CARSTAR North America Sets Sights On Strategic Growth, Operating Efficiencies To Drive Sales For North America's Largest Collision Network

CARSTAR North America has shared performance highlights for the first quarter of 2017, along with its outlook for the remainder of the year.

After a record year of growth and operational performance in 2016, CARSTAR is continuing that positive trend through the first three months of 2017, posting a nearly 15 percent increase in sales for the first quarter versus 2016.

“We are seeing the impact of two years of hard work since the acquisition of CARSTAR by Driven Brands that is delivering performance benefits for our CARSTAR store owners across North America, as well as for the entire organization,” said Michael Macaluso, president of CARSTAR North America. “We have been able to fully integrate our operations, adopt best practices from each and leverage the resources and operational expertise of Driven Brands to create a platform for growth in the coming years.”

Key CARSTAR North America milestones in the first quarter include:

Record revenue across the North American network, which again made CARSTAR the largest MSO in North America
Continuous growth in same center sales for the past 51 months, including nearly nine percent for the first quarter of 2017
Celebrated the opening of the 500th store in the CARSTAR North America network, located near Cincinnati, in January, and added 20 additional locations in the first quarter
KPIs including length of rental and NPS scores
Completed integration of U.S. and Canadian operations
Launched cross-border insurance program and CARSTAR Care Center to accommodate insurance carriers and their customers across North America
Rolled out North American version of the CARSTAR Proprietary EDGE Performance Platform pioneered in the U.S.
Expansion of the CARSTAR insurance program with significant DRP growth across North America
Announced that it will hold the inaugural CARSTAR North American Conference Aug. 22-25 in Charlotte

“With the full integration of CARSTAR’s U.S. and Canadian operations, we have a premier, powerful network upon which to build, and look forward to achieving new levels of success in the year ahead,” added Macaluso.

CARSTAR Outlines Strategic Growth Plans for 2017

For the year ahead, CARSTAR and Driven Brands say they are focused on growing the CARSTAR network across the U.S. and Canada, delivering continued operational improvements and providing purchasing efficiencies. Key initiatives for 2017 include:

Driving unit growth across the U.S. and Canada through aggressive store development
Increasing organic growth at its current locations through the CARSTAR Proprietary EDGE Performance Platform, operating efficiencies and new fleet and insurance programs
Continuing to execute against performance-based agreements with the major insurance carriers and secure more of these relationships
Delivering a refreshed consumer brand that showcases CARSTAR as the premier provider of collision repair services
Leverage the Driven Brands synergies for efficiency and cost-savings

“We have been on a path of rapid growth and increased performance, and the partnership with Driven Brands continues to provide fuel to accelerate our growth,” added Macaluso. “Our store owners, our insurance partners and our vendor partners have embraced our North American model and are excited about the new benefits they bring. We look forward to a great year ahead.”