Automotive
CARSTAR Franchise
An automobile collision repair (body shop) franchise offered primarily as a conversion of an existing independent shop, plus a smaller new-construction format. First offered as conversion franchises in August 1989 and expanded to new-facility franchising in October 1995; now a Driven Brands, Inc. portfolio brand alongside Maaco, Meineke, Take 5, and 1-800-Radiator, giving CARSTAR shops access to group buying power and national insurance-referral business the FDD credits with lower paint/materials costs. Franchised unit count grew every year in the FDD's three-year window.
Every franchisor has to file a document called an FDD before they can legally sell you a franchise. Buried in it are the two things a sales rep won't volunteer: what you'll actually spend to open, and whether existing locations are opening or closing. That's what's below, pulled straight from CARSTAR's own filing.
What it costs to open
From the filing's investment breakdown -- not a "starting at" number a sales rep quoted you.
Franchise fee
$10,000
Total to open
$23,500–$165,300
Ongoing royalty
5.5% of gross sales
What you'd actually spend, over time
The upfront cost is only part of it. Plug in what you expect a location to bring in, and see the real total once royalties over a few years are added on top.
Defaulted to a rough automotive industry average, not a figure from CARSTAR's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
$202,250 – $344,050
Startup investment
$23,500–$165,300
Royalty per year (5.5%)
$35,750
Total royalty, 5yr
$178,750
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. CARSTAR's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical automotive profit margin (~12%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general automotive industry benchmark, not a figure from CARSTAR's own filing -- this is a starting point to adjust, not a promise about what franchisees actually make.
At that profit, you'd break even in about
0.3–2.1 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: CARSTAR is opening more locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is CARSTAR actually growing?
Franchisors have to report, every year, how many locations opened, closed, or changed hands. Most franchise sites never show you this. Here it is:
Locations opened vs. closed, by year
GrowingFrom Item 20 of CARSTAR's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 419 | 446 | +27 |
| 2023 | 446 | 455 | +9 |
| 2024 | 455 | 471 | +16 |
Most recent year (2024): gained 16 franchised units, ending the year at 471 total.
What you're actually signing up for
The cost and growth numbers above are only part of the picture. These three FDD items are the ones a prospective franchisee tends to weigh most heavily once they're past the sticker price.
Training & ongoing support (Item 11)
Initial orientation training is held at the Charlotte, NC headquarters (travel/lodging at the franchisee's expense, no tuition charge); ongoing EDGE Integration onboards a shop into CARSTAR's insurance, procurement, and marketing programs within a set window after signing.
Territory protection (Item 12)
Not an exclusive territory -- CARSTAR states you may face competition from other franchisees, company-owned outlets, or other channels it controls. The Franchise Agreement grants only a 1-mile Protected Area around the Facility in which CARSTAR will not open another CARSTAR shop; there is no right to acquire additional franchises absent a separate Development Agreement.
Renewal & termination terms (Item 17)
A notably short 5-year term (with a 5-year renewal option and a $1,000 renewal processing fee) compared to most peers in this dataset. No arbitration or mediation requirement -- disputes go straight to litigation in Mecklenburg County, NC (or the Western District of North Carolina) under North Carolina law. Post-termination, franchisees owe a 2%-of-annual-Gross-Sales "warranty hold back" for up to 24 months, but non-compete is unusually light: only 1 year, barring you solely from joining a rival chain of more than 3 collision-repair locations -- CARSTAR explicitly permits reopening as an independent, unbranded shop at the same location immediately after termination.
How CARSTAR compares to other Automotive franchises
Across the 4 automotive franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $293,538–$558,925, with royalties averaging around 5.8% of gross sales (based on the 2 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty). That's still a small sample -- treat it as a rough starting point, not an industry-wide benchmark.
Keep going
- CARSTAR and Tint World are both automotive franchises; CARSTAR's total investment starts about $226,450 lower than Tint World's. Tint World Franchise
- CARSTAR and Midas are both automotive franchises; CARSTAR's total investment starts about $361,950 lower than Midas's. Midas Franchise
Where this came from: CARSTAR only files a Net Worth/Experience Exemption notice with California DFPI (dfpi id 369323) since 2021, so this entry is sourced from Minnesota's CARDS registry instead: MN File No. 10909, Clean FDD issued June 13, 2025, filed with MN 12/31/2025, effective 1/6/2026 -- text quality on this scanned/redlined copy runs about 84%, so every figure below was checked directly against the PDF. Item 5: $10,000 initial franchise fee plus a separate, non-refundable $10,000 EDGE Integration Fee due at signing (waived for an existing franchisee's additional unit). Item 6: the "Monthly Franchise Fee" (this entry's royalty) is two stacked components -- a Base Fee (greater of $1,000/month or 1.5% of Gross Sales) plus a Growth Fee (4% of Gross Sales), 5.5% combined at typical volumes -- plus a separate Insurance and Marketing Fund Fee (greater of $500/month or 1% of Gross Sales, rising to 1.5% for noncompliant shops). Item 7: two formats with separate totals -- a CONVERSION CARSTAR FACILITY (converting an existing collision-repair shop, CARSTAR's historically dominant format) totals $23,500-$165,300 and is used here; a ground-up NEW CARSTAR FACILITY totals $298,200-$804,300. Item 20 Table No. 1 confirmed. Item 19 discloses a financial performance representation (Gross Sales/KPI benchmarks tied to Driven Brands buying-power benefits for 397 of 471 shops); not reproduced here -- read Item 19 directly. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026-01-06. None of this is investment advice -- get the franchisor's current FDD and talk to a real attorney or accountant before you sign anything.
If you see a different unit count elsewhere: franchisors only have to refile their FDD annually, so the numbers here can run 6–18 months behind a franchisor's own real-time marketing claims -- which often aren't independently verified, and sometimes count signed-but-not-yet-open locations. A gap isn't necessarily an error on either side; it's two different snapshots in time from two different sources.