Auto Repair Shop Feasibility Study in Maine

Where Maine auto repair stands apart: cancellations

The distinctive number on this page is the cancellation floor. Of the Maine auto repair approvals from FY2017 through FY2024, at least 22.7% never went ahead, and the ceiling is the same 22.7%, so no loans sat undisbursed to widen the range. That cancellation floor sets the cell apart from Maine lending generally and from repair shops nationally, and it is a floor, so the true figure cannot be lower. SBA approved 66 loans in this class from FY2017 to FY2026, worth $11.2 million, and the location quotient of 1.06x shows a share of Maine lending close to the national share. Repair shops rank 4 of 39 among Maine's classes while the state stands 35 of 51 on volume.

Very small loans, mostly 7(a)

The median loan is $92,500, which is only 0.39x the class median nationally, and the central band runs from $25,775 to $249,000. Those are small-shop numbers. The 7(a) programme supplied 52 loans and the 504 programme 14. Franchising is rare at 3.0%. TD Bank, National Association leads with 17 loans worth $746,700, and Newtek Bank, National Association and KeyBank National Association each hold 6. Granite State Economic Development Corporation, the leading certified development company here, holds 10 of the 504 loans totalling $3.5 million. Cumberland County has 18 loans and York 15, with Androscoggin at 8 and Oxford at 7.

Reading the limits of the code

Maine's class blends car work with truck work, and the two cannot be separated. Body shops, windshield specialists and lube-and-oil operators are counted in other classes, so a project in one of those trades belongs on a different page. No loss rate appears for Maine repair shops: under 30 funded loans stand behind it, and we report neither a number nor an absence of losses. Annual approvals ranged from 1 loan in FY2019 to 14 in FY2025, with 11 in FY2024.

What the study should test

With a cancellation floor of 22.7%, a Maine repair study should examine why: a lease that falls through, an equipment quote that moves, a buyer who cannot document earnings. It should test the vehicle count in the trade area, the mix of routine and heavy work, and the technician hiring plan. Cost belongs against a ticket near $92,500, and the coverage test should include a slow winter case. In a purchase, the appraisal will rest on historical earnings and the real estate, so the forecast ought to be tied to the seller's records and not to an optimistic ramp.