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You probably know somebody with a story about how Jiffy Lube did them wrong, and they vowed never to go back. Still, for better or worse, fast oil-change shops like them are the backbone of basic maintenance for wide swaths of the population, and plenty of drivers are return customers. For nearly 25 years, Jiffy Lube was actually owned by Shell. As of this month, it now belongs to a private equity firm called Monomoy Capital Partners.
The sale agreement was signed back in March, but on July 1, Monomoy announced the deal was closed to the tune of $1.3 billion. Today, Jiffy Lube encompasses about 2,000 service centers across North America, all run by independent operators. The company started in 1971 in Utah. Twenty years later, Pennzoil took it over, which later merged with Quaker State before both were acquired by Shell in 2002.
Lately, Jiffy Lube contributed 6.5% of Shell’s overall lubricants business, per Wall Street Journal. For Shell, the move is being billed as part of a broader shift to divest what it considers “non-core” interests, which have also included assets in offshore drilling. Pennzoil Quaker State, which is remaining with Shell, will continue to supply the chain with product for the time being.
As for Jiffy Lube, the sale follows a trend through the 2020s of investment capital seizing on franchise brands. They’ve targeted restaurants often, with Red Lobster representing one of the most high-profile cautionary tales of what can go wrong when private equity gets involved. Some of these groups have acquired franchisees, too; in this case, Monomoy is also taking over Premium Velocity Auto, the second-largest Jiffy Lube franchisee in the nation, operating 360 of those 2,000 locations.
According to one analyst, shops like Jiffy Lube have been pulling business away from dealer service departments in recent months thanks to comparatively lower prices.
This sale has mostly floated under the radar thus far, though the reaction from the few seemingly aware can best be summarized by one comment on a forum which reads, “I am having trouble imagining how private equity is going to cut corners even more at Jiffy Lube.” As with all franchises, some are better stewards of their brands—and better at serving customers—than others. Only time will tell how Jiffy Lube emerges from this chapter.
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Backed by a decade of covering cars and consumer tech, Adam Ismail is a Senior Editor at The Drive, focused on curating and producing the site’s slate of daily stories.
