Worcester: second among its own classes

Worcester brings 39 of 660 in the area ranking for mechanical car and truck repair loans and 2 of 39 in Worcester’s class list. A 1.73x location quotient is the loudest signal in the cell: repair shops are the second most common SBA class in Worcester, far above their weight in the country. The files hold 61 loans for $26.2 million from FY2017 to FY2026, every one in Worcester County. Half of Worcester auto repair shop loans fall from $70,000 to $477,000, around a $150,000 median that is 0.64x of the national auto repair shop median. Many small credits, then, not a few large ones.

In Worcester, auto repair shop borrowers picked SBA 7(a) 41 times and SBA 504 20 times. That is a large 504 share for a service trade, and it points to shop buildings and lifts bought on long terms. Under 504 the names are Granite State Economic Development Corporation (8 loans, $5.5 million) and Worcester Business Development Corporation (6 loans, $4.9 million); UniBank for Savings tops the 7(a) side at 5 loans and $444,500. Treat Worcester lender counts as SBA’s note of holders, and no verdict on Granite State Economic Development Corporation is implied. Holdings, not standards.

On auto repair shop loans in Worcester, approvals made FY2017 to FY2024 were cancelled, 20.8% at minimum, so the real share could be higher. Looking at auto repair shop in Worcester, a charge-off percentage, a cancellation ceiling, plus the brand share goes unprinted as no rate fits so few loans; no zero is implied. Among printed Worcester years, FY2017 with 10 loans and $1.3 million; FY2018 with 8 loans and $1.7 million; FY2019 with 8 loans and $5.6 million; FY2022 with 6 loans and $2.8 million; FY2024 with 5 loans and $4.5 million; FY2025 with 7 loans and $5.4 million; FY2026 with 6 loans and $1.5 million.

Questions a Worcester shop study must answer

This class covers mechanical repair in Worcester only; truck shops are indexed with car repair, and collision work lies outside. Which auto repair shop loans fall in Worcester is set by project county name match measured on the July 2023 map. No match, no inclusion. The study should price the building against the 504 pattern, test bay capacity and technician supply, and ask whether the ratio of the loan to shop revenue leaves room for debt service. These figures are background to an auto repair shop plan in Worcester, and no outcome is promised.

SBA automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) loans in the Worcester, MA Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	61
Gross dollars approved	$26.2 million
Median loan	$150,000
Middle half of loans, from	$70,000
Middle half of loans, to	$477,000
SBA 7(a) loans	41
SBA 504 loans	20
Franchise share of loans	withheld
Rank among metro and micro areas for automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) loans	39 of 660
Rank of automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) among the classes in this area	2 of 39
Location quotient (share of loans against the national share)	1.73x
Median loan against the national median for the class	0.64x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)	20.8%
The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling)	withheld
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor)	withheld

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 Worcester, MA Metro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	10	$1.3 million
FY2018	8	$1.7 million
FY2019	8	$5.6 million
FY2020	withheld	withheld
FY2021	withheld	withheld
FY2022	6	$2.8 million
FY2023	withheld	withheld
FY2024	5	$4.5 million
FY2025	7	$5.4 million
FY2026	6	$1.5 million

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 504: lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
Granite State Economic Development Corporation	8	$5.5 million
Worcester Business Development Corporation	6	$4.9 million

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
UniBank for Savings	5	$444,500

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

County	Loans
Worcester County, MA	61

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-49340-C28.

Related feasibility study pages

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) project in the Worcester, MA 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.

Daniel Smith, MAI

Auto Repair Shop Feasibility Study in the Worcester, MA Metro Area