Car Wash Feasibility Study in Wisconsin

No cancellations at all

Wisconsin car wash lending shows no cancellations: none of the FY2017 to FY2024 approvals was cancelled, with both the floor and the ceiling at 0.00%. Nothing about this cell earns that label, so the zero is read as a plain count from the file and not as a standout result. The file holds 39 approvals totaling $44.5 million across FY2017 to FY2026, and the median loan of $745,000 is 0.80x the national median for the class. Car washes sit at 20 of 39 among Wisconsin asset types, the state ranks 25 of 53, and the 0.52x location quotient shows the class as a thin part of Wisconsin lending.

Real estate financing and its sponsor

Wisconsin car wash lending uses both programs: 27 loans came through 7(a) and 12 through 504. WBD, Inc. holds 10 of the 504 loans, totaling $11.7 million, according to SBA's current holder records. Half of the approvals run from $279,500 to $1.7 million, and franchising is 10.3%. Milwaukee County holds 9 loans, Waukesha County 4 and Eau Claire County 3, while Dane, Fond du Lac, Kenosha, Outagamie, Ozaukee and Racine counties have 2 each. Volume ranged from a single loan in FY2018 to 7 in FY2022, and FY2025 added 6 loans and $8.9 million.

A zero cancellation rate on a small sample of 39 approvals deserves care. The charge-off rate is withheld for the cell: Loan Analytics presents no rate when fewer than 30 funded loans lie behind it, which is where Wisconsin sits, so there is no matching loss record to cite. Lenders should not read the withheld rate as zero.

Washes for cars and trucks, mobile ones too, are filed together, so an express tunnel and a mobile detailing van land in the same line. The study has to state its format.

Testing a Wisconsin wash

A Wisconsin plan should account for winter. The study should model monthly volume with a cold-season floor, whether through memberships that keep revenue steady or through pay-per-wash that collapses in January. It should count passing traffic, the competing washes and the nearby gas station bays. Equipment, water reclaim and building cost are the main uses of funds, and a loan near $745,000 is the middle of the record. The debt payment should still be covered at weaker volume and higher utility costs. Because the 504 program is common here, the study should keep land and building values separate from equipment, as the appraisal will.