Menu

Industry guide

Funding for retail boutiques, shops, and auto repair businesses

Retail and auto repair share a pattern: inventory or parts bought ahead of sales, card-heavy revenue, and a few predictable slow months. They also share the risk of financing a slow month with a product that assumes the fast months continue.

Retail

Auto repair

  • Lifts, alignment racks, diagnostic tools: equipment financing; used equipment is common and financeable.
  • Parts inventory and supplier terms: a line of credit; supplier terms, where offered, carry no financing cost and should be used first.
  • Fleet-account receivables: if you service commercial fleets on terms, invoice financing applies.
  • Buying the building: SBA 504 education.

Watch for

  • Advances sized on holiday deposits.
  • Inventory financing on goods with weak sell-through.
  • Supplier terms lost because an advance’s daily debits drained the operating account.

What Fast Mula is and isn't. Fast Mula helps you compare business-funding structures and submit one inquiry. Nothing on this site is an offer, approval, guaranteed rate, or guaranteed timeline. Any funding depends on a provider's own review, and terms vary by state.

Common questions

What is the cheapest way to fund inventory?
Supplier terms carry no financing cost, so use them first. After that, compare written total cost across a line of credit, inventory financing, a card, and an advance for your actual holding period.

Related

Shop owner? See what fits

Tell us about inventory timing and the need.

Preview the questionnaire