SBA loans for auto glass replacement shops

The approvals at a glance

Automotive glass replacement shops (NAICS 811122) install and repair windshields and other vehicle glass, from fixed shops and increasingly from mobile vans. From FY2024 through June 2026 they took 196 SBA 7(a) loans worth $64,852,900 from 69 lenders. The median loan matched the national median almost exactly, but the upper half stretched a long way: the middle half ran from $50,000 to $425,175, the top tenth began at $727,500, and 12 loans (6.1%) were $1 million or more.

Rates were a touch above the national median, with a fairly tight middle half, and the median term was 120 months: ten years, the usual maturity for working capital, goodwill and equipment. See current SBA loan rates.

A trade built on franchises and new shops

About a quarter of loans went to start-ups and a quarter to franchises, and that shapes how lenders approach the whole industry. A franchise system gives a lender a known operating model, supply arrangements and, often, access to referral programs, which makes a new shop easier to underwrite than an independent start-up with no history. SBA lends to franchisees of brands listed in its Franchise Directory; a lender will check the listing early.

For a start-up, whether franchised or not, the lender is underwriting a plan rather than a track record. Expect it to focus on:

• Equity. SBA requires an equity injection of at least 10% of total project costs for a start-up. On a project of 300, that is at least 30 from the owner, from savings or other sources the lender can trace.
• The owner's experience. Years installing glass, running a shop or managing technicians. The resume supports the management experience SBA asks about on Form 1919.
• The first year's cash flow. Franchise fees, royalties and marketing contributions are fixed costs that come before debt service. Lenders build them into the projection, along with a realistic ramp-up.
• Personal support. Every owner of 20% or more personally guarantees the loan, and a start-up owner's personal finances carry more weight than an established shop owner's.

Buying an existing franchised location is a different underwrite from opening one, because the lender can read real results. See financing a franchise resale.

Who pays the invoice

A glass shop's revenue looks simple, but lenders separate it by payer, because each pays differently and each carries a different risk. A shop that can show this split has answered the lender's main question about the quality of its revenue.

Insurance-paid work is steady demand, but it concentrates the shop's revenue in a few payers and in referral arrangements the shop does not control. A lender will ask what share of revenue comes through them and what happens if a program changes. See how customer concentration affects borrowing.

Where invoices to insurers and fleets are large enough, a line of credit secured by receivables can carry the gap between the job and the payment. Asset-based lenders typically advance 80% to 90% of eligible receivables, and receivables more than 90 days past invoice are typically ineligible. See how a borrowing base works.

Vans, calibration equipment and the shop

Many newer vehicles carry cameras and sensors behind the windshield that must be recalibrated after a replacement. That has made calibration equipment, and space to use it, part of the cost of staying in the trade. Mobile service adds vans. Each can be financed through SBA 7(a) with maturities up to 10 years (15 where the useful life supports it), or through equipment lenders who lend against the unit itself. See equipment financing vs SBA 7(a).

SBA 504 financed 16 projects in this industry in the period, at a median of $374,500, a sign that some shops own their premises or long-life equipment rather than renting. 504 finances owner-occupied real estate and long-life equipment, typically 50% from a bank, 40% from a certified development company and 10% from the borrower. A shop that buys its building must occupy at least 51% of it. See SBA 7(a) vs SBA 504.

Buying an established glass shop

Acquisitions were 19 loans (9.7%), close to the national 10.4%, at a median of $640,000 and a median rate of 10%. A buyer is paying for technicians, referral relationships, fleet accounts and a local name, and a lender will ask which of those transfer. Referral access and fleet contracts may be tied to the seller's entity or the seller personally, so confirm them before the letter of intent is signed. See change-of-control consents.

SBA's rules for a change of ownership apply in full. The equity injection is at least 10% of total project costs; a seller note can count for up to half of it only on full standby for the life of the SBA loan; SBA prohibits an earnout to the seller; and a business valuation is required where the amount financed, less appraised real estate and equipment, exceeds $250,000. The seller may stay on as a consultant for up to 12 months. Under SOP 50 10 8.1, from 1 October 2026, that becomes up to 24 months, and the deal must show debt service coverage of 1.25x on historical results, with financial due diligence on every change of ownership.

Lenders need the target's latest full year of figures, never an older year, and the letter of intent. See financing an auto repair shop acquisition for how lenders read the wider repair trade.

Building the file

SBA's standard documents apply: business tax returns for 2–3 years, a P&L and balance sheet with a year-to-date P&L through last month-end, a debt schedule with copies of notes being refinanced, personal tax returns and a personal financial statement for each owner of 20% or more, and optionally bank statements, a use-of-proceeds narrative and the owner's resume.

For a glass shop, add revenue by payer (insurance, retail, fleet, dealer), an aging of what insurers and fleets owe, a list of vans and calibration equipment with any liens, and for a franchise, the franchise agreement. If the shop has taken merchant cash advances, list them; SBA will not refinance an active advance. See refinancing cash advances for auto repair shops.

Revenue broken out by payer is the single most useful page in an auto glass file.

Transparent builds the file into a full lender package — financing model, lender presentation, blind teaser and underwriting memo — in a day, and takes it to the 278 lenders in its book that write SBA 7(a) and 504, or the 244 that write equipment where that fits better. On SBA loans the lender pays Transparent, not the borrower. See how we underwrite.