The Six Companies That Quietly Own Almost Every Auto Service Chain in America

…This week, the “Mavis to Acquire Pep Boys” release hit my desk. Mavis has several thousand locations across the country and Pep Boys has about 800—so this is mildly interesting industry news in its own right. But it made me wonder—regardless of how many auto service chains we have in America, how many holding companies are actually in control of them? The answer is six—there are six monolithic companies running almost every chain car repair place in the country.

And I bet you can guess where the real power behind those parent companies comes from: yep, private equity. Mavis (BayPine/Goldman/TSG), Driven (Roark), Jiffy Lube (now Monomoy), Take 5 (Roark), Strickland Brothers (Princeton Equity Group)—the automotive service industry, just like the aftermarket, is being rolled up by PE firms that keep the familiar regional signage precisely because the local brand equity is the asset…

Source: The Drive