The share of franchised new-car dealerships operating an on-site body shop fell to 31.9% in the first half of 2026, down from 33.4% a year earlier, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association's 2026 midyear NADA Data report. The 1.5-percentage-point decline was the largest year-over-year drop in the figures NADA published for 2020 through 2026.
The report counts 16,991 franchised dealers nationwide. Its body shop section tracks the share of dealers operating on-site body shops, how much dealership body shops sell, and how much they bring in per repair order, according to NADA. Dealer-owned collision centers have also drawn interest from multi-shop operators (MSOs). A 2024 look at why MSOs are purchasing dealership collision centers described some dealers selling their collision businesses and converting the body shop space for service work.
Body shop sales rise slightly while revenue per order climbs
Total sales at dealership body shops reached $3.94 billion in the first half of 2026, compared with $3.91 billion in the same period of 2025, according to NADA's midyear report. That total remained below the $4.01 billion recorded in the first half of 2024.
Body shop sales per repair order rose to $1,264 from $1,150 a year earlier, according to the report. That is an increase of $114, or about 9.9%. In the first half of 2020, the figure was $749.
Share of dealers with on-site body shops falls for sixth straight year
The share of dealers with on-site body shops has fallen every year since 2020, according to NADA's data. The first-half figures were:
Body shop sales at dealerships, meanwhile, totaled $2.88 billion in the first half of 2020 and increased each year through 2024, the report shows.
NADA cautions that some of its methods and data sources have shifted since the report debuted in 1979, so earlier editions may not line up exactly with the current one.
Fixed operations revenue grows
Average revenue per franchised dealership slipped 0.9% in the first half of 2026, with new- and used-vehicle sales volumes both down slightly from a year earlier, according to NADA. Fixed operations revenue climbed 2.2%, even as the number of repair orders dipped.
Across all franchised dealers, service and parts sales totaled $82.99 billion on more than 136 million repair orders during the period, NADA's figures show. Service, parts, and body shop work accounted for 13.6% of total dealership sales dollars, up from 13.2% in the first half of 2025.
The average dealership employed 16 technicians, including body shop technicians, for a total of 272,624 across all franchised dealers, the report shows.
Owners of five or fewer stores make up a shrinking share
Owners operating one to five stores made up 90.4% of franchised dealership owners in the first half of 2026, down from 94.4% in the first half of 2016. The share of owners with six to 10 stores rose to 5.9% from 3.8% over the same period.
In the collision repair sector, Focus Advisors' first-half 2026 report found that deal activity slowed even as the number of buyers reached a record, with private equity-backed platforms growing faster than the industry's four largest consolidators.
New-vehicle sales ease
New light-vehicle sales fell 2.6% from the first half of 2025, according to the report, which describes the decline as one that had been anticipated at the beginning of the year. NADA continues to project 16 million new light-vehicle sales for 2026.
Hybrid vehicles made up 15.4% of the new light-vehicle market in the first half of 2026, up 2.9 percentage points from a year earlier. Battery electric vehicles accounted for 6.2% of new light-vehicle sales in June 2026, down from a record 11.8% in September 2025, the month the federal electric vehicle tax credit expired, the report shows.
