Meta & Google Ads benchmarks for Auto Body Shops (2026): CPL, CPM, CTR, ROAS
Automotive repair leads cost $29.96 on Google Search at $4.35 a click, converting at 15.51% — the highest conversion rate LocaliQ publishes. With the average 2024 collision claim at $5,489, break-even on a 40% margin is 2.5× while the modelled return is roughly 36×. No category here has more headroom.
Written by Seva Kogan, Founder · Updated September 14, 2026
What Auto Body Shops actually pay
| Metric | Typical range | What "good" looks like | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per lead | $29.96 on Google Search · $27.66 all-industry average on Meta | Under $30 on search. This is among the cheapest cost per lead of any local category. | LocaliQ / WordStream, 2026LocaliQ's automotive repair, service & parts category. It covers mechanical repair as well as collision, so a body-shop-only figure would likely sit above it. |
| Cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) | About $6.48 on Meta | $5–$9 — the cheapest reach of the ten industries here. | LocaliQ / WordStream, 2025LocaliQ's automotive repair, service & parts category. It covers mechanical repair as well as collision, so a body-shop-only figure would likely sit above it.Derived: $0.81 traffic CPC × 0.80% traffic CTR × 1,000. LocaliQ publishes no CPM column. This figure is derived from its traffic-campaign CPC and CTR for the category, because CPM is exactly CPC × CTR × 1,000. |
| Click-through rate | 0.80% on Meta traffic campaigns · 5.56% on Google Search | Above 5.5% on search. Meta's 0.80% is the lowest traffic click-through rate LocaliQ publishes — collision repair is not something people browse. | LocaliQ / WordStream, 2025LocaliQ's automotive repair, service & parts category. It covers mechanical repair as well as collision, so a body-shop-only figure would likely sit above it. |
| Cost per click | $0.81 on Meta traffic campaigns · $4.35 on Google Search | Search under $4.50, well under the $5.42 all-industry average. Meta clicks here are among the cheapest anywhere. | LocaliQ / WordStream, 2026LocaliQ's automotive repair, service & parts category. It covers mechanical repair as well as collision, so a body-shop-only figure would likely sit above it. |
| Landing-page / form conversion rate | 15.51% on Google Search | Above 15%. This is the second-highest conversion rate in LocaliQ's entire search dataset — someone searching after a collision is not comparison shopping for fun. | LocaliQ / WordStream, 2026LocaliQ's automotive repair, service & parts category. It covers mechanical repair as well as collision, so a body-shop-only figure would likely sit above it. |
Break-even ROAS for Auto Body Shops
2.5× is 1 ÷ a 40% gross margin. The striking figure is the gap: a $29.96 lead against a break-even ceiling near $439 means a body shop can afford to pay fourteen times the going rate for a lead and still not lose money. If your account is underwater at these costs, the problem is capacity or estimate conversion, not media.
The assumptions behind those two numbers
| Input | Assumed value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Average ticket | $5,489 per repair order | Assumption, anchored on the average 2024 collision claim reported from ISO paid-claim data. A claim is what an insurer paid, not what a shop invoiced — the mix of total losses and deductibles means a shop's own average repair order will differ. |
| Gross margin | 40% | Assumption. Parts, paint and labour dominate the ticket. DRP work carries lower effective margin than direct customer-pay work, so a shop heavy on insurer programmes should use less. |
| Repeat rate | 1 repair per customer | Assumption. Collisions are not a repeat purchase on any useful horizon — which is why referral and review flow matters more here than retention programmes. |
| Close rate | 20% of leads become repair orders | Assumption. Note it is deliberately NOT LocaliQ's 15.51% conversion rate, which measures click-to-lead and is already priced into the $29.96. This is the separate lead-to-job step, where estimate-to-approval and insurer steering do the damage. |
Worked example
- Assumptions: a $5,489 repair order, a 40% gross margin, one repair per customer, and 20% of leads becoming repair orders.
- Break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ 0.40 = 2.5×.
