SBA 7(a) Auto Repair Shop Feasibility Study in Pennsylvania

Mechanical repair for cars and trucks sits 5 of 39 inside Pennsylvania's own classes, while the state is 6 on 7(a) volume. The program approved 378 loans for $111.0 million across FY2017 to FY2026. Tickets are small: the $120,000 median is 0.67x the national 7(a) mark, and the middle half runs from $40,000 to $350,000. Franchising reaches 7.7% of loans. The charge-off rate is the metric that distinguishes this cell.

Charge-offs and cancellations

The FY2017 to FY2021 cohort funded 132 loans; at least 9.8% have been charged off to date, and 6.1% within five years. Of approvals dated FY2017 to FY2024, 13.4% or more were cancelled, and 15.2% on the wider count. Because open loans can still fail, every one of these is a floor. For a borrower, they are a prompt to build a conservative case; for a lender, they argue for close attention to the operator's experience and cash reserve.

Lenders, counties and years

Pennsylvania holders start with The Huntington National Bank (56 loans, $9.6 million), then 45 loans and $3.2 million at Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company. TD Bank, National Association has 34 loans carrying $2.7 million, First Commonwealth Bank 21 carrying $5.0 million, and Northwest Bank 17 carrying $5.2 million. These are SBA records of loans a lender holds or held. Chester has 33 loans, Bucks 32, Philadelphia 29, Allegheny 27, and Delaware 24, with Berks and Montgomery at 23 each. Approvals rose to 57 loans and $28.1 million in FY2025 and 52 loans and $25.1 million in FY2026, after a low of 17 in FY2020.

Scope and the study to commission

Only mechanical work counts here, and the data fold truck repair into the car repair figures. A collision, paint, glass or quick-lube business lies outside the class, so a study for one of those should look to other pages. A Pennsylvania feasibility study has to count the cars and trucks, and how old they are, around the site, and size up independents and dealer service bays, and show technician recruitment and pay, since staffing bears on capacity. It should price equipment and any real estate against a ticket often near the median, and run the payment through a slow first year. An appraiser will want comparable sales for the property itself, apart from the shop's goodwill. For Pennsylvania borrowers the program's published terms sit with SBA.