While the collision repair industry’s five largest consolidators pulled back on acquisitions and new openings in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, private equity firms increased their investments, creating new opportunities for independent shops looking to sell or grow, according to Focus Advisors.
The M&A firm, which largely represents sellers of collision shops, said it saw several interesting developments in its data from the first six months of the year.
Big 5 Take a Step Back, But Not for Long
The “Big 5” consolidators — Caliber, Crash Champions, Joe Hudson’s Collision Center, Gerber Collision & Glass and Classic Collision — collectively recorded a 60.3% drop in openings and acquisitions in the first half of 2025.
That drop, however, was mostly driven by Caliber, Crash Champions and Joe Hudson’s. Gerber’s growth was flat, while Classic Collision increased openings.
Focus Advisors attributed the slowdown in consolidation to cash-flow constraints, softer earnings, seller pushback on valuation expectations, and possibly the overhang of Caliber’s anticipated IPO.
The Big 5 are still getting bigger though — they now operate at least 4,019 locations nationwide, representing 13.3% of shop market share and about 31.7% of revenue, which increased from 30% at year-end 2024 six months earlier. Focus Advisors said the revenue share growth resulted from extracting value from prior acquisitions and refining models to provide solutions for national insurance carriers.
Chris Lane, managing partner of Focus Advisors, said the slowdown in acquisitions and new openings among the Big 5 will be “short-lived,” noting Gerber’s August purchase of eight-store L&M Body Shop in Virginia.
Private Equity Firms Making Smaller Initial Investments
Private equity firms are still very interested in collision repair — Focus Advisors said it spoke with more firms in 2024 than ever before, and currently has a list of more than 130 that have expressed interest in entering the industry.
The noteworthy development, Lane explained to Autobody News, is that those firms are now “pulling the trigger” on smaller acquisitions for their initial investment.
“Before, it was mostly the largest private equity firms [entering the industry], that needed to write large checks to justify the investment,” Lane said. However, platforms with 10 to 12 shops come up for sale infrequently, leading more firms to look at — and ultimately purchase — smaller platforms.
In the first half of 2025, three new firms entered the industry on the East Coast, one in the Midwest and one on the West Coast. With the exception of Trive Capital’s purchase of 20-shop MSO Chilton Auto Body in California in February, the initial acquisitions were all smaller MSOs; three of the new entrants began with acquisitions of three or fewer shops.
Lane said Focus Advisors is currently working with a few new private equity firms that have signed a letter of intent for a deal, or are planning to soon.
What This Means for Shop Owners Looking to Exit or Grow
Lane said independent shop owners interested in one day selling to a regional MSO or consolidator should still focus on making their business a “healthy and aggressively growing enterprise, which has always been the case.”
“Those who just sit and execute are going to die; you need to exit or grow,” Lane said. “That’s still true. If you’re trying to grow, your valuations will look attractive.”
Brightpoint Auto Body Repair, a private equity-backed MSO, in January acquired Joel's Auto Body in Tennesee.
There are more buyers looking to enter the market than ever, Lane said, which means more exit opportunities for shop owners.
Private equity firms making their initial investment will often offer sellers a chance to roll some of their equity from the sale back into the platform, giving those sellers a “second bite of the apple,” Lane said, or an executive position, allowing the seller to continue their career in the industry while leaving the operational side.
Independent shop owners thinking about growing won’t have the capital to compete with consolidators or private equity-backed regional MSOs for the more expensive assets in their market, Lane said, but they should still pursue growth opportunities to enhance their own business.
“When you grow from one to two shops, you’ll become more valuable if you do want to sell,” Lane said. “Consolidation happens. You’re living in that world, take advantage of it.”
The bottom line, Lane said, is that plenty of MSOs across the U.S. are thriving and growing in the current collision repair environment.
“There’s a perception that everyone is struggling to make a dollar or exiting, and that’s just not true,” he said.
In conclusion, Focus Advisors’ report said as 2025 progresses, collision repair operators will continue to contend with rising total losses, cost pressures and cautious insurer behavior, but consolidation shows no signs of slowing. Private equity, mid-size regional MSOs and eventually the Big 5 are all expected to increase activity. The industry’s fundamentals — non-discretionary demand, increasing repair complexity, and resilient margins — continue to make it an attractive space for investment, even amid challenging conditions.
Abby Andrews