How do I review a body shop’s average repair cycle time before I buy?

Cycle time is the days from drop-off to pickup, and it shapes how many cars a shop can finish. Ask the seller for a spread of completed jobs with dates at each step: estimate approved, parts ordered and received, repairs, paint and delivery. Do not rely on a single average; look at the range and at the slowest jobs. A quick average can hide a handful of very long ones. Then find out why jobs wait. Is it parts, insurer approvals, paint booth space, a short-staffed bay or a bottleneck at the estimator? Ask the staff, since they know. Check whether cycle time differs by type of work or by who is paying, and whether it gets worse in busy seasons.

Consider what could improve under new ownership, and what is simply how the market works. A shop with steady cycle times and a good record on comebacks is easier to run than one that depends on heroic effort. Ask whether the shop tracks this itself, and how the owner uses it to plan. If no records exist, treat that as information about how the shop is managed, and ask to sample jobs by hand.

Key takeaways

• Request dates for each step of a spread of completed jobs, not just an average.
• Split delays by cause such as parts, approvals, paint capacity or staffing.
• Ask staff what slows work down and whether the shop tracks cycle time at all.