Auto Repair Shop Valuation: How Much Is My Auto Repair Shop Worth?
A repair shop is worth what it earns without you in a bay. Businessappraisal estimates your range and shows exactly which habits are holding the number down.
Estimated business value
Method breakdown
What moves this number
Estimate, not a certified appraisal. Your figures are not stored.
In short
An auto repair shop valuation applies a multiple to seller discretionary earnings, adjusted for how much the owner works in the bays, technician retention, and the lease or ownership of the property. Broker reporting puts blended auto repair near 2.0x to 2.7x SDE, roughly 2.8x to 3.6x EBITDA, and about 0.33x to 0.65x revenue, with the median independent shop clustering near 2.5x SDE. Businessappraisal estimates your shop worth on an SDE multiple, cross-checks it with revenue and cash-flow methods, and benchmarks to comparable shop sales. Multi-shop operators reach 3.5x to 5x SDE and platforms of five or more locations trade on EBITDA at 4.5x to 6x. Every result is an educational estimate shown as a range, not a certified appraisal.
Benchmarks
What auto repair businesses trade for, by size and type
| Type and size | Typical multiple | What the buyer is really paying for |
|---|---|---|
| Independent single shop, SDE $150K to $500K | About 2x to 4x SDE | A book of local customers. Where you land inside this spread is decided almost entirely by owner wrench time. |
| Collision / body shop, single location | About 2.5x to 4.5x SDE | Contracted volume. Direct repair program relationships are what pull a body shop toward the top. |
| Quick lube / oil change, single | About 2x to 3.5x SDE | Throughput and site. Simple operations and a strong corner, with less technical skill to replace. |
| Multi-shop, 2 to 4 locations | About 3.5x to 5x SDE, or 4x to 5.5x EBITDA | A management layer. Once you have managers running shops, the earnings clearly transfer. |
| Platform, 5+ locations, $1M+ EBITDA | About 4.5x to 6x EBITDA | A scalable operating system. Private equity buys these as roll-up platforms. |
| Premier platform, 15+ shops | About 6x to 8x EBITDA | Regional density and brand. Strategic buyers pay for market share. |
Blended ranges reflect Peak Business Valuation reporting; the size ladder reflects M&A broker reporting on auto repair transactions. Broker data has shown the median independent shop holding near 2.5x SDE across recent years, a notably stable benchmark. These are benchmarks, not quotes. Your number depends on owner involvement, technician retention, lease, and repeat rate, which is what the estimate below models.
Value drivers
The five things that decide where in the band you land
Owner wrench time
The sharpest driver in the data. Shops where the owner does not turn wrenches and repeat customers exceed roughly 60 percent are reported near 3.5x to 4.5x SDE, while shops needing the owner in a bay full time sit near 2.0x to 2.75x. Same earnings, close to a 60 percent difference in price.
Technician retention
Techs are the capacity constraint, not the bays. If your best ASE-certified technicians leave at closing, the revenue leaves with them, so buyers underwrite tenure and pay structure carefully.
Lease or owned real estate
Goodwill in this business is tied to the corner you sit on, so it is not portable. A short or unassignable lease caps what a buyer will pay. Owned property changes the deal structure, since it can be sold separately or leased back.
Repeat customers and car count
A recurring base of local vehicles is the closest thing to predictable revenue a shop has. Buyers look at repeat rate and average repair order, not just monthly sales.
Fleet, commercial, and DRP contracts
Contracted volume from fleets or direct repair programs is the nearest equivalent to recurring revenue in this industry, and it is central to how collision shops are valued.
Why two shops with identical earnings sell for very different prices
Take two shops, both showing $300,000 of SDE. The first owner is in a bay forty hours a week and does the diagnostics nobody else can do. The second has three ASE techs and a service advisor, and the owner comes in on Tuesdays. The first shop is worth roughly $600,000 to $825,000. The second can reach $1.05M to $1.35M.
The earnings are the same. What differs is what a buyer is actually purchasing. In the first case they are buying a job that happens to include a building, and the moment the seller leaves, the diagnostic capacity that produced the profit goes with them. In the second they are buying a system that produces profit whether or not any one person shows up. Buyers pay a multiple for a system and a discount for a job.
