Mavis, Midas and Pep Boys are on a tear across the country as the average car is a historic 13 years old and more complex than ever. The brothers behind suburban New York tire retailer Mavis spent decades gobbling up smaller rivals culminating in their biggest deal, the acquisition of the best-known name in repairs: Midas. Now, the biggest auto-repair chain in the country, with some 4,400 stores spanning nearly every state, Mavis is capitalizing on a booming market.
There are other folks out there that understand the business but they are challenged by scale, said Stephen Sorbaro, who took over the company with his brother David from their parents in 1985. A growing crowd of competitors are racing to meet the demands of the nation’s aging fleet of personal vehicles. New-car sticker shock and modern cars with longer lifespans—in addition to tightening household budgets and high interest rates—are leading Americans to hold on to their rides.
The average vehicle on U.S. roads is about 13 years old, a historic high and a 10% jump from a decade ago. Chains that once offered basic oil changes and tire rotations are expanding into complex engine and electrical work. Traditional car dealerships—squeezed by slowing new- and used-vehicle sales—are aggressively chasing repair work to win back drivers and capture high-margin revenue.
The Sorbaros’ believe the operational playbook they have been honing since college gives them an upper hand. We went from kids being total failures to a roaring success, David Sorbaro said. Their company started in the 1940s as a stand in a Mount Vernon, N.
Y., toy store where their mother worked. It now encompasses a mashup of disparate tire shops, oil change outfits and repair centers, including franchises and company-owned stores, that maintain their local identity but benefit from being part of a synchronized national network. Acquisitions within the last decade include Midas, Tuffy, and Tire Kingdom.
This summer, Mavis also paid $700 million to acquire auto-service chain Pep Boys, with nearly 800 locations, from Carl Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises. Mavis keeps local managers and technicians in place, and generally retains CEOs and management teams that come with the acquisitions. Behind the scenes, the company leverages its corporate heft.
Real-time supply-chain data tracks shop inventory and automates reordering. A centralized customer-service team fields customer calls and complaints, allowing shop workers to focus on fixing cars. An in-house real-estate team aggressively scouts and negotiates deals for prime locations.
One day we were just acquired, Scott Frankland, owner of a Bronx Midas franchise, said of the Mavis acquisition, completed last June. Frankland’s family has owned the shop since the 1970s; it became a Midas in the 1980s. I was surprised.
A year later, he says it’s working out. He runs his business as usual, a half dozen bays filled with cars on a recent day, and doesn’t hear from headquarters. Tires, however, are 10% to 15% cheaper now that he’s part of Mavis.
It’s a welcome savings, he said, especially as his customers grapple with rising gas prices and he sees more high-mileage cars. People used to turn in their cars every four years, he said. Not anymore.
Analysts estimate that some one million buyers have dropped out of the U.S. auto market with the cost of a new vehicle now hovering around $50,000. Nearly two‑thirds of vehicle owners are hanging on to their cars for at least five years, up from 54% in 2024, according to data from Cox Automotive. We see the ages of vehicles have gone up, said Midas President and operating chief Lenny Valentino Jr. That’s good for our business.
Midas, founded in 1956, had lacked capital to expand, Valentino said. We needed a parent company to take us to the next level with resources, he said. After Mavis acquired it, Midas is adding locations faster than any time in its history.
In part because vehicles are increasingly complex...
Source: Wall Street Journal US Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing