Vartan Jerian Jr. is the CEO and co-founder of VIVE Collision, an MSO quickly approaching the 50-store mark in the Northeast U.S. He visited The Collision Vision podcast, hosted by Cole Strandberg and driven by Autobody News, to talk about how his company is growing by embracing new technology and finding opportunity in challenges.
Early Beginnings
After graduating from high school, Jerian joined the U.S. Marines. Later, he was a reservist and started college. When he was called up for a deployment, he dropped out of school -- but the deployment did not happen after all, so he needed something to do until the next semester. He went to work for H&V Collision, his father’s auto body repair and towing business, writing estimates and then working on and painting vehicles.
H&V grew from a single store to seven across upstate New York. Jerian said the company was too small to catch the interest of private equity firms, so it joined a national MSO. Jerian later worked for the MSO for three years, growing its presence in New York to 30 locations, before he left to tend to a commercial real estate business his family also owned.
About six months later, he was approached about getting back into collision repair.
Private Equity in Collision Repair
Jerian, along with co-founders Scott Leffler and Phil Taub, were trying to raise the capital to build a new MSO, VIVE Collision, when they met New York-based Garnett Station Partners. “They took a leap of faith in our model and what we were,” Jerian said. “Before we closed on our first store, they became our lead investor and our sponsor.”
Two years later, VIVE had grown to 20-plus locations and was approached by a new private equity firm, Greenbriar Equity Group, based in Connecticut, which Jerian said had a deep understanding of the automotive aftermarket.
“One thing I've learned is don't ever say no to knowledge that you can bring into the business,” Jerian said. “You’ve got to leave your ego at the door and say, ‘I don't know everything.’ They've really helped us begin to build the next evolution of our new business here.”
Working with Greenbriar gives the leadership team at VIVE a “thought partner” off which to bounce ideas, since it has worked with other businesses within the industry and has seen what’s worked and what hasn’t.
It’s important to ensure a company’s vision aligns with that of a potential private equity partner. Jerian said for VIVE, that meant making sure Greenbriar was on board with paying well to attract top talent who will take the business to the next level.
VIVE was “built on acquisitions,” Jerian said, but it also grows through green- and brownfield locations.
“In some cases, doing those greenfields and brownfields is a lot easier to do, although the timeline is much longer,” he said. “We're going to continue to look at every opportunity, whether it's greenfield, brownfield or acquisition, in all the markets that we're in.”
VIVE also does not rebrand many of the shops it acquires.
“We like to honor the legacy businesses that that we've purchased,” Jerian said. “In some cases, those family members are still on with us, and the reputations and relationships that some of those businesses have built in those markets are important to us.”
Challenges are Opportunities
Strandberg pointed out the Northeast region, where VIVE Collision currently operates 46 locations in eight states, is historically short on consolidators.
Jerian said one of the biggest barriers to entry in a market can be legislative and regulatory issues. “You have to have some patience when dealing with some of the agencies and some of the states,” he said. VIVE has a team that handles things like securing permits.
“To me, the challenges were the opportunity…because nobody wants to go there and figure it out,” he said. “We're doing a great job of working with a lot of the leaders in those markets, whether it's relationships we have with insurers or with the OEMs, because at the end of the day, people need their cars fixed and they want them fixed properly.
“So, relying on our relationships, building a great reputation in those markets, and building a great business that's honest and transparent with everybody has been our secret sauce,” Jerian said. “Easy to say. Hard to do.”
DRPs vs. OEM Certifications
Some of VIVE’s locations do not have any DRPs.
“That’s not a dig,” Jerian said. “We have a lot of great relationships with many insurance carriers out there. And it creates a great customer experience. But, in a lot of cases, just the demand levels are so high that if we add too much to a facility with OEM certs, it creates an issue.”
Jerian said he thinks at some point, as vehicles continue to advance, VIVE Collision will have locations that will specialize in one or two OEMs. “Our business is proactively getting ready for that,” he said.
“I think it's a necessary condition for the business,” he said. “It's just knowing and understanding that part of the business, where it's going and how to best navigate that, based on the opportunities in the market.”
Addressing the Talent Shortage
Jerian said VIVE has an apprenticeship program in select locations, in which students from local tech schools are mentored by working technicians.
The company is also building “a more systematized approach,” Jerian said, with specialized teams for different steps in the repair process, allowing VIVE to bring on lesser-skilled technicians who can be elevated to the next level, rather than trying to hire enough higher-skilled A-level technicians.
VIVE’s leadership also aims to build a great business culture, which Jerian said he considers the most important aspect.
The Future of Collision Repair
In the next five to 10 years, Jerian said, continued training to safely and properly repair vehicles will become increasingly important.
“EVs is the big thing we all talk about. But the danger of fixing those cars is there. Making sure our team is safe and secure is of the utmost importance,” Jerian said. “And then, how do we repair these vehicles properly?
“Training is huge,” he said. “We do a lot with the OEMs and I-CAR. We are also building out a lot of our own internal training programs, whether it's welding or what have you.”
VIVE Collision is looking at how it can leverage AI to create a better customer experience without diluting valuable human interaction. It is also embracing pre- and post-repair scans and in-house ADAS diagnostics and calibrations, as “a large amount of our facilities are on OEM programs, [and] we want to ensure we're doing what's right for the vehicle and for, more importantly, our customers and our team,” Jerian said.
He also thinks as production joining methods evolve, collision repair shops will see less welding and more gluing, riveting and bonding, which can be easier to teach than welding.
“I think those things will help our business and create a somewhat more process-oriented environment for us, to be able to advance our businesses to the point where we can help improve some of that [labor scarcity] that we're seeing out there now,” he said.
Key Takeaways
Keep it simple, stupid. Focus on values. The most important part of a business is its team.
Continuously improve your process. “Make that part of your business where people aren't scared to raise their hand and ask a question or say, ‘Hey, why are we doing this this way? This doesn't make sense,’” Jerian said.
Bring passion to your business every day. “You must, must, must, must love what you do every day. If you don't do it, why do it? If you don't have the passion to do it, go find something that you are passionate about,” he said.
“Because I love doing this. I love the people in our business and really and truly love what we're building here.”
Abby Andrews