Car Wash Feasibility Study in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area
What SBA's own loan files show about car wash lending in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
San Diego car washes: small median, wide spread
Inside San Diego, Chula Vista and Carlsbad the car wash class ranks 14 of 39; against all areas, San Diego, Chula Vista and Carlsbad ranks 15 of 458 for car wash. A location quotient of 1.04x tracks the national weight of the class closely. The files hold 46 loans for $46.4 million, all in San Diego County. Car wash borrowers in San Diego, Chula Vista and Carlsbad see a $330,000 median, 0.36x of the national car wash figure; ordinary loans run $40,000 to $1.4 million. The wide band means no single loan size describes the cell.
Franchise ownership reads 0.00%. The 7(a) table for San Diego names Zions Bancorporation, National Association, with 10 loans and $968,000, and U.S. Bank, National Association, with 8 loans and $233,800. The lender table shows the holder on record and assesses no practice of U.S. Bank, National Association. Holdings, not wishes. In the San Diego, Chula Vista and Carlsbad car wash cell, Loan Analytics withholds the split by SBA program because too few loans back it; read it as missing.
For car wash loans around San Diego, Chula Vista and Carlsbad, loans approved FY2017 to FY2024 saw 22.0% at minimum cancelled, recorded cases only. The San Diego, Chula Vista and Carlsbad ceiling for car wash, with undisbursed loans cancelled, also reads 22.0%. In the San Diego, Chula Vista and Carlsbad car wash cell, Loan Analytics withholds the charge-off percentage because too few loans back it; read it as missing. By year, $14.1 million across 7 loans in FY2017; $13.6 million across 7 loans in FY2019; and $4.1 million across 11 loans in FY2021.
Testing a San Diego wash
In San Diego, Chula Vista and Carlsbad, a tunnel wash, a self-serve bay and a mobile unit all sit under one industry code. A study should test traffic counts, water cost and reclaim rules, membership versus pay-per-wash revenue, equipment age and the land lease, and debt service. In San Diego, Chula Vista and Carlsbad, a car wash loan counts by the county of the project in the July 2023 delineation. Unplaceable loans are skipped. Treat these figures as the backdrop to a car wash assessment; approval is the lender’s call.
SBA car wash loans in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 46 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $46.4 million |
| Median loan | $330,000 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $40,000 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $1.4 million |
| SBA 7(a) loans | withheld |
| SBA 504 loans | withheld |
| Franchise share of loans | 0.00% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas for car wash loans | 15 of 458 |
| Rank of car wash among the classes in this area | 14 of 39 |
| Location quotient (share of loans against the national share) | 1.04x |
| Median loan against the national median for the class | 0.36x |
Cancellation and charge-off
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 22.0% |
|---|---|
| The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling) | 22.0% |
| Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) | withheld |
Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.
SBA car wash loans approved in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 7 | $14.1 million |
| FY2018 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2019 | 7 | $13.6 million |
| FY2020 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2021 | 11 | $4.1 million |
| FY2022 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2023 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2024 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2025 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2026 | withheld | withheld |
Most active SBA lenders
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Zions Bancorporation, National Association | 10 | $968,000 |
| U.S. Bank, National Association | 8 | $233,800 |
Lenders with 5 or more loans here; a lender with fewer is not listed, and loans SBA or a receiver holds are counted but never listed as a lender.
Where the loans are, by county
| County | Loans |
|---|---|
| San Diego County, CA | 46 |
Counties with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are not listed.
Metro is the CBSA (metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area) of the loan's project county, July 2023 delineation (OMB Bulletin 23-01). The county is matched by name (manifests/ld2/county-cbsa-map.csv); a loan whose county cannot be placed in a 2023 CBSA is left out of every metro.
Car and truck washes, including mobile washes, share one code.
Shared code: Truck washes share 811192.
A value marked withheld rests on fewer than 5 loans, or is withheld so that such a figure cannot be derived from other published figures.
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; areas from the U.S. Census Bureau CBSA delineation, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01); Loan Analytics metro cell MA-41740-C02.
Related feasibility study pages
- Car wash feasibility study and SBA loan data
- Feasibility Study Data for the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area
- Car Wash Feasibility Study in California
- California feasibility study consultant
- Feasibility Study Data by Metro Area
- Feasibility studies for SBA 7(a) and 504 loans
- Car Wash Feasibility Study in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area
- Car Wash Feasibility Study in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area
- Car Wash Feasibility Study in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area
- Car Wash Feasibility Study in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ Metro Area
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