What Is My Auto Repair Shop Worth? Auto Repair Shop Valuation Multiples in 2026

Buyers price an auto repair shop by multiplying its earnings by a multiple. Which earnings figure they use depends on how big the shop is and who is buying it.

• SDE (seller's discretionary earnings) = net profit + one owner's full compensation + documented add-backs. Buyers who will run the shop themselves price on SDE, because they replace the owner's paycheck with their own. See what SDE is and how it is built.
• EBITDA = SDE minus a market-rate salary for a manager who replaces you. Institutional buyers price on EBITDA because they hire that manager.
• Asset value sets the floor. Lifts, alignment racks, scan tools and inventory matter when earnings are thin. When earnings are healthy, buyers treat that equipment as part of what they are already paying for through the multiple.

A third party also checks most offers. Under SBA SOP 50 10 8.1, in force since October 1, 2026, the buyer's lender has to order an independent business valuation from a Qualified Source when the business purchase price is above $350,000. That appraiser works for the lender, not for you or the buyer. Total acquisition debt (the SBA loan plus any seller note not on full standby) cannot exceed the appraised value.

This means your asking price has to hold up twice: once with the buyer and once with an appraiser holding an ASA, CBA, ABV, CVA or BCA credential, hired by the buyer's lender.

Auto repair shops have sold for 1.70x to 3.26x SDE, with a median of 2.31x. That comes from BizBuySell's valuation benchmarks for auto repair and service, which cover 1,286 sold listings from 2021 to 2025.

Each row is ranked separately. A shop in the upper quartile for revenue is not automatically in the upper quartile for its multiple. In the same sold-business data, the median sale price was $410,000 and the median time on market was 207 days.

Above owner-operator size, the shop is priced on EBITDA. No published source gives an EBITDA multiple specific to auto repair. The figures below cover all industries, so use them as a reference, not as your shop's multiple.

The 11.1x and 13.7x public company figures are not prices for a private shop. A single-location shop selling to a buyer who will run it should anchor on the 1.70x to 3.26x SDE range above.

The multiple goes up when a buyer believes the earnings will continue without you, and down when they doubt it. The industry backdrop helps every seller. The average light vehicle on the road was 12.7 years old in 2024, according to Hedges & Company. Miles traveled ran at 3.3 trillion on a 12-month moving average in December 2024, according to the St. Louis Fed. Your multiple is decided inside your own shop.

Technician bench

Diligence starts with your technicians. Buyers ask who the techs are, how long they have been with you, what they are paid, and whether any of them would leave if you did. A shop where the owner is also the best diagnostician sells closer to the lower quartile, because the buyer cannot count on keeping that skill.

Diagnostic and ADAS capability

ADAS is the camera and sensor-based driver assistance equipment on newer cars. A shop that can calibrate it and diagnose modern vehicles keeps work that other shops send to the dealer. Buyers check your scan tools, your software subscriptions and your access to OEM repair data. If you depend on one OEM data feed or on warranty work, expect questions about what happens if that access changes.

Clean monthly financials

Monthly profit and loss statements that tie to your tax returns and bank deposits make a higher multiple easier to defend. If your books are reconciled only once a year, buyers cannot see trends within the year, and they cover that uncertainty with a lower multiple or an earnout. The add-backs a buyer accepts have to be documented. Related-party rent marked to market and one-time expenses with invoices both qualify.

Deferred capex and tooling gaps

A worn lift or an alignment rack past its useful life is a capital item. The buyer deducts it from the price. It does not come off SDE before the multiple is applied. Before you go to market, decide whether to replace the equipment yourself or disclose it and accept a dollar-for-dollar price reduction. If a buyer finds it in diligence instead, it also costs you credibility.

Lease and site control

Lenders require site control, so a buyer cannot close an SBA loan on a shop with only a short time left on its lease. If you own the building, the real estate is valued and financed separately from the business. The rent in your financials will be reset to market rate before anyone applies a multiple.

Licensing

Technicians who service vehicle air conditioning need EPA Section 609 certification. Shop registration rules vary by state. In California, a shop must register as an Automotive Repair Dealer with the Bureau of Automotive Repair. Missing certifications become a closing condition in the purchase agreement.

