M&A activity snapshot
Automotive aftermarket M&A grew in 2025 by the broadest available count. Auto Care Association and MEMA data count 354 aftermarket M&A transactions in 2025, up from 337 in 2024 and 306 in 2023, and bankers and PE executives expect dealmaking to accelerate in 2026.
Capstone Partners' count is narrower and less upbeat. Its October 2025 update tracked 194 transactions year to date, 15.7% below the 230 at the same point in 2024. The two datasets use different scopes, so read them as a range rather than a single figure. Both show the same shift: PE buyers made 50.6% of sector deals, the first PE majority since 2022, while strategic buyer activity declined 21.3%.
The largest recent deals are consolidations of already-consolidated chains. Boyd Group closed its $1.3 billion purchase of Joe Hudson's Collision Center, adding 258 locations, in January 2026. Leonard Green took Mister Car Wash private at a total enterprise value of $3.1 billion in May 2026. In equipment rental, Herc bought H&E Equipment Services and reached 613 locations and pro forma 2024 revenue of $5.1 billion.
The base underneath is fragmented. Independent facilities held 72% of U.S. repair capacity in 2025, with sales of $312.7 billion. Even the largest rental company, United Rentals, estimates its own North American market share at approximately 15 percent.
Who is buying
PE platforms and add-on buyers. Sponsors formed more new platforms in 2025 even as add-ons slipped: Capstone counted 14 platform deals, up from 12, and 84 add-ons by sponsor-backed companies. Whistle Express bought Driven Brands' U.S. car wash business for approximately $385 million.
Public multi-site consolidators. Public chains buy regional operators to add locations, as Boyd did in collision. Valvoline bought Breeze Autocare at an enterprise value of $625 million in February 2025. Mister Car Wash, public until its May 2026 take-private, acquired five locations in Q4 2025, ending the year at 548.
Public equipment rental companies. United Rentals describes the North American rental market as highly fragmented, with competitors that primarily include small independent businesses with one or two rental locations. That leaves a long tail of regional rental houses for public buyers and sponsors.
Sponsor-backed fleet and towing platforms. Fleet maintenance platforms trade between sponsors: Trivest sold Epika Fleet Services, a mobile truck and trailer maintenance provider, to an Ares fund. Epika had grown to over 550 technicians and 19 shop locations, up from 75 technicians in 2018. In towing, Tailwind Capital backed Valor Fleet Services, a platform operating across 14 locations.
Independent sponsors and search funds. Single-site repair shops, car washes, and towing operators fall below most fund minimums. Owner-operators, search funds, and independent sponsors fill that gap.
What buyers look for
Exposure to the aging car parc. The average U.S. light vehicle is 12.8 years old, and vehicles in operation reached 289 million. S&P Global Mobility expects 2015-2019 model years to drive repair demand as they roll off warranty. Buyers favor non-discretionary work such as maintenance, tires, and collision.
Recurring revenue. Car wash buyers price membership share first. Mister Car Wash's Unlimited Wash Club made up 79% of total wash sales in Q4 2025, up from 75%. In fleet maintenance and rental, the equivalent is contracted fleet customers and key accounts.
Technical capability. Driver-assistance systems are changing collision work. Only 11% of repair and collision shops offered in-house ADAS calibration in 2024, and each ADAS-equipped car may bring in an extra $500 to $2,000 per repair. Shops that already calibrate in-house offer buyers that margin.
Technician capacity. Labor caps throughput. BLS projects about 66,200 openings for automotive service technicians and mechanics each year, against 825,800 jobs in 2025. Buyers check bay utilization, technician tenure, and pay plans.
Fleet economics in rental. Rental buyers diligence time utilization, rate, and fleet age. United Rentals tracks fleet productivity as the combined impact of changes in rental rates, time utilization, and mix, and warns that an aging fleet raises operating costs.
What makes a strong company
Across these verticals, a business that commands a premium typically has:
- Multiple locations in one metro, so a buyer gets route density and shared management.
- Recurring or contracted revenue: wash memberships, insurer referral programs, fleet maintenance contracts, police or motor-club rotation work, or rental key accounts.
- Technicians with tenure, certifications, and a pay plan that does not depend on the owner.
- Current equipment: modern wash tunnels, calibration tools, or a rental fleet that is not overdue for replacement.
- Owned or long-leased real estate on good traffic sites, documented clearly for the buyer.
- For dealers, OEM franchise agreements that will transfer. RideNow notes its dealer agreements grant only a non-exclusive right to sell a manufacturer's product within a specified market area.
Valuation and deal structure
Public multi-site service chains set the ceiling. Capstone's multi-unit services group traded at a median 10.0x LTM EBITDA as of April 17, 2025, from 5.5x for Monro to 13.3x for Boyd. Valvoline's Breeze Autocare deal priced at 3.1x EV/Revenue and 10.7x EV/EBITDA.
Private platforms trade lower, and size drives the gap. GF Data does not publish an automotive-specific multiple, so its all-sector figures are the closest proxy. Its Q3 2025 data show platform buyouts at $10 million to $25 million of TEV averaging 5.9x EBITDA, against 8.7x at $50 million to $100 million. Across all sizes, GF Data's 2025 average held at 7.2x trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA.
Seller financing and rollover show up even at scale. Driven Brands' car wash sale combined $255 million in cash and a $130 million interest-bearing seller note. In the Mister Car Wash take-private, members of management rolled over some of their ownership. To see where your own numbers sit, use the valuation tool.
Subindustries
These verticals share an aging-vehicle and fleet thesis but differ sharply in buyers and multiples. Collision and car wash have produced the largest recent service-chain deals; towing and powersports dealers are earlier in consolidation. Each page below covers its own buyers, deals, and value drivers.