Car Wash Feasibility Study in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metro Area

A car wash market where 504 outnumbers 7(a)

Car wash loans in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area reach 59 and $78.8 million across FY2017 to FY2026, and the program mix is the standout: 31 loans came through 504 against 28 through 7(a), so real estate financing is as common as general business lending. A location quotient of 1.45x puts car washes at a heavier weight in Tampa Bay lending than in the nation's, the metro ranks 12 of 458 for the class and the class 12 of 39 locally. The median loan of $1.2 million is 1.31x the national median.

Amounts, CDCs and counties

Loans in the middle half stretch from $582,000 to $1.8 million. The franchise share is withheld here, so nothing is printed about it. Florida First Capital Finance Corporation, Inc. leads the 504 table with 18 loans worth $26.8 million, and Florida Business Development Corporation has 7 worth $8.5 million; these are SBA's records of loans, not ratings. By county, Hillsborough has 23 loans, Pasco 19, Pinellas 9 and Hernando 8.

Counts: 10 loans in FY2017 ($10.1 million), 6 in FY2019 ($6.5 million), 8 in FY2021 ($16.4 million), a peak of 11 in FY2022 ($17.9 million), 6 in FY2023 ($6.3 million) and 8 in FY2024 ($7.9 million). Four years go unprinted (FY2018, FY2020, FY2025 and FY2026), and the cancellation and charge-off percentages go with them, since the loans behind each are too few to show. The industry code also covers truck washes, so some rows are not tunnel or in-bay car washes. Area membership comes from each loan's county on the 2023 list.

What a Tampa car wash study has to test

A car wash study in this area should test traffic counts and visibility on the site's road, the competitive set of tunnel and express operators, and the capital cost of equipment and land, which is large against typical business loans. If the structure uses 504 financing, the study should show the real estate and the operating business separately, with debt service covered by washes per day at a conservative price per wash. Weather, water use and environmental permitting need an explicit place in the plan, as does the question of whether the express format the site suits will still be competitive once rivals add locations nearby. An appraiser will test the income, so the volume forecast should be traceable. Nothing on this page predicts an outcome.