lube technician

technician

automotive technician

mécanicien automobile

service advisor

Mr. Lube

Typical work day in a quick lube shop consists of servicing vehicles based on their service intervals such as air filters, oil changes, transmission flushes and so on. No appointments are taken so every vehicle that comes in might have different needs. 

Be aware that the Lube Technician position is mainly a sales gig and you make commission/bonus on the amount you sell so be prepared to leave your conscience at home. You will find yourself selling items that the customer doesn't even need to make yourself money.
 
There is a great opportunity for this location to be an awesome place to work and chances to become very productive as well but the lack of leadership and morale from the store manager is beyond poor. The location is in a shocking state of neglect and disrepair both physically and mentally. Therefore, the atmosphere and work environment is extremely repulsive. I have never encountered such vulgar unprofessionalism to date.

Various components of the shop are either broken, missing, or so neglected they are out of order/unsafe to use. Staff are courteous enough to mention these such things to their supervisor but its a lost cause due to the fact that nothing ever gets done on their behalf. Therefore, daily duties are unnecessarily time consuming and difficult to complete so stress is high when it gets busy. There are also times when customers notice such things and it is very embarrassing as an employee when they make comments regarding the state of the equipment or services.

Unfortunately, merchandise/supplies are also barely available due to the fact that the manager evidently neglects their duty for stock and inventory check. Its a shame that employees receive bonuses based on personal sales from their recommended services to customers, as its impossible to sell merchandise that doesn't exist in the first place. Its also disappointing to mention that the manager puts the blame on staff for "not telling them/writing it on the board" in their office when stock is out. This is a reoccurring factor on a daily basis and the fact that they refuse to take any responsibility for their lack of involvement in running and maintaining the shop/stock is revolting. 

Shockingly, there have also been situations in the workplace where verbal derogatory and racial slander has been thrown around by the manager towards staff with numerous witnesses. Be aware that there is never any confidentiality between you and the manager mainly because they gossip and reveal personal details to others, about others, when they see fit. All these factors create a extremely toxic place to work and its quite evident by the amount of staff turnover and drama. 

The only real leadership comes from the assistant manager/supervisor who is always dealing with disgruntled customers or issues passed down from the store manager. On an average day the manager can either be found sitting in the staff room playing games on their phone or sitting in their air-conditioned office ignoring phone calls because they "don't feel like dealing with customers". There is a reoccurring theme of abuse of power here.

Its a pity the franchise owner is either unaware of the physical and mental state of their shop or simply refuses to deal with that's going on because the place makes them money either way. As a employee here one simply cannot help but feel depressed and unappreciated for their work. 

With all these factors taken in mind be very conscious when applying at this location as you would most definitely be appreciated elsewhere. 

The bar gets higher by the day when it comes to service standards and quality expectations in the automotive industry. Unfortunately for most quick-lubes, they won't be able to keep up forever. Car dealers continue to make products that require proprietary servicing, there's just no fighting that. This reality made the sales aspect of the job extremely difficult, many customers are skeptics and the "pitch" can be upsetting. It's often hard to clinch a sale without feeling like a bug.
I appreciated the experience, however, shifts were often long and breaks were short - sometimes neglected entirely. The "bonus" as an alternative to straight commission made for an extremely frightened staff, constantly in fear of financial repercussions that could befall them if they made a mistake. This was made worse by the relatively mediocre base pay (ranging mostly from minimum to $12.50/hr), meaning that without a healthy bonus, the skilled labour felt like it was being reciprocated with un-skilled pay.
Upsides, promotions are actually pretty easy to earn, or at least very reasonable. Turnover is high, so long-haulers are extremely valuable and higher positions open up all the time. I believe I was employed during a highly transformative period with the company (their annexation of Walmart's auto division) and that the experience may have been less turbulent in a simpler time.
Co-workers were often disgruntled, but on good days we all felt like winners, and the management did their best to emphasize the importance of a strong, organic team experience. We did our best, I made a lot of friends and got to work with some highly knowledgable individuals.
All-in-all, if you're into cars and you aren't afraid of rejection, it could be a great job for you in terms of salary and potential management roles within 2-3 years of starting out (for real). If you're more of a service-person at heart and don't like hounding for sales, the pacing probably won't be right for you.
They're a good business, but the auto game is changing fast. For the short term at least, this company is probably the best bet for anybody looking for a quick-lube gig, I genuinely recommend them above other, cheaper companies even to this day.

