Body shop owners are retiring from the industry, not just because it’s “time”

Jim Moyer expects to close the sale of his body shop on August 28. He is retiring, and he is not alone.

He and his colleagues from accident centers across the country share a common goal: their work and their exit from the industry. That’s where the comparison ends, and then there’s only contrast.

Running a body shop is a personal affair: cross-generational care and craftsmanship shaped by relationships.

Leaving something behind is an equally heartfelt matter. Those who sell do so for very individual reasons.

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Moyers Auto Body is located in rural Clearfield, PA, population 12,000. Moyer was mayor for 13 years.

He has worked in the workshop for more than 47 years and has managed it for two thirds of that time. Of the former employees, one had 42 years of experience, two had 29 each and the “newcomer” had 14. The veteran has retired; the young man is trying his luck in heavy construction.

“It’s damn hard to find technicians in central Pennsylvania,” he said.

In the meantime, Frank Hodulik‘s departure in June was a bit like a “favorite thing” – his wife Debra Hodulik wanted it.

Debra and Frank Hodulik.

“She turned 65 in April and I asked her, ‘What do you want for your birthday?’ and she said, ‘I want to retire,'” Frank Hodulik said.

The duo co-owned the company for 40 years; in June they sold their two locations in Henderson, NV to Brightpoint Auto Body Repaira growing MSO in Memphis, TN.

Frank Hodulik, also 65, has been in the industry for half a century – after business school he managed the body shop for a Delorean dealer in New Jersey. Health problems also played a role in the sale, but the main motivation was love for his wife.

“I promised her a lot over the years. I said, ‘When you’re done, I’m done.’ I couldn’t have done it without her,” he said.

Brian Patton Co-owner American Collision and Hail Repair in Wichita, Kansas, with Paul Blissett And Keith Hellyer. You bought it from the seller Aaron Lonergan beginning of the year, which Patton says is moving toward a more relaxed lifestyle.

“He owns a piece of land, about 160 acres,” Patton said, near Mulvane, Kansas. “He built a big pond, sold his house and moved into his trailer.” Lonergan now runs a “jeep club” where people pay monthly fees for access to the land, camping and fishing.

“When he told me he was ready to sell, he wanted to do what he wanted,” Patton said.

Patton has specialized in paintless dent repair for 29 years and has co-owned several auto body shops for the past decade. He is adding 3,200 square feet to the 8,000 square feet he already owns and plans to open three or four shops in the market.

Bill Becketthas spent his entire life in body shops. “I was born for this.”

His grandfather founded Chestnut Auto Body – “it used to be on Chestnut Street” – in North Attleborough, MA, in 1952.

Beckett’s father moved the business in 1978. Beckett started working there in the 1980s and inherited it last year after his father died. But he can no longer run it. A health scare for Beckett, 59, was the trigger.

Brian Patton and two business partners purchased American Collision and Hail Repair in Wichita, Kansas, from Aaron Lonergan earlier this year.

“The doctors gave me an EpiPen,” he says. If he needs an EpiPen to stay in the game, “I’m not staying.”

But official regulations and constraints from insurance companies were the nail in the coffin for the workshop. In Massachusetts, the local wage replacement benefit is $40 an hour. In nearby Rhode Island, it is $75 to $80.

Buyers are active in New York, New Hampshire and Maine, but “there are no real consolidators pushing in here,” says Beckett.

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So Beckett is selling his business – but not as a business.

He anticipates potential interest in warehouses in two buildings totaling 840 square meters. There is also the opportunity for the proverbial “highest and best use” of the two hectares of land.

“Real estate is really big here,” he said. “New condos cost $550,000.”

At one point, he thought a buyer who had won $15 million in a state lottery would bite. “He wanted a place to park his cars,” Beckett said. “His wife said no.”

Many others say yes, at least for sale.

After large consolidators had the edge on Hodulik for 20 years, Brightpoint bought its Henderson stores.

“People with over 40 years of experience in the industry are moving on,” said the director Paul Williamswhom Hodulik knew.

“As you get older, time is more valuable than money,” said Hodulik, whose daughter still works for Frank.

Brightpoint has also been buying from early retirees in Idaho. The company currently has two locations and plans to open four more by year-end.

“Boise is a great market for us,” Williams said.

Autobody News Retiring owners were also found selling businesses in Bozeman, MT, Bremond, TX and parts of Michigan. Consultants Laura Gay For example, in Arkansas, it helped sell businesses for aspiring recreational athletes.

Moyer agrees with Williams and Hodulik – “it’s hard, dirty work” – and noted that the consolidators didn’t want to do it either.

“We were audited by an MSO, but they said, ‘We’re not coming to Clearfield,'” Moyer said.

The shop had nine workstations and a paint booth, was expanded four times in 47 years and “manufactured large quantities”. It was closed for a year due to a lack of staff and is now preparing to reopen.

“A couple from New York City is coming to buy it,” Moyer said. They appear to be in their late 30s or so, and the man “worked in an auto body shop; that’s all he’s ever done.” Now he wants to own one.

And the best part?

“They bring some employees with them.”