Auto Repair Shop Feasibility Study in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro Area

Nashville repair shops: all 7(a), all around the ring

Auto repair around Nashville is a 7(a) business: the 7(a) program took all 42 loans and the 504 program none, a count of 0. Across FY2017 to FY2026 those loans total $24.1 million. The class ranks 8 of 39 locally, the metro is 48 of 660 for automotive mechanical repair, and with a location quotient of 0.85x the class sits slightly below its national weight. The median of $290,000 is 1.23x the national median, and franchises account for 16.7% of loans.

Dollars, the lead bank and the ring of counties

The central half of loans is bracketed by $50,475 to $752,750, a very wide range with a low floor. U.S. Bank, National Association is the one lender named, holding 11 7(a) loans worth $4.6 million, and that line is SBA's holder record. The counties share the volume: Rutherford County has 10, Sumner County and Williamson County 7 each, Davidson County 6 and Wilson County 5. The loans are spread around the ring and not concentrated in the county that gives the metro its name.

Nashville prints an empty year: FY2020 shows 0 loans and $0. Other years: 6 loans in FY2021 ($5.1 million), 8 in FY2024 ($7.9 million), 8 in FY2025 ($2.9 million) and 8 in FY2026 ($3.4 million). FY2017 to FY2019, FY2022 and FY2023 are withheld, which is different from empty. Cancellation and charge-off rates are also withheld. The code takes in truck repair shops as well as car repair, so heavy-vehicle shops may be among the rows. Counties on the 2023 list decide membership.

The franchise share of 16.7% also deserves a note: it means a minority of the shops are part of a branded system, and the majority are independents whose results rest on the owner and the technicians. A study for an independent has no system data to borrow, so it should lean on local evidence, such as the number of competing shops near the site, vehicle counts in the trade area and the labor market for technicians. The wide middle band also tells a lender that no single loan size is typical.

What a Nashville shop plan must demonstrate

A study for a repair shop should show the service mix, the number of bays and technicians, labor rate and parts margin, and the competing shops within reach. It should test building, lift and diagnostic equipment cost against a median near $290,000, and say whether the project buys property or leases. With no 504 loans in the record, the typical borrower here is financing operations, equipment or a modest building rather than a large real estate project. Cash flow must cover debt service through slow months. Lenders will set the plan beside an appraisal. None of this promises approval.