G&C Auto Body, based in Santa Rosa, CA, was founded in 1972 by my dad, Gene Crozat.
Since my brothers, Shawn and Josh, and I took over the business, we have been focused on growth. As of January 2025, G&C Auto Body has 44 locations in Northern and Central California, with plans to be at 55 by the end of the year. We’ve already opened a new shop in Elk Grove in January, and have shops on track to open in Concord in February, Fremont in March, two more in April, and three more after that.
Our family-owned business is the largest privately-owned MSO in the U.S. We are not interested in private equity partners, because that means we’d be working for somebody else, to achieve their goals, which may not align with ours.
Spending our own money also means we’re risking every dollar, which makes us more diligent when making decisions.
Operating in California makes greenfield locations very costly, in terms of both time and money, so G&C Auto Body focuses on brownfields and acquiring existing single-store shops to pursue growth.
Finding the Right Shop to Acquire
When looking for an acquisition, many in this industry are looking for a turnkey body shop that already has a revenue stream and a tenured staff. You're going to pay a much larger sum of money to buy someone's well-oiled machine.
That isn't our play. We know we run a good business. We have great purchasing power and economies of scale, and we are really good at recruiting and hiring skilled staff. G&C Auto Body also has very strong relationships with insurance carriers. We know that we can bring those DRPs into any shop we open, and perform for them to bring in business.
Since we know we can bring in the staff and the work, G&C Auto Body looks mainly at the building when considering an acquisition. It needs to be a certain size with a decent yard, in a good area -- which we determine by looking at the market demographics, as well as where competitors’ shops are located.
When we first started growing beyond the three shops, it was daunting to move into new markets beyond Santa Rosa, some of which were already heavily consolidated by the big national MSOs. But now we have shops in cities like San Francisco and Sacramento, and all the way down into Central California. We now see these competitors as someone we can compete with, not someone we're afraid of.
Choosing the Right Brownfield Locations
The most important factor in buying a brownfield location is the rent. Some business owners are comfortable with a higher rent factor, but we are disciplined in keeping ours at 5% of sales. We won’t take anything too far away from that number.
There are different methods to achieve that number. You could just be renting, or you could be purchasing a building and remodeling, then selling it, with your shop as the anchor tenant -- which means you get to decide the terms.
By doing that, we've been able to keep our cap rate very low, for the industry. It's nice having that bargaining power -- we're selling the building, but we're also the tenants, and we get to work out the terms with someone who just wants to hold the real estate.
The brownfields we’ve bought are a mixed bag -- our most recent opening, in Elk Grove, was a Schwan’s distribution center. Half the building was a giant refrigerator that we had to rip out.
A good commercial real estate agent is key. Build a relationship with an agent who has feelers out everywhere and is able to bring opportunities to you as soon as they hit the market.
That means your agent also needs to understand your business, to know what kind of property you’re looking for, and they need to understand zoning, use permits and even what utilities a body shop needs.
You also need a good construction team to get a brownfield remodeled for your use. We own a construction company that employs a general contractor and a superintendent, so we don’t need to rely on a sublet general contractor to ensure our projects are always top priority. With that we also have an architect and engineer we've always worked with. With a team in place, you can learn from your mistakes and get better for the next project.
Shawn is our CEO. This is his baby -- finding the acquisitions, the brownfields, working with the construction team to build up the shops. Creating a new shop is one of his favorite things to do.
G&C Auto Body has long-term annual revenue goals, but there is no “end game” for an ultimate number of locations.
G&C Auto Body, headquartered in Santa Rosa, CA, is a large regional MSO privately owned and operated by three brothers – Shawn is CEO, Josh is process improvement officer, and Pat is COO.
