Consolidation Nation

BodyShop Business Editor Jason Stahl talks with Consolidation Coach Owner Laura Gay, Consolidation Coach Director of M&A Chad Smith and Opus IVS Vice President of ADAS Solutions Frank Terlep on trends defining the collision repair industry today. In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why consolidation and M&A activity is ramping up again in the collision industry
• Why the merger between Opus IVS and Repairify made sense
• How AI is being used in the collision repair industry
• Cybersecurity and AI
• The next challenge: software-defined vehicles
• Opus IVS and Repairify's SEMA plans, including new product launches
• How to take advantage of the ADAS calibration opportunity
• And more!

Consolidation Nation is sponsored by Consolidation Coach, a consulting firm that is strictly a sell-side advisor that coaches and guides body shops through the selling process from beginning to end.

BodyShop Business Editor Jason Stahl talks with Chad Smith, director of M&A for Consolidation Coach, on private equity's interest in the emerging ADAS calibration business. In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why ADAS calibration matters now
• How existing ADAS calibration providers differentiate themselves
• Why private equity is interested
• What will separate the winning ADAS calibration companies from the losing ones
• And more!

Consolidation Nation is sponsored by Consolidation Coach, a consulting firm that is strictly a sell-side advisor that coaches and guides body shops through the selling process from beginning to end.

BodyShop Business Editor Jason Stahl talks with Consolidation Coach Owner Laura Gay and M&A attorney Kip Davis about the difference between a business attorney and M&A attorney and why that's an important distinction when selling your business.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why having an attorney that specializes in M&A vs. your business attorney is a key element when exiting your business.
• The various phases of exiting your auto body collision repair business from a legal perspective.
• What makes selling a collision repair business different from selling other types of businesses?
• When should a collision shop owner bring an M&A attorney into the process — and what can go wrong if they wait too long.
• And more!


Consolidation Nation is sponsored by Consolidation Coach, a consulting firm that is strictly a sell-side advisor that coaches and guides body shops through the selling process from beginning to end.

BodyShop Business Editor Jason Stahl talks with Consolidation Coach Owner Laura Gay on the dangers and pitfalls an auto body shop owner can encounter when trying to "go it alone" when selling their shop. 

Consolidation Nation is sponsored by Consolidation Coach, a consulting firm that is strictly a sell-side advisor that coaches and guides body shops through the selling process from beginning to end.

BodyShop Business Editor Jason Stahl talks with Consolidation Coach Owner Laura Gay on recently developments in the M&A space in the collision repair industry that may indicate things are heating up for body shops looking for an exit and hoping to be generously rewarded for their life's work.

Consolidation Nation is sponsored by Consolidation Coach, a consulting firm that is strictly a sell-side advisor that coaches and guides body shops through the selling process from beginning to end.

In season 2, episode 5 of Consolidation Nation, BodyShop Business Editor Jason Stahl talks with Consolidation Coach Owner Laura Gay and High Lift Financial Principal Matt DiFrancesco on the importance of exit planning.

Consolidation Nation is sponsored by Consolidation Coach, a consulting firm that is strictly a sell-side advisor that coaches and guides body shops through the selling process from beginning to end.

BodyShop Business Editor Jason Stahl and Consolidation Coach Owner Laura Gay talk with Aaron Glaser, former owner of five-store MSO Glaser's Collision in Louisville, Ky., and Mark Wasmuth, former owner of a three-store CARSTAR shop in the Carolinas, on what life is like after selling their shops.

BodyShop Business Editor Jason Stahl, Consolidation Coach Owner Laura Gay and Consolidation Coach Business Development Specialists Chad Smith and Russell Winston talk about the "unqualified cowboys" in the consolidation world who are short on experience yet are out looking for shops that may want to sell — and how to sniff them out.

Consolidation Nation is sponsored by Consolidation Coach, a consulting firm that is strictly a sell-side advisor that coaches and guides body shops through the selling process from beginning to end.

BodyShop Business Editor Jason Stahl, Consolidation Coach Owner Laura Gay and Consolidation Coach Business Development Specialists Chad Smith and Russell Winston provide an update on the auto body consolidation market, reading the current temperature in 2026 and the appetite for private equity to invest, buyers to buy and sellers to sell.

BodyShop Business Editor Jason Stahl and Consolidation Coach Owner Laura Gay chat with Traweek Dickson Sr., co-founder and former CEO of Joe Hudson's Collision Center, on his journey from a cotton farm to head of one of the largest national collision organizations in the country.