Crash Champions CEO Says Letting Go — Not Control — Fueled Growth to 650 Shops

When Mark Ebert set out with a single auto body shop, his ambition was modest: run one store and reliably cash a paycheck. Now the chief executive of Crash Champions oversees 650 locations and says his most important business move wasn’t a financing deal or a marketing campaign but learning to hand responsibility to others.

Ebert traces that lesson back to his 20s, when he ran a pair of Subway franchises. Neither outlet turned a profit, and the experience convinced him that growth without a profitable foundation is pointless. “Adding units won’t fix an unprofitable model,” he told staff in recent interviews, noting that a replicable, money-making operation must come before expansion.

He ran a single repair center with a partner for years before buying the other owner out in 2014. A private equity infusion in 2019 accelerated the rollout; the company closed that year with about a baker’s dozen of locations. The capital matter eased the financial burden, Ebert said, but choosing an investor meant frank talks about strategy and a shared five-year target.

Scaling forced changes in how the business was run. Ebert said he had to accept results that measured close to what he would have achieved personally — roughly 19 of 20 of the things he might tackle himself — and empower managers to make calls. He used to fret over minor maintenance issues; now he focuses on systems that let local teams resolve them. An industry consultant who has worked with growing service chains said that trade-off is familiar: “Organizations that demand absolute perfection by a single leader rarely grow beyond a handful of sites,” the consultant said. “Trust becomes a practical requirement, not a soft value.”

For customers in towns where Crash Champions operates, the shift means more consistency across shops and more managers empowered to solve problems without waiting on corporate sign-off. Ebert’s aim has evolved with the company: from securing one steady income stream to positioning his chain to be the nation’s largest auto collision repair network. He acknowledged he never pictured building an enterprise this big until recently, and added that opening new locations now depends on delegating authority rather than dwelling on small, fixable details.