Score a listing →
AUTO REPAIR · Q2 2026 · 1.7×–3.3× SDE inaugural band · n=1286 BizBuySell sold listingsAUTO REPAIR · US market size $92.1B · 1.2% 2021-2026 CAGR · IBISWorldAUTO REPAIR · Pricing test: technician bench, bay throughput, equipment conditionAUTO REPAIR · Q2 2026 · 1.7×–3.3× SDE inaugural band · n=1286 BizBuySell sold listingsAUTO REPAIR · US market size $92.1B · 1.2% 2021-2026 CAGR · IBISWorldAUTO REPAIR · Pricing test: technician bench, bay throughput, equipment condition
Industry Intelligence · Auto Repair · Q2 2026
Updated · 2026-07-14Refresh · QuarterlyAuthor · Avery Hastings, CPA

Auto repair has resilient demand, but the buyer is really underwriting labor retention, bay throughput, diagnostic tooling, and repeat-customer evidence.

Auto repair shop acquisitions sit in a 1.7×–3.3× SDE band. Upper-band pricing requires technician retention, clean bay utilization, equipment condition, and documented customer recurrence.

Q2 2026 headline read
Quarterly · Updated 2026-07-14
PILLAR 01
Earnings Quality
1.7×–3.3×
New baseline

Public sold-business quartiles create the first auto repair Atlas band. Owner-master-tech replacement is the core earnings test.

PILLAR 02
Pricing
n=1286
Public comp base

BizBuySell sold listings give this vertical one of the strongest public comp samples in the expansion pack.

PILLAR 03
Fundability
$92.1B
Large market

Demand depth is real, but lenders still review lease use, equipment, and environmental records.

PILLAR 04
Transferability
1.2%
Five-year CAGR

Slow market growth makes shop-specific technician retention more important than category momentum.

This quarter in
Auto Repair
Q2 2026 · Apr–Jun

Auto repair is a natural high-priority add because public transaction data is deep and the acquisition risks are familiar to SBA lenders: technician retention, lease use, equipment condition, and environmental cleanliness.

Q2 2026 is the baseline issue. Q3 should refresh the BizBuySell tape, add any observed Acquidex deal patterns, and compare whether technician scarcity is widening or narrowing the band.

Read the full Q2 2026 Atlas →
The research stack

The auto repair research stack.

Atlas for the numbers. Playbook for the framework. Apply it to the deal in front of you.

Apply the framework

Run a auto repair listing through the four-pillar lens.

See framework on composites →

Acquidex evaluates auto repair and service shop acquisitions against the same neutral framework — Earnings Quality, Pricing, Fundability, Transferability — that lenders, brokers, and CPAs read. Submit a public listing URL or a CIM and we'll return a four-pillar teardown.

Consented teardowns publish here as case studies. Acquidex never names the seller, broker, or exact location without explicit written consent.

Quarterly research delivered

Get the Atlas in your inbox.

One quarterly research drop per vertical we cover. The full multiples band, the structural conditions, the executive summary. No marketing emails, no daily digests. The Atlas drops, you get the Atlas.

Email

No marketing emails. Quarterly Atlas only. Unsubscribe with one click. We don’t share or sell email addresses.

Sibling verticals · Same framework
All verticals →
Atlas archive · Auto Repair

Quarterly research, archived.

Every Atlas keeps a permanent dated URL. Cited reports never break. Compare bands across quarters; track structural shifts over time.

  1. Q2 2026Technician Retention, Bay Throughput, and the Owner-Master-Tech DiscountRead →
  2. Q3 2026Next scheduled roll-forwardScheduled
Methodology

Acquidex v1.0, §3.4 (Earnings Quality), §3.2 (Pricing), §3.3 (Transferability), §5.1 (Add-Back Stripping per SBA SOP 50 10 8). Methodology paper forthcoming Q3 2026.

Refresh

Quarterly. Last update: 2026-07-14. Atlas archive at /intel/auto-repair/atlas.

Author

Avery Hastings, CPA. Tokyo-based; SMB and lower-middle-market acquisitions in the US and Japan.

Acquidex · Industry Intelligence · 2026
AQX-IR-AUT-2026Q2 · v1.0
Auto Repair Acquisition Intelligence: Multiples Band, Atlas, Playbook, Scored Deals | Acquidex