This is the most actionable fact in the industry, and it is why "should I hire another tech before I sell" is usually answered yes even when the hire dents your earnings. Trading $40,000 of SDE for a full point of multiple is a trade that pays.
How to value an auto repair shop step by step
- Calculate real SDE. Start with net profit, add back your salary, payroll taxes and benefits, personal vehicle and fuel, interest, depreciation, and any one-time costs.
- Charge yourself for the wrench time. If you work in a bay, subtract what a replacement technician would cost. That is the honest number a buyer underwrites.
- Pick the multiple from your type and size band. Start at the midpoint of the table above.
- Adjust for retention, repeat rate, and contracts. Long-tenured techs, a repeat rate above 60 percent, and fleet or DRP work push you up. Heavy tech turnover pulls you down.
- Handle the property separately. Value the business on earnings with a market rent charged, then treat owned real estate as its own asset. Blending them hides both numbers.
- Check the lease. Fewer than five years remaining, or a landlord who will not assign, is a live valuation problem, not paperwork.
The calculator at the top of this page runs those methods together and returns a range with the drivers explained.
Questions
Auto repair valuation questions people actually ask
How much is my auto repair shop worth?
Most independent shops sell for about 2x to 4x seller discretionary earnings, with the median clustering near 2.5x. A shop earning $250,000 of SDE is therefore typically worth roughly $500,000 to $1M, plus real estate if you own it. Whether you work in a bay is the single biggest factor in where you land.
What multiples do auto repair shops actually sell for in 2026?
Broker reporting shows the median independent shop holding steady near 2.5x SDE, with blended ranges of roughly 2.0x to 2.7x SDE and 2.8x to 3.6x EBITDA. Multi-shop operators reach 3.5x to 5x SDE, and platforms of five or more locations trade at 4.5x to 6x EBITDA. Revenue multiples run about 0.33x to 0.65x.
How do I calculate my auto repair shop's SDE?
Take net profit from the tax return, then add back the owner salary and benefits, personal expenses run through the business, interest, depreciation and amortization, and genuine one-time costs. If you perform technician work yourself, subtract the cost of replacing you. That final figure is what a buyer applies a multiple to.
Should I sell the building with the business?
You do not have to, and you usually should decide deliberately. Valuing the shop on earnings with a market rent charged, then treating the property as a separate asset, gives you two clean numbers. Many sellers keep the building and lease it back to the buyer, which preserves income and widens the pool of buyers who can afford the business.
What does technician retention do to my multiple?
It is one of the biggest levers you control. Technicians are the capacity constraint, so a buyer looking at high turnover assumes revenue drops after closing and prices accordingly. Long-tenured, ASE-certified techs with a fair pay plan and a reason to stay support a top-of-band multiple.
How long does it take to sell an auto repair shop?
Plan on six to twelve months from listing to closing for a typical independent shop, and longer if the books are messy or the lease is short. Clean financials, a transferable lease, and low owner dependence shorten it. Preparation started twelve months ahead is what usually produces both a faster sale and a higher price.
What environmental issues kill auto repair deals?
Underground storage tanks, waste oil handling, solvent disposal, and soil contamination are the recurring deal killers. Lenders often require a Phase I environmental assessment on the property, and a finding can stop financing outright. If you own the site, get ahead of this before you go to market.
How important are DRP contracts for collision shop valuation?
For a collision shop they are central, because direct repair program relationships with insurers supply steady contracted volume, which is the closest thing the industry has to recurring revenue. Buyers check whether those relationships survive a change of ownership. DRP work is also lower margin, so volume alone does not guarantee a higher multiple.
Last updated July 2026
Why it fits
Independent repair, collision, and quick lube owners who want a worth estimate grounded in real earnings.
SDE multiple leads
The primary estimate comes from real owner earnings, because a shop is bought for the cash it produces, not its car count.
Owner wrench time is the swing
A shop that runs without the owner in a bay is a business. One that does not is a job, and it is priced like one.
Benchmarked to shop sales
Your range is compared to comparable auto repair sales, so it reflects how shops actually change hands.
More use cases
Related features
Find out what it is worth
Enter your numbers and get an estimate from three methods in minutes, benchmarked against comparable sales, with the drivers explained. An educational estimate, not a certified appraisal.