Monro buys Car-X franchise biz

By Bruce Davis, Tire Business staff

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (May 21, 2015) — Monro Muffler Brake Inc. has acquired the Car-X Tire & Auto retail auto service brand — comprising 146 franchised locations in 10 states — and will continue to operate the business as a franchise.

Rochester-based Monro did not disclose financial terms of the acquisition, which it completed in April. Car-X owner Tuffy Associates Corp. did not comment.

The 146 Car-X stores are owned and operated by 32 independent Car-X franchisees, Monro said. Of those, three — Gorrepati Enterprises Inc. in Cincinnati, BREX Inc. in St. Louis, and NONA Inc. in Champaign, Ill. — are ranked among the nation's top 100 tire and auto service retailers by Tire Business.

Monro said it will operate as the Car-X brand franchisor, with Car-X remaining a separate and independent brand and business. At last report, Car-X operated 13 franchisees as corporate entities.

Rochester-based Monro said it expects the Car-X business to be slightly accretive to earnings per share in fiscal 2016, which runs through the end of March 2016.

The first Car-X Muffler shop opened in Hammond, Ind., in 1971, according to Car-X's website. Toledo, Ohio-based Tuffy Associates acquired the Car-X business in 2002.

Monro and Tuffy have done business in the past. In 2012 Monro acquired 17 corporate-owned Tuffy Muffler and Car-X stores in Wisconsin and South Carolina.

The Car-X acquisition puts Monro into three new geographic markets — Iowa, Minnesota and Texas — and strengthens its position in existing markets in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin.