Hello all. I am a prospective "zee" and am seriously looking at a Meineke / Econo Lube co-brand opportunity that is an existing corporate owned location.

I am doing my due diligence and it's been tough to figure out if this is a good opportunity or not.

Frankly, from what I've been reading on this site and others, franchising in general is a risky proposition.

Of the "zors" I've looked at, the Meineke / Econo Lube co-brand looks pretty good. The location has excellent viewable signage on a high-traffic thoroughfare and the current car counts I was shown look pretty strong (averaging low of 90 to high of 150's per week for the first four months of 2008, with average right around 118 per week).

Anyways, I could give out a million more details of why I like it so far, but would like to ask these questions to all out there in franchise land:

Is the Meineke / Econo Lube co-brand opportunity a good one? Can you make money with this franchise? Meineke has gotten the stamp of approval from the AAFD, does this mean anything? Is the co-brand a good idea or should one stick with Meineke only, if even that? Is a $7,700 lease including cams per month for a 6 bay shop too much? Is Meineke a strong brand? In your opinion will this type of franchise weather a bad economy for a couple of years?

Please support your opinions rather than just saying it's good or bad.

Thanks!