Oil Brands - Thoughts from an avg consumer?

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As some of you may have read, I am thinking about switching to a boutique oil brand (Amsoil) for the vehicles I maintain. This is mainly for availability and inventory reasons. Of course, I will only use an oil containing the required licenses and approvals so I do not jeopardize any in-force warranties. My only concern about Amsoil is the lack of brand recognition.

However, I am curious if the average person even cares about which brand of oil is used in their vehicle. If you folks can get some feedback from a spouse/friend who is not an automotive enthusiast, I am interested in their responses. In my opinion, when most people are getting their vehicle (or equipment) serviced, they usually do not care what brand of parts are used unless it is a very large repair; for most small repair or maintenance items the topic of brand does not even come up.

In the few times where I have been asked about the brand of oil used, the person was usually satisfied if the following items were addressed:

1) Price - why does it cost more (or less) than what I am used to paying.
2) Tier - is it a generic/house-brand, name-brand or a boutique/specialty brand.
3) Is it a good product?
4) Does it meet all of my vehicle manufacturer's specs? (This has only come up once)

I look forward to reading what you folks find out.
 
Most people have absolutely no clue, because most people just take their car to a shop and don’t even know where to find the dipstick under the hood. 99% of people don’t know what Dexos is, or API SN+, or any of that stuff, and they don’t care. Most people probably couldn’t even name two motor oil brands off the top of their head.
 
The cats I maintain are owned by wife and two daughters. 1 daughter drives a 2007 jeep liberty, use mobile conventional every 3 thousand miles. She wants cheep and has 200000 miles on original engine. She is waiting for it to die, so she can get a new car. Other daughter, penzoil platinum in a 2015 jeep Wrangler. Doesn't really care, just a thanks Dad. My Ram 1500 and Jeep Cherokee, both get penzoil ultra, I care wife doesn't.
 
Most of my customers don't care about brand. The ones that do request mobil-1. The do it myselfers like castrol and valvoline. You almost never see them buying Pennzoil or qs.
 
The vast majority or people don't know and don't care. I would keep a small stash of lower priced semi synthetic or dino offerings for the cheap skates, lots of them with a 19.99 oil change limit.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Most of my customers don't care about brand. The ones that do request mobil-1. The do it myselfers like castrol and valvoline. You almost never see them buying Pennzoil or qs.


BITOG mostly just reassured me that it's all good. I bought M1 in the 1990s because it was "the one" and the only recognizable synthetic on the shelf. Everything else was hit-or-miss which convinced me it was junk (typical marketing).

But now WM has either M1 or Pennzoil full syn for $22 in the 5 quart jug and that would be my go-to if I didn't have a stash from clearance buys.

I would care about something cheap, something full syn, something diesel, and something for OPE, and figure it out by the owners manuals and fill caps.

I have never gotten Amsoil and probably never will.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
The vast majority or people don't know and don't care. I would keep a small stash of lower priced semi synthetic or dino offerings for the cheap skates, lots of them with a 19.99 oil change limit.


I just looked over my "list" of cars. All but 1 vehicle either requires synthetic or the owner prefers it. 2/3rds of the vehicles require 0w20, so that is probably the main driving factor.
 
I don't mind changing the oil on mine and the wife's car, both cars take 0w-20 so inventory is easy. I pick up 5Qt. jugs when I see a sale.

I never found it necessary for Royal Purple, Red Line, Lucas or Amsoil no dealership or Quick lube uses those brands and the Synthetics out there from Valvoline, Mobil, Castrol etc easily handle 10-15k oil change intervals.

I won't even over think this one.
 
Trust in you probably goes a lot further than brand recognition. If they trust you and you recommend it, most likely they'll be happy.
 
Critic are you able to get amsoil for a reasonable price? Are you going to be losing money by offering a boutique oil across the board?

As Trav mentioned I would also stock something conventional or semi synth for the budget minded.
 
No one in my family but myself cares.

