Do Not Leave Your Car Wash Loans To Those Who Do Not Know The Industry. Car Wash Financing Is Not For The Faint Of Heart!
Car wash loans are a different ball of wax than gas station loans. If you’re looking for car wash financing, believe it or not many lenders like doing car wash business loans and NOT gas station loans. And some lenders like doing gas station loans and not car wash business financing!
As a car wash is a special purpose facility , in the case of default the value of car wash will go down quicker than other types of commercial properties such as a multi-family or an office building. This is one reason many lenders steer clear from doing car wash financing.
As you can imagine, car wash success or failure can really depend on the weather in an area also. If you have an area that has an unusually rainy season, logically revenues will go down. Weather does not impact other types of businesses nearly as much as it will a car wash. This is another reason why many lenders do not like to do car wash loans.
The loan options for car wash loans are the same as other owner operated businesses:
![]() | SBA 7(a) |
![]() | SBA 504 |
![]() | Conventional |
![]() | Private |

This can accommodate car wash purchase loans, car wash refinances, and car wash ground-up construction loans and improvements.
The advantages of SBA loans are even more evident with car wash loans because of the high percentage of equipment being part of the collateral. It would not be uncommon for half of the loan proceeds to be towards the equipment portion.
It all comes down to the amortization of the loan. While you may get a more favorable interest rate with conventional financing and origination costs might be a little less, you will frequently find that you will have a higher payment, many times significantly higher, because of how the loan is amortized for the equipment. Many times you will see that on a conventional loan, the bank may only go seven or ten years for the equipment. Some SBA lenders will fully amortize car wash loans for 25 years. In this scenario, you would realize significant savings. SBA loans usually will offer a higher advance or Loan-To-Value.
The good thing about any type of loan is that your calculator will never lie to you.
Financing is not the same for all types of car washes either. Some lenders like full service tunnel washes, others do not. Some do not like self-serve car washes because many underreport their earnings. Some like automatic car washes, some do not.
The bottom line is, deal with people and companies that know the car wash industry and have done a lot of carwash loans.
For more information on car wash loans, visit our site at http://carwashloansinfo.com.