SBA loans for long-haul trucking

What SBA lenders approved for truckload carriers

General freight trucking, long-distance truckload (NAICS 484121) took 2,124 SBA 7(a) loans from FY2024 through June 2026, worth $452,997,600, from 188 lenders. This is small-ticket lending. The median loan was $77,950, about half the national median of $150,300. The middle half ran from $36,975 to $150,000, the top tenth started at just $350,000, and only 95 loans (4.5%) reached $1 million or more. The median business supported 2 jobs: an owner-operator and perhaps one driver.

Why trucking loans are small and priced high

The rate pattern follows loan size. SBA caps variable 7(a) rates at the base rate plus 6.5% for loans of $50,000 or less and plus 6% from $50,001 to $250,000, against plus 3% above $350,000. The median trucking loan of $77,950 sits in the plus-6% tier, and most of the industry's loans sit in the two loosest tiers. The acquisitions, which are large, priced at a median of 9.88%. For current pricing, see SBA loan rates.

The credit explains the rest. Freight rates move with the economy, and a truckload carrier's revenue can fall sharply in a soft market while fuel, insurance and truck payments do not. The main assets depreciate quickly and are expensive to repossess and resell. Small carriers often depend on a few brokers or shippers. Lenders price for all of that, and only 188 of them approved a trucking loan in the period.

Where SBA fits, and where it does not

The single most useful thing a carrier can know is which lender is built for which need. SBA 7(a) can finance equipment, with maturities up to 10 years, or 15 if the equipment's useful life supports it; for used tractors the useful life can be much shorter. In practice most carriers finance tractors and trailers with equipment lenders, who lend against the title and know the resale market. SBA is strongest where there is no single asset to lend against.

Transparent's book reflects that split: 244 of its lenders write equipment, 116 write factoring, 235 write asset-based lines and 278 write SBA 7(a) and 504. See the lender book.

What lenders look for in a carrier

SBA requires debt service coverage of at least 1.15x on filed returns, and 1.0x globally once the owners are counted; conventional bank lenders commonly look for 1.25x. A carrier whose returns show cash flow of 150 against proposed payments of 120 covers 1.25x. The harder question with trucking is what that cash flow really is.

• Depreciation and replacement. Trucking returns carry heavy depreciation, which lenders add back to reach cash flow. But trucks wear out and must be replaced, so careful lenders also look at what the fleet will need, and some test coverage after those capital costs. See fixed charge coverage ratio.
• Per-mile economics. Revenue per mile against cost per mile, including fuel, insurance, maintenance and driver pay, and how many miles run empty. A carrier that knows these numbers reads as a better-run business.
• Customer concentration. Revenue from one broker or shipper is a single point of failure. Lenders want the revenue broken out by customer.
• Safety and insurance. The carrier's safety rating, inspection history and insurance loss runs. A poor record raises premiums and can cost customers, and lenders read it as a direct risk to cash flow.
• Operating history. Years running under the carrier's own authority. Start-ups were only 4.6% of loans; few SBA loans go to a carrier on a new authority.

A trucking file that shows revenue and cost per mile, by month, answers the lender's first question before it is asked.

Factoring, cash advances and refinancing

Many carriers finance receivables through a factor, and many have taken merchant cash advances in a slow stretch. Both matter to an SBA lender. A factor usually holds a lien on the carrier's receivables, so a new lender needs either a payoff or a clear agreement about who holds what. SBA will not refinance an active factoring agreement or merchant cash advance, so the payoff cannot come from an SBA loan; from 1 October 2026 an advance becomes eligible only once converted to a term loan that has amortized for at least 24 months with no new advance since. Daily or weekly advance debits show up in the bank statements and in debt service, and a file that carries them needs a plan. See refinancing merchant cash advances into term debt and MCA refinancing.

A carrier with strong, creditworthy customers may outgrow factoring for an asset-based line, which typically advances 80% to 90% of eligible receivables. Receivables more than 90 days past invoice are typically ineligible, and any single customer is commonly capped at 20% to 25% of eligible receivables, which matters for a carrier working mostly for one broker. See factoring vs asset-based lending and eligible vs ineligible receivables.

Buying a trucking company

Only 34 SBA loans financed a change of ownership in this industry, but at a median of $1,535,050 they were far larger than anything else in it, at a median rate of 9.88%. A buyer is paying for customers, drivers, a safety record and a fleet, and the deal form matters more than usual. The operating authority and safety history belong to the legal entity: buy the stock and they come with it, along with its liabilities; buy the assets and the buyer may need its own authority and start without the seller's record, which brokers and insurers notice. See asset vs stock purchase.

SBA's acquisition rules apply as in any industry. For a complete change of ownership, SBA requires an equity injection of at least 10% of total project costs, a seller note can count toward half of it only on full standby for the life of the SBA loan, and every owner of 20% or more personally guarantees the loan. Where the amount financed, less appraised real estate and equipment, exceeds $250,000, or buyer and seller are related, SBA requires an independent business valuation, and the loan for the purchase cannot exceed it. From 1 October 2026 every change of ownership needs financial due diligence, a quality of earnings report on acquisitions of $3 million or more excluding real estate, 1.25x coverage on historical results, and amortization over no more than 10 years except the real estate share. SBA prohibits an earnout to the seller, and the seller may stay only as a consultant, for up to 12 months (24 from 1 October 2026), not as an owner, officer or employee. Lenders need the target's latest full year of figures, never an older year, and the letter of intent. See how SBA 7(a) finances an acquisition.

SBA 504 financed 63 trucking projects in the period, at a median of $1,181,000. 504 finances owner-occupied real estate and long-life equipment; for a carrier, that means a terminal, yard or shop it occupies. See SBA 7(a) vs SBA 504.

Preparing a trucking file

SBA's standard list applies: 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, the owner's resume, and bank statements. For a trucking company, the debt schedule should list every truck note and any factoring agreement or cash advance, with balances and payments.

Add the evidence specific to the industry: a fleet list with year, mileage and lienholder for each unit, revenue by customer or broker, insurance loss runs, the carrier's safety record, and per-mile figures by month if the business tracks them.

Transparent builds the documents into a full lender package — financing model, lender presentation, blind teaser and underwriting memo — in a day, and routes each need to the part of its book built for it, whether SBA, equipment, factoring or asset-based. On SBA loans the lender pays Transparent, not the borrower. See the package and how we underwrite.