Car Wash Feasibility Study in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metro Area

Car washes in Lee County: a class that dominates local lending

Car washes take third place, 3 of 39, in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metro Area, and a 3.35x location quotient shows them carrying over three times their share of the national book. Nationally the area is 23 of 458 for the class. The median loan of $1.6 million is 1.70x the nationwide median, and 30 approvals across FY2017 to FY2026 total $45.0 million, all in Lee County.

A program mix that leans to real estate

Of the 30 loans, 20 are 504 and 10 are 7(a), a lean to the real estate program that fits operators who buy land and build tunnels. The middle half spans $1.0 million to $2.1 million, a tight band. FY2025 shows 5 loans and $9.2 million, while FY2026 shows no approvals ($0) in a complete year. Other years are hidden, and no lender is named.

The shared code and the blanks

Conveyor tunnels, truck washes and mobile services all fall into one code, so none can be told apart here. Franchise share, cancellation floor and charge-off floor are blank, as no rate can be read from an early group this thin; the gaps are unknowns.

For a lender, 20 of 30 loans under 504 means that most files here involve the real estate program's two-lender structure, so the study will be read by more than one party. For a borrower, a median of $1.6 million tells which scale of project this market has financed through SBA.

Underwriting a Lee County wash

Because this book leans to 504, a study should treat land and building as the core of the budget with the equipment package priced apart. Throughput matters: cars per hour at the tunnel, cars per day at the site's traffic count, and the share who buy a monthly membership. Show what happens to coverage when volume runs below plan, and what water, sewer and discharge approvals do to schedule and cost. Competing washes within reach need mapping, with their hours and prices noted. A $1.6 million typical loan means a lender will expect equity and a cautious stabilized case, and an appraiser must set the land and tunnel against what the business earns, since few other users want such a building.