Auto Repair Shop Feasibility Study in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area

Fewer shops than the national share, with bigger loans

Atlanta's mechanical repair record pairs a light presence with heavy borrowing. The location quotient is 0.82x, so car and truck repair is a lighter presence in Atlanta lending than across the country, and the area is 12 of 660 for the class with the class standing 9 of 39 at home. Yet the median loan of $372,200 is 1.58x the class's national median. SBA approved 192 loans from FY2017 to FY2026, worth $117.9 million, and half of them fall between $150,000 and $767,925.

Counties, programs and franchising

Gwinnett County leads with 37 loans; DeKalb contributes 29, Cobb 23 and Fulton only 21, then Henry with 11, Cherokee and Forsyth with 9 each, Clayton and Paulding with 7 each and Coweta with 6. SBA 7(a) accounts for 172 loans and SBA 504 for 20, and franchised shops make up 14.6% of the total. Printed yearly counts run from 15 loans in FY2023 to 29 in FY2021; FY2020 and FY2024 are suppressed, each year resting on too little lending, and a suppressed year is not a zero.

Holders as SBA records them

Newtek Bank, National Association heads the list: 17 loans, $8.1 million. Wells Fargo Bank National Association follows at 16 loans and $2.7 million, Renasant Bank 10 worth $10.0 million, United Community Bank (SC) 6 worth $7.8 million and BayFirst National Bank 6 worth only $921,900. No development company appears. Holders are those SBA currently lists, and the table passes no judgment on any of them.

No loss rates, and a code that is shared

Neither loss measure appears for this cell, cancellation or charge-off; Loan Analytics withholds both because each cohort holds too few loans. They are unknown, not nil, and a lender wanting loss context has to look at other Georgia and national repair pages. The note on the page adds that the code covering car repair is also used for truck repair shops, so heavy-vehicle garages are part of these totals.

Testing an Atlanta repair shop

A study should settle whether the shop is a light-vehicle service center or a heavy-truck facility, since the two are very different businesses. It should estimate bays, technician hours and parts margin, test the median of $372,200 against real quotes for equipment and any building, and show debt service coverage if technician turnover cuts throughput. Environmental condition of the site matters for a repair shop and should be documented. The appraisal rests on both the building and the earning power of the business. A county missing from the July 2023 list of areas takes its loans out of the count.