SBA 7(a) Auto Repair Shop Feasibility Study in West Virginia

Tiny loans, one lender, a mountain state

Auto repair in West Virginia is a micro-loan business. Thirty-three loans add to just $5.2 million, and the midpoint of $58,000 is 0.32x what 7(a) repair shops get at the national midpoint. The quartiles fall at $30,000 and $150,000. Repair shops are 5 of 39 among West Virginia classes, a prominent place, though the state ranks 45 by count. Franchised loans are 9.1%.

Who holds the paper

One lender fills the holder table: The Huntington National Bank, 12 loans, $502,000, an average ticket of only a few tens of thousands. SBA lists the current holder, not necessarily the originator. By county, Monongalia has 5 loans, Kanawha and Lewis 4 each, Jefferson 3, and Cabell and Hampshire 2. FY2017 had no approvals at all, shown as $0, and FY2019 reached 7 loans, the most in the table. The latest year so far is FY2026, with 3 loans and $1.5 million, a sign that a single larger ticket can change the dollar picture.

Where the coding gets in the way

SBA's coding folds truck work into car repair through a shared industry code, which puts a diesel garage and a small car shop in the same count; paint and body, glass and quick-lube businesses sit outside. SBA also leaves blank two numbers for this cell, the approvals that never funded and the loans charged off, since the cohorts fell below its minimum. Neither blank should be taken as a clean record.

What a West Virginia repair study has to prove

Small loans call for a short and exact study. It should say who the technicians are, what certifications they hold and what the shop earns per hour of labor, then tie each piece of equipment requested to a repair it enables. Local demand is a matter of vehicles per household, the age of the fleet and the distance to the next shop, which in hill country can be long. Show winter and road conditions that raise brake, suspension and tire work. If the borrower buys an existing shop, match the price to tax returns and the customer base. Test coverage with a month of slow work and with a technician leaving. If a building comes with the deal, its appraisal has to reflect a buyer from outside the trade.