Hazelbridge Financial takes the request by phone or through the request form, then funding partners decide on any offer and its terms.
A wheel balancer, a headlight aimer or a body shop welder fits equipment financing or a lease, and a new technician’s first paychecks fit a working capital loan or a credit line. The dollar figures in the cases below are invented; any offer, and its terms, comes from the funding partners.
At a glance
- Automotive Repair and Maintenance, Lee County, AL
62 employer establishments (CBP 2023)
- Same code, fewer than five employees
30 establishments, 48.4% (CBP 2023)
- Automotive Repair and Maintenance, ZIP 36830
20 employer establishments (ZBP 2023)
- Same code with no paid employees, Lee County, AL
189 nonemployer establishments (NES 2024)
Collision repair financing for an Auburn, AL body shop: a spot welder, a dent station and technician hours
Illustration only, invented figures: a body shop adds a resistance spot welder at $13,960 and an aluminum dent-pulling station at $5,385, $19,345 together. Under an invented equipment agreement at a 10.85% annual rate for 48 months, that comes to $498.57 a month and $23,931.36 over the term, of which $4,586.36 is interest in this invented case.
Running a new electrical circuit or an air line to the welder is property work outside this site; the financing covers the machines. Costs that are not equipment, such as wages or parts, match other products:
- Welders, a dent station or a paint mixing scale: equipment financing, with the equipment securing the agreement.
- Wages for an added body technician before the extra repair orders are paid: a working capital loan with a set term.
- A larger, longer project such as several machines bought over one year: a term loan.
- Parts bought for jobs already on the schedule: a credit line drawn and paid down.
Wheel balancers for an Auburn, AL auto repair shop: cash, a lease or an equipment loan
Illustration only, invented figures: a mechanical shop replaces its old balancer with a road-force model quoted at $8,725. The invented table below sets the three routes side by side.
| Route | Each month | Paid in all | Shop owns it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash on delivery | none | $8,725 | From the start |
| Equipment loan, 11.65%, 36 months | $288.34 | $10,380.24 | After payment 36 |
| Lease, 36 payments plus a $1 buyout | $296.40 | $10,671.40 | After the $1 buyout |
In this invented example the lease runs $8.06 a month above the loan and $291.16 more over three years. Cash avoids both costs but, in this invented case, takes $8,725 out of the account the week the balancer arrives. Funding partners set any lease or loan terms; the balancer plugs into the shop’s existing power, and any new wiring is property work outside this site.
Technician payroll at a Lee County, AL auto repair shop: a working capital loan or a credit line
Illustration only, invented figures: a shop hires a third technician at $1,780 every two weeks and sets aside 6 paychecks, $10,680, while the new technician’s schedule fills. Those wages, funded through an invented working capital loan at 12.95% a year and paid back in 8 monthly installments of $1,400.64, would carry $525.12 of interest.
In the same invented case, a credit line drawn for the full $10,680 and cleared in 75 days at 13.7% would cost $300.65 of interest. In this invented case the line stays below the loan’s $525.12 of interest only while the full draw is paid off in 130 days or less; past that, the line costs more, while the loan’s 8 payments stay fixed. Partners may ask for recent bank statements and repair-order records before deciding on either one.
A wheel balancer and a headlight aimer on one Auburn, AL agreement, or the aimer paid in cash
Illustration only, invented figures: the same shop adds a headlight aimer quoted at $3,190. Folded into the balancer agreement, the invented amount becomes $11,915 at 11.65% over 36 months, or $393.76 a month and $14,175.36 in total.
Compared with the balancer-only loan in the invented table, financing the aimer adds $105.42 a month and $3,795.12 over the term, which is $605.12 more than paying $3,190 in cash on delivery. A small tool can be cheaper to pay for outright when cash allows; one agreement keeps a single payment date. Either way, the funding partner decides what goes into an agreement.
Repair shops with staff and owner-run garages: ZIP 36830 and Lee County, AL counts
Of the 62 automotive repair and maintenance establishments with paid employees that County Business Patterns placed in Lee County, AL for 2023, 30 had fewer than five people on payroll. Their combined annual payroll was $18.8 million (County Business Patterns).
Counting by street address instead, ZIP Code Business Patterns puts 20 repair and maintenance shops with employees at ZIP 36830 locations in 2023.
Garages run without any payroll show up in Nonemployer Statistics: 189 of them in Lee County, AL for 2024. The industries page groups repair shops with retailers and plants, and the Auburn, AL page covers the other trades near the office.
By Hazelbridge Financial · Updated