They take the car to the dealer and it gets what it gets. Or I do it for them.

My FIL does all the work on his Harley - he buys Harley branded fluids.
 
I help a lotta people with their cars. I'm not sure anyone has ever asked the brand or weight of the oil or filter.
Oftentimes, due to their budget limitations, prie is the #1 factor. Or the only one...
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: Trav
The vast majority or people don't know and don't care. I would keep a small stash of lower priced semi synthetic or dino offerings for the cheap skates, lots of them with a 19.99 oil change limit.


I just looked over my "list" of cars. All but 1 vehicle either requires synthetic or the owner prefers it. 2/3rds of the vehicles require 0w20, so that is probably the main driving factor.


Then that what you carry the most of, cater to your customers needs and you wont go wrong. Amsoil makes good products, no worries about product quality.
 
Originally Posted By: JC1
Critic are you able to get amsoil for a reasonable price? Are you going to be losing money by offering a boutique oil across the board?


I can get Amsoil XL for about the same price as Mobil 1 EP from Walmart. The cost difference is about 25 cents/qt.
 
There is a local oil change place that I have no idea how it stays open.. Big sign Pennzoil oil changes..thats all they do and thats the only oil they have. Its always dead.

There are a few Valvoline instant oil change places- they seem slow thru the week but pretty busy saturday morning.

I think everyone just drops their car off at Walmart and does their shopping.

I do oil changes for my mother and a couple of her friends as well as family members.. only one guy has actually asked or cared what kind of oil..he always has his own.

From the time i have spent in parts stores which is alot...the only discussions or talk i have heard about oil is weight. "my car doesnt take 5w20, my car doesnt use 0w40..." 'why do you use diesel oil in your atv?'

Also to note.. i have only seen oil in the buggy at walmart a couple of times in many years... and i rarely see anybody buying oil at parts stores.

Since newer cars have the percentage thing on the dash people just dont change their oil at 3000 miles anymore.. so less oil is being bought and the lube places arent as busy.
 
Along with my vehicles, I change the oil in my moms SUV, sisters SUV, and brother-in-laws truck.

Before I started doing it, they were fine with whatever the local oil change place put in it. As far as they are concerned, oil is oil. They don't care what oil is used (brand, weight, syn or dino, etc).
My sister and BIL tend to go well over the OCI (sister went 10,000 miles on dino/Pennzoil filter, BIL was at 5,000 miles (almost 10 months of short trips) on dino and Purepro filter) before I started doing their oil changes.
My mom also was content with whatever the local shop used (but she had it changes by the OLM light, ~6,500 miles of mostly highway).

Mom and sisters vehicles now get syn oil (PP, QSUD or the like, whatever I feel like using from my stash) and last few changes for my BIL have been with some HM oil (I got a great deal on 26 qts, so that is what he gets).
They can't complain about price since I don't charge them.

One of my brothers is picky about his motorcycle oil (only Royal Purple bike oil), but on his cars, he brings it to a local shop and whatever they use it fine by him.

My wife also has no opinion. She knows it needs to be changed when the light comes on (Scion is a "dumb" light, comes on every 5,000 miles) and lets me know (I usually know already, it is actually ~200 miles from needing to be done).
So long as I take care of it she is happy. One less thing for her to think about.
Before we were married, she had a friend of her dad do it using whatever he had.
 
Originally Posted By: krismoriah72

Since newer cars have the percentage thing on the dash people just dont change their oil at 3000 miles anymore.. so less oil is being bought and the lube places arent as busy.




Agreed. Out of all of the vehicles I service, only one person is willing to service their vehicle more frequently than the OEM recommended drain interval. All of the others either follow the OLM, or follow the OEM drain interval (which is 10K for newer Toyota's).
 
For my non car friends, only one that anybody even notices is Valvoline (lots of oil change places around here) Other than that, it's just an oil change..

Get the same thing around here about tires too....
smile.gif
 
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