Automotive
Jiffy Lube Franchise
A quick-service oil-change, lubrication, and light-repair chain operated from dedicated automotive service centers, franchising under the Jiffy Lube trademark since 1979 -- one of the oldest and largest brands in the fast-oil-change category. Long owned by Shell (through subsidiary SOPUS Products), the franchisor changed hands in June 2026 when Bolt Purchaser, LLC -- ultimately controlled by private-equity firm Monomoy Capital Partners -- acquired the business from Shell USA, and the franchisor entity itself converted from a corporation to an LLC the same month.
Every franchisor has to file a document called an FDD before they can legally sell you a franchise. Buried in it are the two things a sales rep won't volunteer: what you'll actually spend to open, and whether existing locations are opening or closing. That's what's below, pulled straight from Jiffy Lube's own filing.
What it costs to open
From the filing's investment breakdown -- not a "starting at" number a sales rep quoted you.
Franchise fee
$35,000
Total to open
$211,000–$510,000
Ongoing royalty
4% of gross sales
What you'd actually spend, over time
The upfront cost is only part of it. Plug in what you expect a location to bring in, and see the real total once royalties over a few years are added on top.
Defaulted to a rough automotive industry average, not a figure from Jiffy Lube's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
$341,000 – $640,000
Startup investment
$211,000–$510,000
Royalty per year (4%)
$26,000
Total royalty, 5yr
$130,000
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. Jiffy Lube's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical automotive profit margin (~12%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general automotive industry benchmark, not a figure from Jiffy Lube's own filing -- this is a starting point to adjust, not a promise about what franchisees actually make.
At that profit, you'd break even in about
2.7–6.5 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: Jiffy Lube is opening more locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is Jiffy Lube actually growing?
Franchisors have to report, every year, how many locations opened, closed, or changed hands. Most franchise sites never show you this. Here it is:
Locations opened vs. closed, by year
GrowingFrom Item 20 of Jiffy Lube's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1,683 | 1,710 | +27 |
| 2024 | 1,710 | 1,721 | +11 |
| 2025 | 1,721 | 1,765 | +44 |
Most recent year (2025): gained 44 franchised units, ending the year at 1,765 total.
What you're actually signing up for
The cost and growth numbers above are only part of the picture. These three FDD items are the ones a prospective franchisee tends to weigh most heavily once they're past the sticker price.
Training & ongoing support (Item 11)
Instructor-led manager training runs $250/student in person or $75/student for a virtual session; first-time franchisees additionally get initial operations and POS-system training in Houston, TX for their center's opening staff, and management teams must retake the operations course every five years. The optional BTS (Build-to-Suit) Program gives access to Jiffy Lube's site-selection, permitting, and construction-management services -- but backing out after signing the Build to Suit Development Agreement triggers a $25,000 liquidated-damages fee.
Territory protection (Item 12)
Protection here is a narrow radius rather than a sized territory: Jiffy Lube won't open or license another Jiffy Lube service center within three miles of yours, but there's no negotiated minimum area beyond that, and Jiffy Lube can freely license anywhere just outside the three-mile ring. Closing a center down doesn't guarantee a right to replace or relocate it either -- both require Jiffy Lube's discretionary consent on top of a $12,500 replacement fee or $7,500 relocation fee.
Renewal & termination terms (Item 17)
20-year initial term with one 10-year renewal option (contingent on signing the then-current franchise agreement, which may carry materially different terms, plus a renewal fee). Disputes go through mediation, then CPR arbitration, both venued in Houston, TX under Texas law. The post-termination non-compete is unusually broad for this dataset: 3 years, covering any location within 10 miles of ANY Jiffy Lube service center in the U.S., not just your own former location.
How Jiffy Lube compares to other Automotive franchises
Across the 5 automotive franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $277,030–$549,140, with royalties averaging around 5.2% of gross sales (based on the 3 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty).
Keep going
- Jiffy Lube and Tint World are both automotive franchises; Jiffy Lube's total investment starts about $38,950 lower than Tint World's. Tint World Franchise
- Jiffy Lube and Midas are both automotive franchises; Jiffy Lube's total investment starts about $174,450 lower than Midas's. Midas Franchise
Where this came from: Jiffy Lube's most recent California DFPI filings (dfpi id 652917, entity "Jiffy Lube International Inc") are Net Worth/Experience Exemption and Notice of Transaction filings, not a full FDD, so this entry is sourced from Minnesota's CARDS registry instead: MN File No. 2340, Clean FDD issued March 27, 2026, filed with MN 7/6/2026, effective 7/14/2026. legalName is kept as the California DFPI entity name (rather than the FDD's own newly-converted "Jiffy Lube, LLC") so the nightly DFPI filing monitor keeps matching this entity. Item 5: $35,000 initial franchise fee ($17,500 for a Converted Center, an existing non-Jiffy-Lube shop converting to the brand). Item 6: royalty is 4% of Gross Sales (3% with a prompt-pay discount; a separate 5%/4% rate applies only if the Pacesetter or Fast Lubes Supply Agreement has been terminated; new locations pay 0% for their first 6 months) -- 4% used here as the standard rate -- plus a 1.5% National Advertising Fund contribution and a 2.5% local/cooperative advertising spending requirement. Item 7 Total Expenditures: $211,000-$510,000 (the FDD's table also shows an optional $0-$77,350 Growth Funding loan from Jiffy Lube netted against this into a separate "Net Total" row; the gross Total Expenditures figure is used here for consistency with how other entries in this dataset report Item 7). Item 20 Table 1 franchised outlets, 2023-2025. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026-07-14. None of this is investment advice -- get the franchisor's current FDD and talk to a real attorney or accountant before you sign anything.
If you see a different unit count elsewhere: franchisors only have to refile their FDD annually, so the numbers here can run 6–18 months behind a franchisor's own real-time marketing claims -- which often aren't independently verified, and sometimes count signed-but-not-yet-open locations. A gap isn't necessarily an error on either side; it's two different snapshots in time from two different sources.