Owners do not reinvest in the shops, tools are missing, not working, or outdated. Extra time spent cleaning, organizing, and doing miscellaneous tasks is not compensated unless you manually adjust the schedule. Basic PPE such as gloves constantly run out and safety glasses are scratched. There are a lot of nasty tasks that need to be completed by hand, particularly cleaning the interceptor which is basically a tank in which all water and oil (including human waste) are separated. Needless to say, the smell is completely disgusting. On the plus side, coworkers are great people.
Scheduling could be a problem too, as there is little rotation so one might end up stuck just weekends, doing just closing or opening. Also, it is almost impossible to get full 40 hours per week. This company is stuck in the past and all scheduling is handled in paper, so you would have to trust your employer that the extra time is reported by the end of the week, which often is not and there is no way to keep track of hours unless you do it yourself. 
There are little to no benefits and as a lower technician you get no commissions aside from doing undercoatings. The only benefit is getting a discount on every service after you complete you probation period but considering that most services would last a couple years, you are not getting much in return. If you do not own a car, then you are missing out.
There is no employee portal in which you could track your worked hours, schedules, vacation time and so on. Again, you would have to trust your employer, which is not a good sign. Rule number one of working anywhere, do not trust your employer as they do not trust you either.
Training is basically nonexistent aside from the on-the-floor-look-how-other-person-works-and-learn-as-fast-as-possible type of training. 
If you are a diligent person, you would lean what there is to learn in about a month or two and then you would be stuck and bored as there is not much growth opportunity. Not that HR does not provide a letter with NOC code until you reach the supervisor position meaning that lower technician, upper technician and lead hand do not count as qualified work.

Pros:
- good way to get sales experience
- not super physical, but still getting your hands dirty
- good work environment, coworkers are good people

Cons:
- minimum wage, and pay raises are a joke
- commission is a scam and they deduct money from your commission bonuses for reasons out of your control
- corporate management is a joke
- management always pushing you to sell more and more, and threatening to cut hours if you don’t perform
- terrible hours. At most I work MAYBE 65 hours per paycheck

Working for Mr. Lube is a good way to gain sales experience, but in no way would I ever say it’s a good career path to take. After your done training, your told in a year you can take a whole bunch of training and tests to become a “master tech” and you’ll get a $1/hr raise once that happens. The training takes a few weeks and there are several tests for that. After that if you want a supervisor position you only get an extra $1-$2/hr to take on many more responsibilities, and if you’re lucky, 5 years later you can become an assistant manager and make maybe another $2-$3/hr. The corporate honchos are all laughable as they don’t ever get involved in the shops, they barely ever provide us with the proper PPE or supplies we need, and don’t expect them to even introduce themselves to you.

The commission is also a massive joke. You can sell an extra $10,000 a month of stuff that isn’t oil changes, and you’ll still only get a monthly bonus of $350. On top of that they will deduct 10% of your commission for certain quotas not being met, quotas such as getting customers emails. If you don’t get 90% of your customers emails, kiss 30% of your bonus bye bye.

Prepare to get overworked and underpaid, even if your a top performing sales person at your mr lube location. Would not recommend working here unless you want to gain sales experience.

Being a tech here is not bad at all. I really enjoy the customers, and the kind of work done at Mr. Lube. The big issue with the company is the pay, the “incentive” structure, and the overall goal set out by Head office and management. You’re seen as a pawn, a way to make them more money. you need to average $50 maintenance service sales to get an “incentive” (bonus). I say that in quotation marks because it’s less of incentive, and more of a requirement. Even if you’re a very talented and efficient technician, you will get fired/hours cut if you aren’t hitting targets. You’re also heavily encouraged to offer/sell services to every customer, even if their vehicles do not require them. They don’t care to have good informative technicians, they want more money in the companies pocket. on top of that, the actual commission percentage is half of what it is at other similar companies. if you become a good enough tech, you can persevere through all of this. if you become part of management, you lose overtime pay, and you have significantly more to do and maintain for sub-par pay. 

As for the culture of the workplace, it’s great. most of the employees are early-late 20s and it’s always a good time with everyone there. It’s very easy to have days just fly by if you’re with good people and a lot of us seem to have become good friends working here together. There aren’t many very difficult parts of working here, however the initial first month of training/taking cars on your own is make or break. The most enjoyable part of the job is honestly having a conversation with customers. unlike other retail jobs or fast food, you spend more time interacting with and getting to know your customers and it’s great. especially when they’re return customers. 

overall 8/10 place to work. if you’re great at sales, you’ll do well. if you’re not, you’ll get booted very fast.

(all of this applies to Prairie lube locations)

The bar gets higher by the day when it comes to service standards and quality expectations in the automotive industry. Unfortunately for most quick-lubes, they won't be able to keep up forever. Car dealers continue to make products that require proprietary servicing, there's just no fighting that. This reality made the sales aspect of the job extremely difficult, many customers are skeptics and the "pitch" can be upsetting. It's often hard to clinch a sale without feeling like a bug.
 I appreciated the experience, however, shifts were often long and breaks were short - sometimes neglected entirely. The "bonus" as an alternative to straight commission made for an extremely frightened staff, constantly in fear of financial repercussions that could befall them if they made a mistake. This was made worse by the relatively mediocre base pay (ranging mostly from minimum to $12.50/hr), meaning that without a healthy bonus, the skilled labour felt like it was being reciprocated with un-skilled pay.
 Upsides, promotions are actually pretty easy to earn, or at least very reasonable. Turnover is high, so long-haulers are extremely valuable and higher positions open up all the time. I believe I was employed during a highly transformative period with the company (their annexation of Walmart's auto division) and that the experience may have been less turbulent in a simpler time.
 Co-workers were often disgruntled, but on good days we all felt like winners, and the management did their best


