just about enough BS from that agency. (click here for more).
Still looking for the perfect partner and determined to
either find them or build his own franchise system to co-brand with Mr. Winslow's current
one, he scheduled a meeting near the Dallas Airport in Irving Texas with George of Mobile Pitstop. Mobile Pitstop seemed to
have everything Lance needed to fulfill his vision and help the synergies of the market by
bundling all the mobile auto and fleet services into one giant and un beatable team.
Unfortunately when George came to meet Lance, George's first comment offended Lance's
wife. Mr. Winslow was willing to over look the arrogant attitude and bigot comment
provided George could deliver. 
During the meeting Lance got the feeling that the oil additive "Oil
Extreme" was not only over priced but was typically sold the same way Rockefeller's
dad sold his snake oil and during the entire meeting Lance could not get out of his head
the ugly comment George made as it was demeaning to all women. Lance kept thinking back to
the Rockefeller Biography and Rockefeller's dad who kept two wives. To top it all off
George refused to discuss the possibilities of The Oil Change Guys using anything but Oil
Extreme, which costs nearly triple the price of any oil on the market and in many case
five times the amount. Understanding the consumer, Mr. Winslow realized that his
franchisees would have little or no profit margin left if they only used Oil Extreme.
George, at the all you can eat rib place, during lunch,
stuffed his face and flipped through a picture book as if he was trying to sign Lance up
as an Amway Distributor. Lance was getting quite upset with the situation having driven
1600 miles from the East Coast to meet George half way in Texas with only three hours of
sleep before the meeting. Mr. Winslow had driven the trip non-stop and got a ticket in one
of those notorious Texas Speed Traps. 2/3 the way through lunch George said that the
service vans had to have the checker board design with large logos of Oil Extreme and
could not be yellow. Lance was so upset he swore at George who is quite over weight, and
announced the negotiations over, took back all of his information, including a gift of an
out of print 1945 book "The Golden Age" By J. Paul Getty and told George, I will
see you in the market place. Mr. Winslow wants to crush his competition and good ole'
George is at the top of the list.
Mr. Winslow met with so many different companies and made so
many contacts he was sure he had all the components to roll out his own Mobile Oil Change
franchise System to co-brand with the other WashGuy
Family of Franchises. Lance, then had a chance meeting with Greg of On-site Oil
Change in New Mexico. It was by total accident. Lance was visiting Los Alamos
Laboratories to sign up members for The World
Think Tank and having a rather tough time of it due to recent national security
problems there. He drove down to Rio Rancho for a Starbucks Coffee, when Greg approached
him asking about the Truck Wash Guys Franchise. Greg had accidentally signed up the New
Mexico Power Company for fleet washing, since he was good friends with the Vehicle
operations supervisor and already changed the oil for the entire fleet. After they got to
talking a little bit Mr. Winslow, who just got done reading the Biography of Lance
Armstrong, found out that Greg had beaten cancer. And Greg's attitude at the time was
no different from what Lance had read about Lance
Armstrong's fight with cancer, and his Tour de France victories. 
Mr. Winslow also was developing
ties with Jonathan Lake founder of the World Think Tank, a cancer survivor. Greg's
wife told him that Winston Churchill, was her personal and favorite hero. Mr. Winslow was
reading Winston Churchill's Biography after learning he is related to the late Winston
Churchill through John Howland an ancestor. (click here). Greg had moved
his growing business into a new $250,000 building in the Albuquerque Industrial Area on an
acre. His shop had everything including upstairs offices and rooms for training new Oil
Change Guys Franchisees.
Greg had added other lines to his business, which we had
hoped to incorporate into our business model. Greg would have put together our equipment
and training our team. We looked into all of these ancillary revenue streams and
determined them to be viable. After determining these to be excellent add-on
services and we incorporated them into our service list. We then asked Greg to put
together some figures as to exact costs to put together an Oil Change Rig. Similar
to the ones he had running, but with all the new options that he had determined necessary.
He failed to perform this obligation and we lost two deals we were putting together
in Monterrey, Mexico. Lance was getting frustrated but, understood Greg had been
through a hell of a lot in his life and let it go.
Later in that year Bob Davis of "Tour de Lube" of
Oklahoma City called us after being in business for only six months with two older trailer
units, admitting to us that they were not really doing the job and wanting us to help him
upgrade his fleet with a van. Bob wanted us to take a used van which he would buy
and retrofit it. Bob wanted to run a debt free business which is admirable, but
wanted us to put equipment in an old van. Bob and his family ran this business after
buying it from another gentleman who had run the business for 5 or more years prior. After
discussing this with Bob and finding out that Bob's real ambitions was to do fleet
oil changing throughout the Midwest and control that market and sell
vans "turn-key" to those wishing to do mobile oil changing for residential
and individual car owners, we determined that we could not allow such secrets and
proprietary information to leave the company. Bob told us that he had gone to
several neighborhoods and asked customers if they might sign up for residential periodic
oil changes, claiming almost all of them said "Yes, they would sign up."
It was this revelation that prompted Bob Davis to set up these vans all over the country
to change oil in driveways, claiming "that is where the real money is?"
Of course with Wal-Mart changing oil for $12.99, we hardly think so. We actually all
had a chuckle over his two-three neighborhood marketing survey, because actually signing
people up is another issue. Surely if an old guy comes to your door you are going to
be cordial. Bob's goal as he explained it on the phone was to set up a van for a
customer, new or used that the customer brought them and out fit it for a profit and
collect a couple of points on each equipment lease for getting financing. Lance in
his life time had done enough business with "Sleazy Leasing
Companies" to know that was a bad deal for the potential "Biz-Op"
buyers or franchisees or whatever it was Bob was going to call them? Not to mention
that he believed some how he could help our team in some way because he understood the
Equipment Leasing Business and had connections there. Big deal any Equipment Leasing
Company would spiff someone a bird dog or finder's fee if you gave them some live
flesh to sign a lease at 35-40% interest if you figure out the points, doc fees,
non-interest paid deposit and other tricks.
It was determined that Bob was a competitor and Lance told
him to "Go to Hell." Bob insisted that Lance was having a bad day and that
we should work together? Bob even went out of his way to contact Greg and his
wife to tell him what nice guy he was and how Lance was out of line. It appeared
that the gathering of intelligence by Bob Davis was a little unnerving to Lance especially
as Bob tried to play the "I am a Christian, you can trust me!" game with Lance.
Susan, Greg's wife felt sorry for Bob Davis and decided that Lance had been too
harsh with Tour de Lube's Bob Davis and that it was not right to tell
competitors/inquiries where to stick it.
Mr. Winslow at this point decided he needed to scrap the
project with Greg or anyone else because in franchising or any type of rapid roll-out
strategy, you must be dedicated to the cause, loyal to the team and play to win. Oil
Change Guys, decided to do it the only way they know would really work. Today, Lance
and his team of fabricators and vendors from our other systems in Phoenix do the whole
thing in-house and have dumped any potential alliance with any other non-team member so
they can build the best units and capture the market share without doing business with
anyone who is a competitor, might drop the ball or is unworthy of the incredible
dedication it takes to build the World's greatest service firm. We believe that our
team is number one and that we are responsible to that team, our families and to the
customer and no one else. If you can play by those rules give us a call.
God's Speed...
Today Lance Winslow offers consulting in the
mobile oil change sector.
