Auto Repair Shop Feasibility Study in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metro Area

What SBA's own loan files show about automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) lending in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metro Area, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.

Miami against the national picture

Between FY2017 to FY2026, borrowers starting or acquiring car and truck repair shops in Miami were given 176 loans with $80.7 million in gross dollars. Compared with the nation, auto repair shops fill a smaller place of Miami lending, a location quotient of 0.57x. By rank, Miami is 14 of 660 among metro and micro areas, and automotive repair shops come eighth out of the 39 classes counted for Miami. Miami's median loan, $150,000, comes to 0.64x the class median nationwide. The middle half of borrowers drew amounts between $50,000 and $498,500.

Program mix and lenders for auto repair shops

Franchise-affiliated applicants make up 5.1% of auto repair loans here. Of the 176 approvals, 155 are 7(a) loans and 21 are 504 loans, so most of the repair projects here took the 7(a) route rather than 504. On the 504 side, in plain terms, Florida Business Development Corporation tops the list among car and truck repair shops in Miami with 10 loans and $6.6 million. TD Bank, National Association holds the most 7(a) loans, 63 of them; Newtek Bank, National Association comes next at 16, and Live Oak Banking Company is third at 9. Treat the lender names as a file from SBA of who stays the loan at present: they say where the paper lies, not what is required of an applicant in Miami.

The county and annual pattern around Miami

69 loans sit in Miami-Dade County, FL, 63 in Broward County, FL and 44 in Palm Beach County, FL. The yearly record peaks in FY2025 at 32 loans and $25.3 million, and bottoms out in FY2020 at 10 loans and $4.2 million.

What the loss and cancellation floors permit a reader to say

Miami is best read as a county-based number: SBA's project county, as a matter of record, matched by name to July 2023 areas, decides inclusion for car and truck repair shops. Inside disbursed loans of FY2017 to FY2021 (70 in Miami), 17.1% have been charged off so far, a lower bound, with no five-year rate printed. Truck repair shares the car repair code, and shops for bodywork, paint, glass, interiors and oil changes sit outside the Miami class. Looking at cancellations, Miami automotive repair shops record 13.6% for loans of FY2017 to FY2024, a minimum, and no upper figure is printed.

Testing a auto repair shops project in Miami

Any feasibility work on car and truck repair shops in Miami begins with demand: routine against larger repairs, and shop bay count and fill. The 176 approvals file funding of the class in Miami; they do not print a given site clears the same bar. Next, Miami auto repair shops need a coverage ratio that holds during a sluggish opening, as a matter of record, because the cancellation and charge-off floors reveal that not all approved loan performs. The decision to lend belongs to institutions, not studies; a study for auto repair shops in Miami provides the work a lender can weigh against this record. The budget covers building and bay buildout as well as lifts and diagnostic tools, and the auto repair total should be read against the central half of Miami loans, $50,000 to $498,500. Value questions for auto repair shops in Miami include soil and tank history and earnings tied to a few technicians.

SBA automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) loans in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026176
Gross dollars approved$80.7 million
Median loan$150,000
Middle half of loans, from$50,000
Middle half of loans, to$498,500
SBA 7(a) loans155
SBA 504 loans21
Franchise share of loans5.1%
Rank among metro and micro areas for automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) loans14 of 660
Rank of automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) among the classes in this area8 of 39
Location quotient (share of loans against the national share)0.57x
Median loan against the national median for the class0.64x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)13.6%
The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling)withheld
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor)17.1%
Charged off within five years of approvalwithheld
Loans in that cohort70

Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.

SBA automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) loans approved in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metro Area, by fiscal year

010203040FY2017FY2018FY2019FY2020FY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025FY2026Loans, FY2017: 15Loans, FY2018: 17Loans, FY2019: 17Loans, FY2020: 10Loans, FY2021: 18Loans, FY2022: 14Loans, FY2023: 17Loans, FY2024: 24Loans, FY2025: 32Loans, FY2026: 12
Fiscal yearLoansDollars
FY201715$4.0 million
FY201817$7.6 million
FY201917$2.9 million
FY202010$4.2 million
FY202118$8.4 million
FY202214$3.6 million
FY202317$6.2 million
FY202424$8.9 million
FY202532$25.3 million
FY202612$9.5 million

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 504: lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
LenderLoansDollars
Florida Business Development Corporation10$6.6 million
SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
LenderLoansDollars
TD Bank, National Association63$5.1 million
Newtek Bank, National Association16$3.2 million
Live Oak Banking Company9$13.5 million
Seacoast National Bank6$3.2 million

Lenders with 5 or more loans here; a lender with fewer is not listed, and loans SBA or a receiver holds are counted but never listed as a lender.

Where the loans are, by county

CountyLoans
Miami-Dade County, FL69
Broward County, FL63
Palm Beach County, FL44

Counties with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are not listed.

Metro is the CBSA (metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area) of the loan's project county, July 2023 delineation (OMB Bulletin 23-01). The county is matched by name (manifests/ld2/county-cbsa-map.csv); a loan whose county cannot be placed in a 2023 CBSA is left out of every metro.

Truck service cannot be separated from car repair. Not in this class: body, paint and interior 811121, glass 811122, oil change 811191 and all other automotive repair 811198.

Shared code: Truck repair shops are indexed to 811111 with car repair.

A value marked withheld rests on fewer than 5 loans, or is withheld so that such a figure cannot be derived from other published figures.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; areas from the U.S. Census Bureau CBSA delineation, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01); Loan Analytics metro cell MA-33100-C28.

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) project in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metro Area, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.

Request Scope & Timeline

Start with the data.

Contact Us