Auto Repair Shop Feasibility Study in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX Metro Area

Mechanical repair across the Austin area

For FY2017 to FY2026, SBA's loan files hold 84 automotive mechanical repair approvals for this Texas metro, with $52.8 million in gross dollars. The area ranks 29 of 660 metro and micro areas for the class, while ranked against the other classes here it stands 7 of 39. The location quotient of 0.92x sits near the national share, so repair lending here looks much like the national mix. No metric on this page is marked as distinctive; the figures describe the record and do not claim it stands apart.

Size, programs and cancellations

The median loan reaches $350,000, which is 1.49x the class figure for the whole country, so shops financed here borrow more than the typical national case. Half of loans fall between $124,650 and $699,300. By program, 79 are 7(a) loans and 5 are 504 loans; franchise units make up 14.3%. Cancellations after approval, measured over FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, come to 15.7% as a floor, and a ceiling that also treats undisbursed loans as lost reads the identical 15.7%. The charge-off rate is withheld: Loan Analytics prints no rate when the FY2017 to FY2021 cohort holds fewer than 30 loans, and the blank is not zero.

Counties and current holders

Travis County, TX accounts for 41 loans, Williamson County, TX for 24 and Hays County, TX for 14. The core county carries the larger part of the record, with the suburban counties behind it. On the lender side, the entries reflect SBA's reporting on present and past holders, and they speak neither to origination nor to policy. PNC Bank, National Association holds 8 of the 7(a) loans at $2.7 million, Newtek Bank, National Association holds 8 at $1.2 million, and Northeast Bank (ME) holds 6 at $1.4 million. The names show who carries current balances in this class; they are no list of preferred lenders.

Reading the years

FY2017 shows 9 loans and $1.4 million, and FY2018 shows 11 loans and $8.1 million. FY2020 and FY2021 each show 6 loans, at $4.9 million and $4.6 million. FY2023 and FY2024 each show 7 loans, at $7.0 million and $3.3 million. FY2025 is the peak year, with 21 loans and $14.9 million, and FY2026, a complete fiscal year, follows with 12 loans and $6.9 million. FY2019 and FY2022 carry no printed figure, since too few loans stand behind them, and that is not the same as a year without lending.

Questions for a shop project

A shop project here should be tested on bay count and the technicians it can actually staff, the mix of work, parts margin, equipment cost and debt service coverage at a guarded volume. With loans running above the national median, a lender will look hard at whether the real estate backs the request, so the appraisal and the lease terms deserve early attention. Truck repair shops are filed under the car repair code and cannot be pulled apart, while collision, glazing, lube work and the remaining repair trades sit outside this class, so a mixed shop should be checked against the right class. Placement follows the project county by name, and a record from a county outside the 2023 delineation is left out.