How to Verify an Auto Body Shop's License in Ohio
Short answer: Ohio requires a business doing collision repair to be registered with the Ohio Motor Vehicle Repair Board before it does the work. The duty is in Ohio Revised Code § 4775.02(A):
No person shall act as a motor vehicle collision repair operator or motor vehicle window tint operator unless the person is registered in accordance with this chapter.
Registration under chapter 4775 is mandatory rather than voluntary, and § 4775.02(B) makes acting without it an unfair and deceptive act in violation of § 1345.02 of the Revised Code. Collision shops are registered in their own sub-category, "Collision Repair Shop", which makes Ohio one of the few states where the register itself tells you a shop does body work. Sections read at codes.ohio.gov on 23 August 2026.
Who registers body shops in Ohio
The Ohio Motor Vehicle Repair Board issues shop registrations. Unlike most states, Ohio's record distinguishes what kind of repair the shop does: Collision Repair Shop is a distinct sub-category alongside mechanical, glass, tint and mobile registrations.
Ohio also separates registered shops from "Exempt" entries. Exempt rows are businesses excused from registration, typically dealers, and are not the same thing as a registered repair shop.
Where the official record lives
The board runs a public registration lookup, and it is the fastest way to check a single shop:
Registration Lookup: Ohio Board of Motor Vehicle Repair
Ohio licences are also searchable across all 24 state boards through eLicense Ohio, which is the system of record behind the board's own data.
For the bulk record: what we pull for every Ohio shop in this directory, Ohio publishes board licensure data through DataOhio in the statewide dataset "State of Ohio Licensure - Business", which carries the rows for all 24 licensing boards including the Motor Vehicle Repair Board.
The register's status words: and what they mean
Ohio's file carries five status values. We keep every one of them verbatim:
| Register's word | What it actually means |
|---|---|
| Licensed | The shop registration is current. |
| Inactive | The registration is no longer active. This is Ohio's word for a lapsed registration. |
| Closed | The board recorded the registration as closed. |
| In Review | An application or renewal is being processed by the board. |
| Submitted | An application has been filed but not yet processed. |
In Review and Submitted are the two worth understanding before you draw a conclusion: they usually mean paperwork in motion, not a problem.
What we hold for Ohio
As of our 2026-07-30 pull, re-verified against that file on 2026-08-04, the directory carries 2,374 Ohio Motor Vehicle Repair Board shop registrations: 1,263 Licensed, 846 Inactive, 201 Closed, 60 In Review and 4 Submitted. Of the full set, 1,495 are registered in the Collision Repair Shop sub-category.
Ohio's 846 Inactive plus 201 Closed registrations feed the 16,174 lapsed credentials counted as at 2026-07-26 across the nine licensing states in the State of Collision Repair 2026-Q3 report: counted separately, because "Inactive" and "Closed" are not the same claim, and neither is California's "delinquent" or New York's "Expired". That is a report figure carrying a report date, not a live counter. And it is not a national total: most states do not license body shops at all, so there is no register to count lapses in.
Ohio is the only one of the nine that publishes a status meaning "in progress", the 60 In Review and 4 Submitted. Those are neither current nor lapsed, and we do not count them as either. If a shop tells you their registration is being renewed, Ohio is the one state where the register can actually corroborate that.
If the shop you are looking at shows Inactive or Closed
- Check the board's Registration Lookup yourself, then ask the shop for its current registration number and the sub-category it was issued under.
- Distinguish the two words. "Inactive" commonly means a lapsed renewal. "Closed" is the board recording the end of that registration.
- Check the sub-category. A shop registered only for mechanical work advertising collision repair is a different question from a lapsed collision registration.
- Weigh it against the rest of the record: certifications, time at the address, and federal environmental and safety filings.
Verify a specific Ohio shop
Every Ohio shop page in this directory shows its board registration number, the register's own status word, its sub-category, and the date we last checked.
General consumer information: not legal, insurance, or financial advice. Requirements, coverage, and practices vary by state, policy, and manufacturer.