Auto Repair Shop Feasibility Study in Alaska

Alaska makes a good case for reading rank and share together. By number of loans the state sits 50 of 51 for car and truck mechanical repair, yet inside Alaska this class ranks 3 of 39, and the location quotient is 1.36x. SBA approved 28 loans between FY2017 and FY2026 worth $23.4 million, so repair shops are a weightier part of local small-business credit than the national figures would suggest. A median of $486,500 is 2.07x the class benchmark nationwide, and half of the loans sit from $192,750 to $1.0 million. The loan sizes are large for the class.

Borrowers, programs and places

Nineteen loans ran through 7(a), 9 through 504, and 10.7% carried a franchise flag. No lender table is shown for this cell, so this page does not rank holders. The counties are concentrated: ANCHORAGE has 12 loans, MATANUSKA SUSITNA 7, FAIRBANKS NORTH STAR 4, JUNEAU 3, and KENAI PENINSULA and SITKA 1 each. Few counties appear at all. A borrower outside those centers should expect to argue its case from fewer precedents.

Recent surge

Activity has risen lately. FY2025 recorded 8 loans worth $3.1 million, the most in any year, and FY2026 shows 4 loans and $6.7 million, the largest dollar total in the series. Earlier years were thinner, with 1 loan each in FY2019, FY2021 and FY2022. FY2017 produced 2 loans worth $3.3 million, and FY2018 produced 4 worth $4.7 million. Alaska shops carry neither a cancellation nor a charge-off percentage here, as Loan Analytics keeps any rate off the page when its cohort is under 30 loans; no reader should translate the gap into a rate of zero.

Definition and study design

What counts is mechanical work on cars and trucks, with truck service indistinguishable from car repair in SBA's codes. Collision and paint shops, glass installers, quick-lube bays and general other automotive services fall outside, so none of those would be benchmarked here. A feasibility study for an Alaska shop has to test the vehicle population in the trade area, seasonal swings, and competition from dealers who service their own brands. It should price the shop against a ticket well above the national median, test technician recruitment, and run debt service coverage through a slow winter. The appraisal needs comparable sales or income evidence, which can be scarce in a small market, so the study should build its own support.