The single question every seller asks first: what's my station worth? The honest answer is that it depends on what someone will pay for it. The slightly less honest but more actionable answer is: 2.5× to 5× of adjusted EBITDA, plus or minus the real estate. Where you land inside that band depends on five things.
1. Do you own the dirt?
Whether the real estate is included is the single biggest variable. A station business operating on a leased pad (you're a tenant) is worth a multiple on cash flow only. A station where you also own the lot — the land, the building, the canopy — is worth that multiple plus the value of the real estate, which often dominates the deal. A C-store on a half-acre at a busy intersection in a Sun Belt growth market is worth more than the whole operating business in many cases.
Some owners prefer to keep the real estate and lease it back to the buyer post-close. That can simplify the financial math and keep a recurring rent income for the seller. It also reduces the upfront price the buyer needs to finance.
2. Fuel volume per month
Buyers and brokers often quote stations as “a 100K-a-month station” or “a 60K” — meaning gallons per month. Volume buckets:
- Under 50K gal/mo — sub-scale. Margin can be decent in a non-competitive market but rebate programs are typically less generous and major brands may not be interested in renewing.
- 60K–100K gal/mo — typical “good community station.” Multiples cluster around 3×.
- 100K–150K gal/mo — strong volume station. Branded carriers court these. Multiples push toward 4×.
- 150K+ gal/mo — high-volume corner. Multiples of 4×–5× are defensible if the inside-store business is also strong and the lot is owned.
3. Branded vs unbranded
A branded station (Shell, BP, Chevron, etc.) is an asset that comes with both a marketing pull and a contractual yoke. The supplier guarantees fuel, sometimes provides equipment grants, and often runs loyalty programs that move volume. In exchange you have a fuel-supply contract that locks you to that brand for years, often with right-of-first-refusal or assignment- approval clauses on a sale. Branded stations typically sell at a slight premium on multiples but carry transfer friction — buyers must qualify with the supplier, which delays close.
Unbranded stations have full pricing flexibility (you can buy fuel from the cheapest jobber every week) but lose loyalty- program tailwinds. They're easier to sell to a wider pool of buyers and close faster.
4. Inside-store mix
Said another way: how much of the profit comes from the store, not the pumps? Stations where 40%+ of profit (not revenue) comes from inside-store activity (tobacco, beer/wine, lottery commissions, prepared food, fountain drinks) trade at higher multiples because the store profit is more durable. Fuel margin compresses with competition; a sandwich franchise inside a C-store is far stickier.
A station with a Subway, Dunkin', or Domino's inside is qualitatively different from a station with just coolers and a snack rack. The franchise component contributes steady margin and brings traffic that buys fuel on the way out.
5. Environmental clean-bill
A station with a current Phase I ESA showing no recognized environmental conditions, a clean state UST compliance record, modern double-walled fiberglass tanks installed in the last 15 years, and zero open notices of violation will trade at the top of its applicable multiple band. Any one of those bullets missing pulls the multiple down. An open NOV or a known UST release pulls it down a lot — buyers either escrow heavily against remediation cost or walk.
Putting it together
Take adjusted EBITDA — that is, EBITDA after adding back owner-discretionary expenses (above-market salary, personal vehicles run through the business, discretionary travel) and subtracting fair-market replacement labor for the owner's actual hours. Multiply by:
- ~3.0× baseline for an unbranded, leased location, sub-100K volume, modest store contribution.
- +0.5× for owned real estate (in lieu of tracking RE separately), or pull the RE out of the EBITDA multiple and value it separately at market cap rates.
- +0.5× for branded major with clean supply agreement and decent rebate program.
- +0.5× for 100K+ gallons, +1.0× for 150K+.
- +0.5× for a franchise inside (Subway, QSR brand, etc.) generating real margin.
- −0.5× to −1.5× for environmental issues, steel tanks past 25 years, open NOVs, or supply contracts with unfavorable assignment terms.
The number you actually defend
Sellers often pick a multiple, multiply EBITDA, and call that the asking price. Buyers always want to push back. The multiple isn't a number you set — it's a number that comes out of comparable transactions and the specific attributes above. If the station has clean books, real estate, good volume, a major brand, and clean environmental, you can defend 4× plus the RE. If you can only check two of those boxes, you're looking at 2.5–3× and a smaller buyer pool.
The discount for a station that doesn't check any boxes is steeper than most sellers expect. The premium for one that checks all of them is bigger than most buyers want to admit. Both are determined by who else is bidding.
When you're ready to take a swing at a price, list your station. Put in the number you can defend; we charge the same $50 whether the station sells the next day or three months later.