Auto Repair & Oil Change Franchises in the USA

Item 7 of Meineke's Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), issued June 20, 2025, and amended December 29, 2025, puts the total for a leased 3,400-square-foot location with 5 bays from $224,898, including the $45,000 initial franchise fee and the $20,000 Initial Advertising Contribution but not buying real estate or constructing a building. Item 7 of Valvoline Instant Oil Change's FDD puts a new Center from $192,375, including the $30,000 License Fee (the initial franchise fee), if you lease the land and building and lease the signage from the franchisor or its affiliate, an option the FDD gives to qualifying franchisees. The cover page of Jiffy Lube's 2026 FDD puts a new freestanding service center from $232,000, excluding real estate costs, and the lowest amounts on the lines of its Item 7 table, leaving out the Conversion Fee, come to the same figure, while the table's TOTAL EXPENDITURES row starts at $211,000; both figures come from the table's low end, where the initial franchise fee line starts at $0 because Jiffy Lube may waive it for honorably discharged U.S. military veterans, and Item 5 sets the fee for a new service center at $35,000. Meineke's What It Takes page lists "Net worth of $1M+" and "Liquid assets of $500K+," and Jiffy Lube's How It Works page lists "net worth of $500k" and "minimum liquidity of $250k" (confirm these amounts with Jiffy Lube); neither brand's FDD sets such a minimum for a single center. Valvoline Instant Oil Change publishes none in its FDD or on its franchising site (checked October 20, 2026).

Meineke's royalty depends on the service sold: 7% of Gross Revenues from exhaust systems; 5.5% from scheduled maintenance and certain engine and transmission work; 4% from batteries; 3% from tires, state inspections, towing services, and emissions inspections; and 5% from all other Authorized Products and Services, with a minimum of $400 a week; its franchisees also contribute 8% of Gross Revenues weekly to the Meineke Advertising Fund (1.5% from tires, towing services, and government-regulated inspections), or less under an Advertising Addendum. Valvoline charges a new Center 2% of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) in the first year, 3% in the second, and 6% from the third year of the 15-year initial term, or less from the third year for some existing franchisees; each Center also pays into the General System Fund, "up to 2% of AGR" in the FDD's words, until its annual cap is reached, with National Advertising Fund contributions included within the same 2% of AGR cap from January 2027, and must spend at least 3% of AGR each calendar year on local advertising. Jiffy Lube charges 4% of Gross Sales, or 3% if you pay on or before the due date and are current in all obligations to Jiffy Lube and its affiliates, and 0% for the first six months of a center new to the system; you also contribute 1.5% of Gross Sales a month to the National Advertising Fund and 2.5% to the local advertising cooperative or, if none has been formed, to local advertising, and your total advertising spending must reach 4% of Gross Sales a year.

The requirements on the three listings do not include mechanic experience for the owner, but Meineke requires at least one employee to obtain and maintain Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) certification for each area of service the Center offers, and joining Jiffy Lube's optional Multicare Program requires employing a technician with ASE A5 certification. Meineke trains you (or your Operating Partner) for a maximum of 13 days; Valvoline gives you (or a principal of your company) its Real Estate & Development Orientation and Administration Training, and your first Center manager must complete its manager training program, including SuperPro training; and at Jiffy Lube, you or the center's day-to-day decision makers must complete Franchise Boot Camp in Houston, Texas, before opening. Valvoline's initial training is at no charge, Meineke charges no training fee if you have paid the initial franchise fee in full and attend before opening, and Jiffy Lube's 2026 FDD lists leadership training for managers at $75 per student for virtual classes and $250 for in-person classes; at all three, you pay the trainees' expenses. Valvoline franchisees must also buy at least 95% of the motor oils, greases, and other lubricants; oil, air, and cabin air filters; and automotive performance chemicals sold or used at the Center from the franchisor, its affiliate, or a designated supplier, and Jiffy Lube franchisees must buy 100% of bulk motor oil and 85% of non-bulk motor oil from Jiffy Lube or its designee.

Franch Monsters does not calculate earnings for any brand, and the FTC Franchise Rule confines a franchisor's sales, income, or profit figures to Item 19 of its FDD, with exceptions such as the operating records of a specific shop or center you are looking to buy. All three brands' FDDs have such figures in Item 19. Meineke's FDD, issued June 20, 2025, and amended December 29, 2025, presents, among other figures, the average and median fiscal 2024 Gross Revenues of 549 franchised Centers with at least 5 repair bays and at least 2 full years of operation. Valvoline Instant Oil Change's FDD, issued December 26, 2025, and amended July 16, 2026, reports historical data for company-operated Centers and, from point-of-sale data, for franchised Centers for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2023, 2024, and 2025. Jiffy Lube's FDD, issued March 27, 2026, and amended July 1, 2026, reports 2023, 2024, and 2025 sales and vehicle counts of franchised service centers that were open for the full year. Ask franchisees listed in Item 20 which services brought in most of their revenue, since Meineke's royalty rate depends on the service sold, and, at Valvoline Instant Oil Change and Jiffy Lube, where you must take part in the franchisor's fleet customer programs, what share of their work came through them; Valvoline may charge a fee to recapture its program's administrative expenses, and Jiffy Lube's 2026 FDD lists a Fleet Processing Charge of $1.25 per national fleet invoice it bills.