What's My Shop Worth?

Start with what the shop really earns

Your tax return is designed to keep taxable income low, so it rarely shows what the shop actually makes for its owner. To value it, we rebuild the numbers: your own salary and benefits, a family vehicle run through the shop, one-time expenses and extra depreciation are added back. The result, often called seller's discretionary earnings, is the figure buyers and lenders care about most.

Most shops are sold as asset sales rather than a sale of the company itself. The buyer gets the equipment, the name, the phone number and the customers, while the seller keeps the cash in the bank and pays off their own debts. The numbers are adjusted for that too.

Then the equipment and the building

Lifts, alignment equipment, diagnostic tools, a paint booth or a tire machine all have value, and so does their condition. If you own the property, it's valued separately; you can sell it with the shop or keep it and collect rent. If you lease, the terms and how long they run matter to every buyer.

What raises or lowers the price

• Steady or growing car count and repeat customers raise it.
• Technicians who will stay raise it; a shop that depends on the owner turning wrenches lowers it.
• Clean, consistent books raise it, because buyers and lenders can trust them.
• A diverse mix of work raises it; heavy reliance on one fleet or insurer lowers it.
• Aging equipment or a short lease lowers it, since the buyer will have to deal with both.
• Flexible terms raise it: the more you're willing to finance, the more a buyer can pay.

In the end a shop, like any asset, is worth what a buyer is willing to pay and an owner is willing to accept. Our job is to show you that number before you go to market, so you price it to sell.