Thought this was an Interesting article I read on Nolan & Association. One of the more enlightening questions we pose on our annual Fast Lube Operators Survey (see September 2007 issue of NOLN) pertains to the vehicles that lube technicians, managers and operators find easiest and most difficult to service. Nothing elicits more passionate responses than when you ask someone in the lube industry what vehicle gives him or her the most difficulties time and again. The Honda Accord was selected the easiest vehicle to service this Year by fast lube operators. A difficulty we run into with this question, however, pertains to vehicles that share platforms. While a Chevy pickup and a GMC Suburban may look different on the outside, under the hood and viewed from a pit catwalk theyre virtually identical during any given model year. Which is why, for purposes of this non-scientific study, we combine different vehicles that share the same platform/engine combination.n our count of vehicles that lube operators most often listed as the easiest to service, the Chrysler PT Cruiser/Dodge Neon (vehicles built on the same platform and sharing the same engine) return as champions. Runner-up status went to the Honda Accord, followed by the Toyota Camry, Chevrolet Silverado/Tahoe (a previous champion), Honda Civic and Ford F-150. As far as overall brands are concerned, more operators listed a GM vehicle as easy to service than any other marque, giving Americas top automaker champion status for the third year in a row. GM was followed by Honda, Chrysler and Toyota. Unfortunately, not every vehicle that rolls into a fast lube bay will be easy to service. Many, in fact, are tortuous experiments in scraped knuckles, spine-bending contortions and the occasional colorful epithet thrown in for good measure. Some vehicles you just know are going to be trouble. Topping that list this year is Volkswagens Passat. The sedan highlighted a rather ignominious feat for VW, which saw three of its vehicles make the list of difficult vehicles. Following the Passat on the list was the Chevrolet Cavalier (a past champion of difficult vehicles), Volkswagen Touareg, Mazda Miata, Volkswagen Jetta, Mitsubishi Montero, Nissan Frontier (last years difficult vehicle champ) and the Toyota 4-Runner. Not surprisingly, Volkswagen ran away in the category of overall brand that is most difficult to service, followed by Lexus, Toyota, Nissan, Chevrolet and Audi. In addition to questions about the easiest and most difficult vehicles and brands, we also asked lube operators if they refuse to service any particular make or model of vehicle. This year, 36 percent replied that they do indeed refuse to service some vehicles. In addition to luxury makes and models like Porsches, Rolls-Royce and Ferraris that many fast lubes simply do not stock parts for, more than a few operators mentioned the major German brands like Mercedes and BMW. These makes, with their stringent maintenance requirements and difficult-to-reset oil monitoring systems, often pose too much trouble for fast lubes.However, topping the list of vehicles most often refused service at fast lubes was, yet again, Volkswagen. Lube operators cited problems finding supplies of motor oil for many Volkswagen 1.8L diesels, and more than one operator noted that the Volkswagen Eurovan is such a nightmare to service that fast lubes are better off sending the customer to the dealer.
Thanks for this post. I often wondered if professionals regarded the complications that manufacturers engineer into servicing some makes of cars with the same angst that I do :D
