Chris Lane 
Market Intelligence · Focus Advisors 13 independent MSOs with 8+ collision repair locations added stores in the past 6 months. Here’s what it means. The collision repair industry has faced its share of headwinds over the past year. Claim frequency is down and total-loss rates keep climbing, while tariff unpredictability has made it difficult to … Read more
Cherry Hill, NJ – March 31, 2026 – Focus Advisors, the leading M&A firm in collision repair with deep expertise across the automotive aftermarket, announced it was the exclusive advisor to Cherry Collision in the sale of its three-location collision repair platform to VIVE Collision. Founded on the acquisition of Steve’s Auto Body in Cherry … Read more
2025 was a year of two halves for the collision repair industry — a prolonged slowdown that tested operators and investors alike, followed by a single blockbuster transaction that reshaped the competitive landscape overnight. Focus Advisors’ annual Year in Review covers the full picture: what drove M&A activity (and what held it back), where the … Read more
Most shop owners have heard the term “private equity” without fully understanding what it means for their valuation, their timing, or their options. At today’s Heavy Duty Repair Forum in Nashville, John Walcher, EVP at Focus Advisors, laid out how PE actually works, what its track record in the repair industry tells us, and what … Read more
Los Angeles, CA – March 18, 2026 – Focus Advisors, the leading M&A firm in collision repair with deep expertise across the auto aftermarket, announced it was the exclusive advisor to Marina Auto Body in the sale of its collision repair operations to Chilton Auto Body. Founded in 1977 and acquired by Tom Williamson in … Read more
Slowdown, Then a Blockbuster — Year in Review 2025 January 2025 seemed full of promise, with revenues appearing to rebound from 2024. Operators were excited, expecting a return to growth mode. But February brought a series of headwinds that persisted for much of the year. From continued increases in total-loss frequency to the whipsaw impact … Read more
Observations from Focus Advisors on the deal, the terms and the implications for the collision repair industry Gerber’s Acquisition of Joe Hudson’s is a Big Deal! The combination of Boyd Group’s Gerber Collision and Joe Hudson’s Collision Centers unites the second- and fifth-largest U.S. operators (by store count) into a single 1301-shop North American enterprise. The combined entity … Read more
SEMA Week — and the MSO Symposium in particular — is the closest thing our industry has to a live sentiment check. It’s one of the only weeks each year when the most influential operators, consolidators, suppliers, and investors speak plainly about what’s actually happening across their markets. For firms like ours, it’s a rare chance to listen, compare … Read more
