Established Full-Service Auto Repair Center, 48-Year New Ulm Minnesota Shop

$1.9M

Revenue

$650K

SDE

4.6x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a full-service automotive repair and maintenance shop in New Ulm, Minnesota, with roughly 48 years of continuous operation. The business handles general mechanical repair, diagnostics, preventive maintenance, tire and wheel service, and parts replacement, and it carries a NAPA AutoCare membership that lends it national brand trust in a small-market setting. In 2025 it completed roughly 3,829 repair orders at an average ticket of about $477, working just five days a week with no evening or weekend hours.

The current owner acquired the shop about 4.5 years ago and grew revenue from roughly $1.2 million to roughly $1.9 million, a meaningful lift that shows the demand and operating leverage are there. Revenue has since flattened at $1.85 million (2023), $1.84 million (2024), and roughly $1.9 million (2025), so the easy growth has been captured and the next leg requires added technician capacity or hours. Cash flow (SDE) is $650,000 with reported EBITDA of $500,000 on about $1.9 million in revenue, which is a strong margin profile for a shop of this size.

What makes this notable is the management structure: a salaried Service Manager runs front-end operations and the shop floor, while the owner works about 30 hours a week in an oversight role. That semi-passive setup, combined with a nearly five-decade track record and seven full-time employees, makes this a cleaner operating handoff than most independent shops. The real estate is owned by the seller and offered separately via lease, so the $3M ask is for the operating business plus $250,000 in FF&E only.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is solid with $650k of SDE and $500k of EBITDA on $1.9M revenue, driven by roughly 3,829 repair orders at a $477 average ticket. That is real transactional volume from a diversified local customer base rather than concentration in a few accounts, which makes the cash flow predictable.
The moat is durability through longevity: 48 years of operating history and a NAPA AutoCare membership create trust and repeat business that new entrants cannot buy quickly. Auto repair is inherently local and sticky, and a five-decade brand in a small Minnesota market is hard to displace.
Auto repair is genuinely recession-resistant because people delay buying new cars in downturns and keep repairing the ones they own. The average vehicle age keeps climbing nationally, which sustains demand for exactly the diagnostics, mechanical work, and preventive maintenance this shop provides.
The operator advantage is the existing management structure: a salaried Service Manager already runs daily operations and the owner works only 30 hours a week in oversight. This is closer to a semi-managed business than a solo-owner shop, so a buyer inherits continuity rather than a job that collapses the day the seller leaves.

How to improve it

Extend operating hours and add evening or Saturday availability, since the shop currently runs only five days a week with no evenings or weekends. Existing lifts and equipment sit idle a large share of the week, so incremental hours convert fixed overhead into pure margin.
Add technician capacity to break the revenue plateau. Revenue has flatlined at roughly $1.85M to $1.9M for three years, which signals the shop is bay- or labor-constrained rather than demand-constrained, so hiring one or two more techs should directly lift throughput.
Develop commercial and fleet accounts to smooth demand and raise average order value. Local municipalities, delivery operators, and small business fleets provide recurring, scheduled work that fills slow periods and reduces reliance on walk-in retail.
Build a formal customer retention program with service reminders, maintenance packages, and a CRM tied to the repair-order system. With nearly 3,829 orders a year, even a modest lift in visit frequency across the existing base compounds meaningfully.
Tighten purchasing and labor pricing to expand margin. Review the gap between $650k SDE and $500k EBITDA, benchmark parts markup against NAPA program terms, and standardize labor rates and menu pricing to capture the pricing power a 48-year brand has earned.
Negotiate a long-term lease with renewal options at closing, since the real estate is owned by the seller and offered separately. Locking in favorable, predictable rent protects the location that anchors the customer base and preserves optionality to buy the property later.

Diligence notes

Reconcile the SDE and EBITDA figures against tax returns and bank statements for the last three years. The $150k gap between $650k SDE and $500k EBITDA needs a clear add-back schedule, and you want to confirm the reported revenue growth from $1.2M to $1.9M is on the books and not owner adjustments.
Scrutinize the lease terms carefully because the property is not in the asking price and rent will be negotiated separately with the seller. An inflated lease rate can quietly transfer value out of the business economics, so model SDE net of a market rent before you anchor on the 4.62x multiple.
Assess key-person and staffing risk around the salaried Service Manager who runs front-end operations and the shop. Confirm the manager and the seven full-time employees, especially the techs, are staying, and understand compensation, tenure, and any retention agreements needed post-close.
Verify the $250,000 FF&E value and the condition and remaining life of lifts, alignment, diagnostic, and programming equipment. Aging equipment in a shop this old could mean near-term capex, so get an equipment inventory and maintenance history before closing.
Investigate why revenue has been flat for three years after strong initial growth. Determine whether it is capacity constraints, local competition, or softening demand, because the entire growth thesis rests on the shop being labor-limited rather than demand-limited.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →