$1.5M
$525K
5.7x
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Rare opportunity to acquire an established automotive service business together with seller-owned commercial...
Why we like it
- Earnings quality is strong for the category: $524,696 of cash flow on $1.49M in revenue is a 35% margin, which signals disciplined pricing, real labor efficiency, and a shop that is not buying revenue with margin. That is the kind of clean, provable owner earnings a lender and a buyer both want to see.
- Auto repair is genuinely recession-resistant. When money gets tight consumers defer new-car purchases and keep aging vehicles on the road longer, which pushes more maintenance and repair volume into independent shops like this one. Demand does not evaporate in a downturn, it shifts toward exactly this service.
- Forty-three years in business is a moat you cannot buy quickly. Longevity in a single Florida market means an established customer base, word-of-mouth referral flow, and a location whose visibility and traffic are already validated over decades of operation.
- Owning the real estate removes the biggest hidden risk in a location-based service business: the landlord. You control rent, lease terms, and the ability to expand bays, and you can later separate the property into its own entity and pay yourself market rent, converting a portion of the purchase into a financeable, appreciating asset.
How to improve it
- Break out the real estate value from the operating value immediately and renegotiate the deal structure. Get an independent appraisal on the property, then reframe the earnings multiple on the operating business alone; you may be able to finance the real estate with an SBA 7(a) or a separate mortgage and reduce blended cost of capital.
- Install a digital vehicle inspection and service-reminder system in the first 90 days. Photo-based inspections that get texted to customers dramatically lift average repair order value and rebuild trust, and automated reminders bring lapsed customers back on a predictable cadence.
- Audit and raise the labor rate and shop-supply fees against local competitors. A 43-year shop often underprices out of loyalty and habit; even a modest hourly rate increase on a business this size flows almost entirely to the bottom line given the fixed cost base.
- Build a recurring maintenance membership or prepaid service plan. Converting one-time repair customers into subscribers smooths revenue, increases visit frequency, and creates a retention asset that raises the resale multiple down the road.
- Add fleet and commercial account business if it is not already a meaningful channel. Local delivery fleets, municipal vehicles, and small business fleets provide steady, higher-volume work that is less seasonal and less price-sensitive than retail walk-ins.
- Modernize the front-of-house and online presence: online booking, a Google review generation process, and basic local SEO. A four-decade shop often runs on reputation alone, and capturing more of the online-searching customer is low-cost incremental volume.
- Cross-train and document the technician workflow to reduce key-person risk. If the current owner is a producing tech or the trusted face, systematize scheduling, estimating, and quality control so the business does not lose customers when he leaves.
Diligence notes
- Get a defensible split between the real estate value and the operating business value. The 5.72x headline multiple is misleading because it bundles property; you need to know what you are actually paying for earnings versus dirt to judge whether this deal is cheap or expensive.
- Scrutinize how dependent revenue and margins are on the owner. Ask whether he turns wrenches, manages the counter, or holds the key customer and fleet relationships, and model what cash flow looks like if 43 years of goodwill partially walks. Then price a transition and training period into the deal.
- Verify the $524,696 cash flow with tax returns and a quality-of-earnings review. Confirm that owner add-backs are legitimate, that rent expense is normalized (since the owner also owns the building), and that deferred maintenance on equipment and the property is not hiding future capex.
- Inspect the physical condition of the real estate and check for environmental liability. Auto shops carry contamination risk from oils, solvents, and underground tanks, so a Phase I environmental assessment is non-negotiable before you take title to the property.
- Analyze the customer concentration and revenue mix between retail repair, fleet, and any tire or parts sales. Understand whether growth is flat, declining, or aging along with the customer base, and confirm the shop is not losing volume to dealer service departments or franchised competitors nearby.
Source
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