SBA 504 Auto Repair Shop Feasibility Study in New York

New York mechanical repair under 504 is essentially a one-lender cell. Empire State Certified Development Corporation holds 23 of the 28 loans and $14.4 million of the $17.2 million total, so a borrower in this class meets one company almost every time. That share is only a count of notes held and passes no judgment on the company. A median of $400,500 lands at 0.98x the national 504 mark for mechanical repair, nearly level, while half of loans sit between $234,750 and $717,750. New York is 17th on loans counted, and the class is eighth of 39 inside the state. Franchised loans are 7.1%.

Upstate and Long Island

The county list mixes regions. Erie and Suffolk each have 5 loans, Nassau 4, Monroe 3, and Rockland and Westchester 2, with Albany, Allegany, Kings and Montgomery 1 each. Western New York, Long Island and the Hudson valley therefore all appear, and no county dominates. Kings County appears with a single loan.

Timing

Approvals were 2, 2, 1 and 2 across FY2017 to FY2020, then none in FY2021. The count jumped to 6 loans and $3.3 million in FY2022, then 4, 5, 3 and 3. FY2026 carried the largest dollar total at $3.8 million. The class is steady rather than growing, and a year with none shows how thin a state-level record can be.

What the limits are

No cancellation or charge-off figure is printed for New York, whose cohorts are too small to carry one. Truck service cannot be separated from car repair. Collision, paint and interior work, glass, quick lube and other repair types are outside the class, so these loans finance mechanical shops only.

The New York shop study

Because the one company handles nearly everything, a study should be shaped to its customary file: the real estate, environmental condition of an older garage, the lease or purchase terms, and the owner's equity. It should size demand from registered vehicles around the site, weigh the shops nearby, price technicians and their certifications, and cost the lifts, scan tools and a building that meets code. Stress both loan pieces with a slow quarter, and have the appraiser price the building as a garage and as commercial space for someone else. Environmental findings on fuel, oil or solvent history belong near the front of the file, because they can stop a closing.