Driven Brands’ collision group on Oct. 18 celebrated the opening of CARSTAR Patriot Auto Body Little Rock in Little Rock, AR---its 1,000th collision repair facility in North America.
From entering the collision market in 2015 with the purchase of 240 CARSTAR locations in the U.S., Driven Collision has quadrupled its footprint across North America in just seven years. Driven Collision now services commercial and retail customers in all 48 states within the contiguous U.S. and all 10 Canadian provinces operating under CARSTAR, ABRA and Fix Auto.
Chase Marchese is the owner of CARSTAR Patriot Auto Body Little Rock. It is his third CARSTAR location; he also owns two in Hot Springs, AR.
Before entering the collision repair industry, Marchese served as a medic in the U.S. Army from 2006 to 2011, including deployments to Iraq.
He got his start in the business by managing several repair facilities for a friend, and in 2014, he became an owner of a collision repair facility. He joined the CARSTAR franchise family in 2019.
"I decided to give it a shot, to see what CARSTAR does for me," Marchese said. "I had just opened my second location. Now all my shops are running at maximum capacity. I opened my new store in Little Rock and was at maximum capacity within three weeks.
"CARSTAR has boosted my business," Marchese said. "I don’t believe there is any way to have gotten to where we’ve gotten without it."
Marchese said he aims to eventually open as many as 14 CARSTAR stores in Arkansas.
“I’m honored to be the 1,000th collision repair location in the Driven Brands family,” said Marchese. “As a businessman and entrepreneur, it is an exciting moment to be able to continue growing my business to reach new incredible communities in this area."
Marchese always remembered his service in the Army. He selects a veteran each quarter and repairs their vehicle free of charge.
"I’m proud to combine efforts with my paint vendor, BASF, and Driven Brands to help support a local Arkansas veterans’ charity as part of today’s celebration where we’re each donating $1,000 to Veterans Villages of America in honor of the 1,000th location,” Marchese said.
Marchese said he also hires veterans to work in his shops, as the military tends to instill two traits in its servicemembers important for working in collision repair: integrity and attention to detail.
Marchese is far from the only mini-MSO owner within CARSTAR, said Dean Fisher, collision president, Driven Brands.
"Probably 40%-plus of CARSTAR stores are part of an MSO," he said.
Sabrina Thring, collision COO, Driven Brands, said joining CARSTAR gives owners access to the model CARSTAR has built that supports MSO growth in any market.
"The sky's the limit," she said.
Brian Newberry, VP of development, Driven Brands, added a lot of independent owners, like Marchese, are choosing to join CARSTAR because it has "a lot of boxes on the business plan checked off."
"We’re a great fit for independents with a growth mindset," he said.
Fisher said Driven Brands now has 58 ABRA locations, 766 CARSTAR locations and 186 Fix Auto locations.
He said the number adds up to more than 1,000 because Marchese opened his store in early September, and the brands have continued to grow since then.
"We’re still growing as we’re speaking," Fisher said.
Abby Andrews