SBA 7(a) Car Wash Feasibility Study in Arizona

Arizona washes: ordinary size, deep Maricopa roots

Arizona car wash lending under SBA 7(a) totals $71.8 million across 65 loans from FY2017 to FY2026. The state is 12th by count, and car wash is 14th of 39 classes in Arizona. The $830,000 median is 1.05x the national reading, which keeps the typical Arizona loan near the national norm, though the inner half stretches $348,600 to $1.6 million. Franchising is a small factor at 4.6% of loans, and Maricopa County has 46 of the loans, with Pima at 8 and Yavapai and Yuma at 2 each.

Holders

The leading holder in SBA's data is America First Federal Credit Union, whose 6 loans total $7.1 million. Behind it, with 5 loans apiece, come Celtic Bank Corporation ($7.4 million), VelocitySBA, LLC ($5.4 million) and Alerus Financial, National Association ($7.3 million). No holder stands far above the rest. These are SBA's current-holder records.

The latest year is nearly empty in dollars

Cancellation after approval is floored at 10.2%, with the same ceiling. Arizona has too few early funded wash loans for a charge-off rate worth printing, so none appears, and nobody should take the omission for good news. The annual series is volatile: 3 loans and $6.6 million in FY2017, 12 loans and $17.3 million in FY2021, and 5 loans for only $441,100 in FY2026, a very small total that suggests the latest year has few large projects.

What an Arizona wash study should test

Arizona's sunshine is an asset for an exterior wash, but the study should still quantify it: the number of usable days, the dust and heat effects on equipment, and the effect of water costs and reclaim systems. It should test the traffic count at the site, competing tunnels and express washes, the share of revenue that could come from membership plans, and the cost of land and equipment against a loan near $830,000. A wide gap between small and large projects means the proposal should say which format it is. Coding limit: tunnel, self-serve, mobile and truck washes share one code. The appraisal values the going concern together with the land.