‘It’ll keep me in business for 3 months’: Beach business owner secures SBA loan, credits 10 On Your Side coverage

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — 10 On Your Side did our first report on Hi-Tech Automotive and owner John Warren two weeks ago, when he said his business had already dropped off by 80 percent.

He was able to leverage that news coverage into some additional revenue, and then the Small Business Administration came through with a loan.

“I would have had to let most of my people go, pretty much, and just try to do it my son and I,” Warren said in a Monday interview from his shop near NAS Oceana.

Warren bought the business in January, not just to manage himself, but to hand off to his son, “Little John,” when he retires. He applied for one of the SBA loans just to keep the auto repair shop afloat.

“I feel very fortunate and very relieved. It’s gonna keep me in business for the next three months,” he said.

Warren thanked the people at TowneBank who let him write checks to pay expenses once the loan was approved, even before the money was deposited in his account.

“It helped me pay a lot of my vendors that I was behind with,” Warren said. “It made me able to make a full payroll, and I should continue to make payroll for at least two and possibly three months.”

Warren also contacted several elected officials including Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Virginia Beach).
He said her office was extremely helpful in getting him through the loan process.

“I wrote letters to all them, sent them emails. They responded to both that and the interview I did … on Channel 10,” he said.

Warren said that coverage also brought in enough new customers for him to make payroll two weeks ago. As long as Warren uses the SBA money for payroll and business expenses in the next eight weeks, he won’t have to pay any of it back.

He said he’ll have to be very frugal and order only the bare minimum to get by and keep his business running.

Congress and the Trump administration are negotiating phase 2 of the Paycheck Protection Program. It’s expected to be approved this week and add another $300 billion for small business loans.

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