Mr.Lube taught me lots about vehicle services, maintenance on vehicles and different Models and makes of Car companies Engines, Batteries, and location of every moving component we could  replaced under the hood.  Everyday would usually start with a coffee, and review of the weeks sales to project the determined amount of sales needed to accumulate for higher workers bonuses. The store would then get fully stocked and product ready for display for higher customer sales. Always busy doing something if no customers in shop, cleaning, stocking ,organizing, preparation of newspapers and drinks for future customers. Management was great, would come help you if you had any questions, come work on a vehicle with you if it's your first time with that model/ Make of vehicle, and ensured the customer would most likely return at that store for their next oil change. Co-workers were great, friendly and helpful. Never had a problem with asking them for help, or reassuring a "silly" question as long as customer was satisfied. I found Co-workers really went out of their way on occasions, really made the work environment a lot more enjoyable to be part of. So the co-workers and knowledge are the best things that came from Mr.Lube.  The Hardest part of the job would be looking clean and not greasy playing with the engine parts and oil filters the way we have to.

During my experience working there it wasn't all to bad. one issue that will come across anybody who first start there is the fact that you will not be properly trained all varying on your position. from personally experience I have worked as both an upper technician and a lower technician. I was not properly train on how to use the computer, enter the proper codes and the proper procedure when it comes to greeting a customer and cashing them out. During my experience there as well numerous employees have been promised 13 an hour or to start off at 12 an hour and a raise after a their 3 month probation. After that 3 month period they were still paid 11.45 an hour and expected to achieve their bonus every month. as a lower tech they expect you to not just do basic services, they also expect you to manage all products in the basement such as fuel filters, oil filters, transmission filters, cabin air filters, some air filters that happen to be downstairs. they also expect the floors to be power washed and scrubbed, walls to be cleaned, bays to be wiped down, interceptor (where all the oil and bathroom waste go) to be filtered out with a handheld strainer usually with no gloves. All for minimum wage, or less according to previous techs that have worked there. In other words, you will not get paid for what you're worth and you'll be expected to do more than what you have been taught or are cable of doing.

Keep in mind that I used to work at Northland Mr. Lube (which was actually a good place to work at, or at least for me) before I was moved to Marlborough Mall due to the Northland walmart ending the lease with Prairie Lube (Mr. Lube franchise owner). The Marlborough Mall location is the topic of this reveiw. The work at Marlborough is slow usually, (3-10 cars a day) which is a huge con, there is also a high rate of employment because the manager is hard to keep happy because of his lack of temperament. The employees that are working there at the time of me writing this are pretty friendly but as I mentioned it can be a competitive environment. I say this because I got fired for somebody elses mistake. Try not to be too close with anybody there if your looking for a solid position, because some employees will use any shared information they can to try to get rid of you if someone higher up doesnt like you, which kindof makes it a game, also for the third time and take notes, COMPETITIVE. My opinion, if your planning to work at any Mr. Lube you better be perpared because Ive tried twice now and still didnt get a better result then the last one. Long story short, id say you be better off anywhere other then this company.

I've been working at Mr. Lube for a while now, and overall, my experience has been decent. However, there are a few areas where I believe improvements are necessary.

Pros:

Team Environment: The team is friendly and supportive. Colleagues are always willing to lend a hand, and there's a good sense of camaraderie.
Training Opportunities: Mr. Lube provides solid training programs that help employees develop their skills and stay updated with the latest automotive technologies.
Fast-Paced Work: The nature of the job keeps things exciting and engaging. There's rarely a dull moment, and the fast pace helps the day go by quickly.
Cons:

Pay Rate: The compensation could be more competitive. For the amount of work and responsibility, a higher pay rate would be appreciated.
Communication: Sometimes, there is a lack of clear communication from management regarding changes in policies or procedures. Better communication would help prevent misunderstandings and improve overall workflow.
Work-Life Balance: The schedule can be demanding, and it can be challenging to maintain a healthy work-life balance. More flexibility in scheduling would be beneficial.
In conclusion, working at Mr. Lube has its positives, particularly in terms of team dynamics and training. However, there is room for improvement in areas such as compensation, communication, and work-life balance. Addressing these issues could make it an even better place to work.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Lube technician 53 salaries reported	$20.07 per hour
Technician 21 salaries reported	$19.76 per hour
Automotive technician 26 salaries reported	$22.01 per hour
Mécanicien automobile 37 salaries reported	$36.61 per hour
Service advisor 1 salary reported	$69,436 per year

Working at Mr. Lube: company overview and reviews

Mr. Lube

Mr. Lube ratings

Popular jobs at Mr. Lube

Salary satisfaction

Job seeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected