Sales revenues at U.S. fast lube facilities jumped 20 percent from a year ago, according to National Oil & Lube News 2015 Tops in the Industry Ranking.
The revenue increase occurred even though the total number of fast lube facilities was virtually unchanged. The magazines survey counts fast lube chains, as well as oil-change plus facilities that provide oil changes and some other types of auto maintenance services.
This years report covered 16,907 sites that brought in $13.7 billion. Last years report said that 16,908 sites brought in $11.4 billion.
NOLN published its annual lists of the largest fast lube chains and other oil change providers in its March 2015 issue, estimating industry sales in the U.S. at $13.7 billion this year, up $2.3 billion from last year.
The 53 largest fast lube chains on this years list together operate 6,736 facilities. That compared to 52 such chains operating 6,727 facilities last year. In its report on the list, NOLN noted that, many facilities have been going through acquisitions – either buying stores or being bought themselves – and while some shops currently sit vacant, there are a few new builds popping up here and there.
As of Feb. 28, 2015, Jiffy Lube remained the leader with 1,928 stores, down 1 percent from 2014. The other largest fast lube chains included Valvoline Instant Oil Change (929 stores, up 3 percent from 2014), Pennzoil 10-Minute Oil Change (700 stores, down 7 percent from 2014), Kwik Kar (398 stores, up by two stores) and Valvoline Express Care (315 stores, up 2 percent from 2014).
NOLN found that 18 of the top 53 chains showed growth over the past year, with Mystic Service Center showing the largest percentage growth at 92 percent, adding 11 stores. Meanwhile, nine chains showed a decrease in the number of stores. One new chain was added – SynFast Oil Change, with 23 stores – and 25 of the chains store populations remained consistent.
Goodyear Tire & Service Network Outlets, considered an oil change-plus chain because activities other than oil changes generate most of its revenues, led all oil change lists with 2,609 U.S. stores, up 8 percent from 2014. The rest of the categorys top five included Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express (2,524 stores, up 3 percent), TBC Corp. (2,400 stores, unchanged), Firestone Complete Auto Care (2,210 stores, unchanged), and Meineke Car Care Center (974 stores, up 8 percent). TBC does business as Tire Kingdom, NTB, NTW, Merchants, Big O Tires, SpeeDee Oil Change and Midas.
North Florida Lubes topped NOLNs associated lube chains list of independent operators of branded facilities, with 64 Havoline Xpress Lube locations. Following were Pioneer Quick Lube (24 Pennzoil 10-Minute Oil Change locations), Fast Change Lube & Oil (21 Pennzoil 10-Minute Oil Change locations), Automasters of Asheboro (19 Valvoline Express Care) and Express Automotive (11 Havoline Xpress Lube, four Texas Oil Express and one Kwik Kar locations).
Mobil 1 Centers led the list of U.S.-based lube chains ranked by number of foreign facilities, with 2,800. Following were Texaco Xpress Lube with 1,432 foreign facilities, Midas Auto Service Experts (1,037), Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express (266) and Jiffy Lube (151).
The complete 2015 NOLN Tops in the Industry Ranking Survey report is available on the NOLN website (www.noln.net) at no charge to paid subscribers. For more information, contact Tammy Neal at tammy.neal@noln.net.