Do legacy shop owners—i.e., those who purchased their shops or had the businesses passed down to them from a family member—have an edge in building and running a successful shop? There may not be a clear-cut answer, but judging by findings from the 2018 FenderBender Industry Survey, there are a few intriguing trends. Such as: Legacy shop owners do tend to have higher annual sales volumes, and tend to have plans to expand their businesses, compared to shop operators who took ownership of a facility through means other than family ties.

However, that same group of legacy owners also tends to be less inclined to have a succession plan in place for their businesses. Here’s a closer examination of 2018 survey statistics along those lines.