Look for ADAS-strong service provider VSSTA Inc. to add collision repair shops under its new owner, private investment firm Greybull Stewardship. Wyoming-based Greybull announced in June it bought Texas-based VSSTA on undisclosed terms.
VSSTA, which stands for Vehicles Scanning Solution Technology Automation, has signed 500 to 600 collision repair users of its SaaS in some 40 states in the five years since founder Bobby Beason began writing the software.
Phil Long Collision Center, a body shop connected with one of Colorado’s larger dealership groups, is one.
“This is a really smart guy,” said Duane Meszler of Beason. Meszler co-owns and runs the Phil Long collision operations in Colorado Springs. He’s deployed VSSTA software since its early days, roughly pre-COVID.
Both Beason and Meszler have the common bio in the business, spanning several decades for each. Owners or operators, tech school grad and starting out by sweeping up, they come from the trenches as technology use in collision repair grows.
“There’s so much data, so much changing from manufacturers,” Beason said. “It’s information fatigue and we [shops] do nothing. If nothing’s [lit up] on the dash, our impression is everything’s fine.”
‘This Business is Really About Relationships’
Beason’s aim was to validate the work — “pre-scan, post-scan, everything” — and keep revenue in-house.
Meszler has about 35,000 square feet in three buildings, with one eye open to possible expansion into nearby markets. Revenue runs $1 million a month, dipping recently during the slowdown. He has 43 workers, and sees about 120 cars a month.
Bobby Beason.
His setup’s big enough to dedicate some staffing to ADAS. “You can train your people to capture revenue,” he said. “We have tenured [techs] doing it and don’t need a lot of back-up — but we’ve used it.”
Not just nice to have, but boy do you wish you did if you don’t. The VSSTA rep calls regularly to check-in, he said, beyond being quickly available when needed, and these are the vendor interactions Meszler seeks out.
“This business is really about relationships,” he said.
His paint jobber, then Capital Paint, now part of Wesco, told him about Beason. “He said, ‘We may have a solution for your ADAS growing pains,’” Meszler said. The news had nothing to do with paint. “Who I’m going to work with is who’s going to help.”
Meszler can be ambivalent about a product’s physical attractions, saying instead of Capital “they drown you in customer service,” and noting that he and Beason are now friends. “There’s a mutual respect there.”
OEM Info, More Revenue, Customer Support
The shop recoups its VSSTA costs and then some on the work, and this is a VSSTA pledge: higher revenue, OEM information when needed, and fast backing on diagnostics, scanning and calibrations, according to its website and company materials. A press release on the acquisition touts, “education, tools and services [for] safe and proper repairs.”
Beason said simply: it’s needed.
Of the dirty, dangerous secret of how shops don’t scan or calibrate he noted, “It’s really easy: you just don’t it.”
VSSTA comes in, he said, and “we partner with the shop, helping them understand, identifying what’s needed, then we help them do it. We are assistance.”
The “overwhelming response” to why shops sign on is “missed revenue.” Software shows you did the work and “helps you get paid.”
He echoed Meszler on the relationship element. Beason owned and operated multiple shops around Houston in the years before starting the software maker. In his experience, paint jobbers are particularly apt to talk about a potentially better way to do the work but “everyone involved with a shop” can become “a trusted advisor.” The state trade association, local lunch-and-learn gatherings and a 20 Group all are options.
Now on the vendor side, Beason’s people can join that list. “It’s body shop first.”
Mason Myers.
Not just body shops: industry investing and acquisition Greybull has at first glance an eclectic portfolio, with holdings in education, driver training, metal fabrication, dry cleaning and property management. One investment touching automotive repair, an AI inspection product for insurers, sold a decade ago.
Unifying these is size. It buys at revenue of $5 million to $50 million, EBITDA of sub-$5 million, its website said.
It seeks “the very best businesses” at those levels, said founder and CEO Mason Myers. “We are a long-term holder, offering businesses stability to grow, helping them improve and scale. Business model comes first.”
Recurring revenue from monthly subscriptions and high customer retention was a draw.
“He saw a problem and how he could solve it,” Myers said, and is so far growing with minimal marketing. “We’re psyched to partner with Bobby.”
Aftermarket acquisitions are seeing increased interest, said Madeleine Roberts Rich, Focus Advisors’ senior associate in automotive M&A.
“Equipment distributors, paint jobbers … [and] interest from a variety buyers,” she said.
Kinetic Automation for instance has $31 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. It’s adding “ADAS and ADAS-adjacent” post-repair calibration locations for body shops, CEO Nikhil Naikal told Autobody News in May.
Paul Hughes