Focus Advisors Releases Review of Year in Acquisitions and Mergers
Feb. 10, 2023–The collision repair industry’s largest consolidator remains Caliber Collision, which “grew its national footprint from 1,400 shops in 2021 to more than 1,550” in 2022 and is now approaching $6 billion in sales, reports Focus Advisors Automotive in its annual review on consolidation in collision repair.
Crash Champions’ July merger with Service King resulted in the company becoming the third largest consolidator behind Caliber and Gerber. They acquired several shops in the Northern California market as well. By the end of 2022, the company was operating almost 600 locations.
Gerber/Boyd group did not see as much growth as in previous years. In 2022 they gained 19 shops, compared with 97 shops gained in 2021. At the end of the year, they reportedly had “735 US shops and an estimated $2.4 billion in sales.”
Classic Collision acquired 40 shops in 2022 and opened its 200th location in November. As recently as January 2020 they only operated 34 shops, showing significant growth in the past couple of years. Most of Classic’s acquisitions were of single or two-shop operators, with “a focus on Florida and the Southeast region.”
Joe Hudson began to see growth in size after appointing their new CEO, Brant Wilson. The company started 2022 with 137 locations and acquired 19 single shops, predominantly in areas in the Southeast and Mid-south.
Competitors on the rise highlighted by Focus Advisors include CollisionRight, founded in late 2020 and having a total of 75 shops; Kaizen Collision, which “more than doubled” its size to 51 shops after major acquisitions in Nebraska and Colorado; and Quality Collision, which doubled in size after multiple acquisitions in Northern California and Pennsylvania to 32 locations.
According to Focus Advisors, new private equity-backed groups have “improved acquisition valuations overall” with new competitors entering the market. Acquisitions will continue to pick up in 2023, with it expected to “increase for the Big Three” and continue “to be robust for all the others,” with strong interest picking up in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia shops.