Who is at the table

An owner-operator shop typically sells to SBA-financed individual owner-operators. Those buyers price on SDE, and lender coverage limits how much they can pay. Once EBITDA is large enough to support a platform or an add-on, PE-backed tire and service platforms enter the picture. Examples are Sun Auto Tire & Service (Leonard Green), Grismer Tire & Auto Service (CenterOak Partners) and Left Lane Auto (Bertram Capital). For collision work, the PE-backed operators include Caliber (Hellman & Friedman), Crash Champions (Clearlake) and Chilton Auto Body (Trive Capital). Both groups are profiled on our page on who buys auto repair shops, which matches each buyer group to the shop size it buys.

A shop with $400,000 of SDE would sell for between $680,000 and $1,304,000 at the sold-business quartile multiples, or $924,000 at the 2.31x median. The table walks through the math. All of the multiples in it are SDE multiples, applied to SDE.

Two things stand out. First, this shop's $400,000 of SDE is above the upper-quartile SDE of $299,531, and its $1,500,000 of revenue is above the upper-quartile revenue of $1,322,206. Being bigger does not earn you the 3.26x multiple. Buyers pay at the top of the range only for the strengths covered in the section above.

Second, the add-backs carry real weight in the price. Suppose a buyer rejects the $50,000 because there are no invoices behind it. SDE falls to $350,000, and at the 2.31x median the price becomes $350,000 × 2.31 = $808,500. That is $924,000 minus $808,500, or $115,500 lost because of missing paperwork. Our page on which add-backs a buyer will accept covers what documentation each one needs.

Example B: the EBITDA market

These are all-industry EBITDA references applied to EBITDA. They are not auto repair multiples. Applying an SDE multiple to the $1,750,000 would mix the two markets and give a meaningless number. A deal this size is above the $5,000,000 SBA 7(a) maximum loan, so the buyer will be a sponsor or strategic using its own capital and lenders. In an SBA-financed Initial Acquisition or Business Expansion with a business purchase price of $3,000,000 or more, the lender also requires a quality of earnings report.

An auto repair shop sale is paid for with some combination of SBA loan proceeds, buyer cash, a seller note, and for larger deals an earnout or rollover equity. Using the median price from Example A, $400,000 SDE × 2.31 = $924,000, here is how an SBA-financed sale would be built.

• Independent valuation. $924,000 is above the $350,000 threshold, so the buyer's lender orders a Qualified Source valuation. If the appraisal comes in below the price, the gap has to be covered by buyer equity or debt on full standby.
• Equity injection. When ownership changes completely, SBA requires 10% of total project cost. Up to half of that can be a seller note on full standby. If the $924,000 price were the entire project cost, 10% would be $92,400. That could be split into $924,000 × 5% = $46,200 of buyer cash and a $46,200 standby note from you. Real project costs also include fees and working capital, so the actual figures come out higher.
• What full standby means for you. On a full standby note, you receive no principal or interest payments for the entire life of the SBA loan. Interest can accrue and is paid after the SBA loan is repaid. You should plan to receive that money only after that point.
• Coverage test. SOP 50 10 8.1 requires at least 1.25x debt service coverage on historical results for buying a business. Coverage is EBITDA divided by total debt service after the sale, measured on the last fiscal year or a two-year average. Projections cannot be used to meet it. The business acquisition portion amortizes over 10 years. With prime at 7.00%, the maximum variable rate on loans over $350,000 is 10%. You can run your own numbers through the SBA loan calculator to see whether your earnings support your price.
• Seller notes not on standby. These are paid as agreed and count toward the debt cap set by the valuation. A note that has been paid as agreed for 36 months can then be refinanced with SBA debt.
• Earnouts. These pay part of the price if the business hits targets after closing. Buyers use them to bridge disagreements about the multiple, for example when a large share of work comes from a fleet account or warranty work. The targets need precise definitions in the purchase agreement.
• Rollover equity. PE platforms often ask a seller to reinvest part of the proceeds in the combined company. You keep a minority stake and get paid a second time when the platform itself sells.

On our side, a sell-side engagement takes 3 to 6 months from your decision to a signed LOI, then 60 to 90 days from LOI to closing. The closing date depends mostly on how fast the buyer's lender gets the appraisal back and finishes diligence.