Thoughts on Collision Repair Industry in Search/ETA?

August 16, 2022

by an intermediary from University of Florida - Warrington College of Business Administration in Boca Raton, FL, USA

Hi there- I'm heavily focused in automotive aftermarket M&A and continue to find great businesses in the collision repair space. Thoughts on collision repair (specifically profitable niches like classic, truck, exotic, etc) as a viable search fund/ETA option, assuming the EBITDA is there? Typically, exit opps are primarily strategic among SMBs in this space.

Also, anyone with any interest in the automotive space for their search, please feel free to connect.

Reply by an intermediary
from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Nashville, TN, USA

Trade off with niche's will be lower customer volume. On the other hand, you need a niche to drive up margins since collision, like lots of things auto, is low margin.

Another major challenge for collision and repair is labor. Very tough labor market for mechanics and body from what I've seen.

Overall I think its a great business to be in because demand is growing faster than supply (labor constraint). I think your capital structure and cash flow model will make a huge difference in if its worth it.

Finally - shameless plug for the state of search survey I'm working on. https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAANAAeSE1G1UMVNISFNWUlBFVFRHUDdRRElQQUMyMzJLMS4u

Reply by a searcher
in Austin, TX, USA

Hi Cole, would love to see any of your opportunities, we have closed on two groups and will be at 12 centers by the end of the month.. I think my partner has been talking with Focus. Keep us in mind

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