Bridge Loan Helps Lakeland-based Dealership Recover
Kincaid Motors of Polk County
Randy Kincaid, owner of Kincaid Distributing Inc., has been operating Kincaid Motors in Lakeland for the past year. Averaging approximately 20 cars per month, business was going well. Then Hurricane Irma made landfall throughout Florida, putting many businesses behind the eight ball when it came to economic and physical damages. Kincaid Motors experienced both.
Kincaid, seeking assistance in recovering lost revenues until operations return to normal, reached out to the Florida SBDC at University of South Florida, with an office located at the Lake Wales Administration Building. Assistant Director, Carl Hadden, stepped him through the process of applying for a State of Florida Emergency Bridge Loan. The loan is interest-free and repayable within six months. It’s meant to help businesses bridge the gap between natural disaster and economic recovery.
When asked about his experience with the storm and the assistance received, Kincaid recalled:
What type of damage occurred?
We had some considerable damage to our signage. We had a big billboard out front that was leaned over and it tore some of the facing loose on that. We also suffered a lot of damage to our privacy fencing in the back. We had some tree damage. We had one large tree that was blown over on our fence line and we also had another tree that had a large limb that fell over on one of our buildings. We had quite a bit of cleanup as well.
How will the Bridge Loan help?
Well the biggest problem we had in our business is we’ve been doing about 20 cars a month in sales and during the time of the hurricane and shortly thereafter, sales just came to a screeching halt. We suffered major losses due to a loss of sales. Also we had to make a lot of repairs to the property to get it back where it was presentable. This will help us with all that.
How was the Florida SBDC at USF helpful during this process?
Oh it was fantastic and it was so easy of a process to go through and the agent was extremely helpful in guiding me through the application process. We appreciate this a lot because it will help us get back on our feet and get going again.
