Most mobile oil change companies only have a few units in fact the average is said to be 2.2 and generally these units are either box trucks or panel vans. The typical mobile oil change business will change the oil in either 5.5 personal cars or 15 fleet vehicles per day. This seems to be about the average and it is enough to keep the companies in business. The most successful companies are in larger areas with industrial capacity where they can change the oil in many fleet vehicles on a regular basis.

For a successful mobile oil change business to expand they will need about 40 to 50 good solid fleet accounts. They should be about two-thirds of their business, which leaves only one-third for personal vehicles, which takes longer and are harder to do and generally the professional mobile oil change operator must do them one at a time. The average price for a mobile oil change on a passenger car is about $34 and that is up slightly in the last two years. Despite the high oil prices, mobile oil change businesses have really not raised the price that much for two reasons; one, you're only talking about 6 quarts of oil and two, the competition for mobile oil change operators is getting thicker.

One problem that mean mobile oil change operators often find challenging is trying to keep their radius of operation small. Travel time in traffic costs labor and fuel. With gasoline diesel prices pushing three dollars per gallon the mobile oil change operator with a large radius of operation can spend all their profits putting fuel in their tanks. The routes need to be tight and close together to remain profitable. These are some considerations you might wish to think on if you are considering running a mobile oil change business of your own. Think on this in 2006.