Collision platforms · acquisition to performance

I sold my family's business to private equity. Then I ran the platform that bought it.

Twenty-one years in collision repair, from sweeping floors to COO. I ran every addback on my own family's sale, then spent three years running the platform that bought thirty‑two more locations — and I learned most of it the hard way. Now I work with operators who have a number that won't move: a platform mid‑integration, or a dealership body shop that's been quietly losing money for years.

Car Crafters — family business, 1982–2022 OpenRoad Collision — COO
Sean Guthrie
Sean GuthrieBoerne, Texas
5 → 37
Locations
$140M
Run rate at exit
32
Sites added, 10+ deals
7
ADAS centers built

The short version

I was born into a body shop. I chose to stay.

I started in 2005 sweeping floors. I've worked every job since — technician, parts, estimating, management. I've cleaned the shop, fixed the dents, painted the cars, delivered the result, and then got paid for it. Twenty-one years later I have run a single location doing $1.7M a month, a five-store family business we sold in 2022, and a thirty-seven location platform operating at a $140M run rate.

What that gives you is not a framework. It is someone who has sat in the chair you're sitting in, made the payroll, missed a target, cleaned up a bad ledger, and then had to explain the number to a board of private equity sponsors.

Most collision consultants are former MSO executives selling a playbook. Almost none of them have negotiated the sale of their own family business, defended the addbacks, and then had to live inside the numbers they promised for three years.


What I do

Three ways in.

Fixed scope, fixed fee, a number agreed before anything is signed — and a handoff at the end. I install the measurement and the process, get your team to the number, and leave.

01

Acquisition integration & WIP conversion

For platforms that have just bought something. The work in process is where every acquisition bleeds — I built and rebuilt this conversion process across thirty-two sites inside a PE-backed platform, and I can hand you the version that works.

$25k – $250kper deal · scoped to the size of the site
02

Cycle-time recovery

Thirty days to twenty at a dealership collision center, inside three months. Production flow, supplement capture, parts discipline and the weekly rhythm that keeps the number where you put it.

$45k – $100k8–12 weeks · 20% at risk on the metric
03

Finance function reset

For the gap between controllers, or between CFOs. A/P from 90+ days to under 30. A misstated receivables ledger recognized, collected and worked down. The reporting your board actually asks for.

$25k – $75kscoped by number of locations

Every engagement starts with a paid diagnostic at $18,500, credited against the install if you proceed. I would rather spend three weeks proving there is a number worth chasing than sell you a year of advice.

How it went

2005
Car Crafters
Sweeping floors. Then technician, parts, parts manager, estimator, production manager.
2015
Car Crafters — VP, Operations
Five stores, $35M average. One location doing $1.7M a month.
2022
Sold to private equity
Ran the Quality of Earnings and all addback positioning. Negotiated. Reinvested 30%.
2022
OpenRoad Collision — COO
Five locations to thirty-seven. $140M run rate. 600+ people, six regions.
2026
Dealership group consulting
Financial reporting rebuilt, receivables cleaned, A/P and WIP control installed.

Bought something, or got a number that won't move?

If the integration is still costing you money, or a number you own has been stuck for a year, that is a twenty-minute conversation worth having.

Get in touch