- One lead is worth 0.20 × $5,489 = $1,098 of revenue.
- Against the $29.96 search lead that is 36.6× — by a wide margin the highest modelled return of the ten industries on this site.
- Break-even cost per lead is $1,098 × 0.40 = $439. The published $29.96 benchmark uses less than 7% of that headroom.
- Even at a 5% close rate rather than 20%, break-even cost per lead is still $110 — nearly four times what a lead actually costs. Auto body's constraint is bay capacity and estimate conversion, not the price of traffic.
What moves these numbers
- Estimate-to-approval rate. The customer who gets a quote and takes it to their insurer is the real leak, and it happens after the lead is paid for.
- Insurer steering. A driver directed to a DRP shop by their carrier never reaches your ad, which caps how much volume media can actually add.
- Bay capacity. At a $439 break-even ceiling against a $29.96 lead, most shops hit a scheduling limit long before a media limit.
- Search versus social. A 15.51% search conversion rate against a 0.80% Meta traffic click-through rate says collision demand is captured, not created — Meta's role is brand and reviews, not direct response.
- Claim mix. The average collision claim was $5,489 in 2024 but comprehensive claims averaged $2,306, and a shop weighted to glass and hail work has roughly half the ticket this page assumes.
Frequently asked
How much does an auto body shop lead cost in 2026?
$29.96 on Google Search for LocaliQ's automotive repair, service and parts category, at $4.35 per click. That is among the cheapest cost per lead of any local industry, and well below the $66.69 all-industry search average.
What is a good ROAS for an auto body shop?
Break-even on a 40% gross margin is 1 ÷ 0.40 = 2.5×. On a $5,489 repair order and a 20% lead-to-job rate, a $29.96 lead models at about 36.6×. Target 5× and treat anything near break-even as a sign of an estimate-conversion problem rather than a media one.
What is the break-even cost per lead for an auto body shop?
About $439, at a 20% close on a $5,489 repair order with a 40% margin. Even at a 5% close rate it is $110. Against a $29.96 published benchmark, this is the widest headroom of any industry on this site.
Why is the auto repair conversion rate so high?
15.51% is the second-highest rate in LocaliQ's search dataset. Someone searching for collision repair has a damaged vehicle and a deadline, so there is no consideration phase. That intent is also why Meta's 0.80% traffic click-through rate here is the lowest LocaliQ publishes.
Do Facebook ads work for an auto body shop?
Clicks are cheap at $0.81 and reach is cheap at roughly $6.48 per 1,000 impressions, but the 0.80% click-through rate shows nobody is browsing for collision repair. Use Meta for brand presence and review amplification, and put direct-response budget into search where the $29.96 lead lives.
What is the average auto body repair worth?
The average collision claim was $5,489 in 2024, against $2,306 for comprehensive and $6,770 for property damage liability. Those are insurer-paid amounts rather than shop invoices, so use your own average repair order — but the order of magnitude is what makes $30 leads so attractive.
Sources
- LocaliQ / WordStream — Facebook Advertising Benchmarks (2025). All-industry lead-gen average $27.66 CPL, up 20% from $22.87 in 2024. (2025-10-24)
- LocaliQ / WordStream — Search Advertising Benchmarks for Every Industry (2026). All-industry average $5.42 CPC, 6.64% CTR, 8.18% conversion rate, $66.69 CPL. (2026-06-01)
- Insurance Information Institute — Facts + Statistics: Auto Insurance, on ISO (Verisk) paid-claim data. Average 2024 collision claim $5,489; comprehensive $2,306; property damage liability $6,770. (2026-09-01)
Keep reading
How Karbon Agency runs paid acquisition for auto body shops.
Budget tiers and the acquisition ceiling — a stricter bar than break-even.
Break-even ROAS: 3.3×.
Who else works in this category, and how they compare.
The same metrics across every industry:
Where do your numbers land?
Swap your own ticket, margin and close rate into the model above and we will tell you whether your ad spend is actually profitable — free, and without a pitch deck.