SBA 7(a) Car Wash Feasibility Study in Kentucky

What SBA's own loan files show about SBA 7(a) lending to car wash projects in Kentucky, and what a feasibility study for an SBA 7(a) loan there has to test.

The Kentucky SBA 7(a) car wash record in detail

$26.6 million in gross dollars, spread over 36 loans in the 7(a) program for car wash projects in Kentucky, is what SBA authorized in Kentucky from FY2017 to FY2026. Ranked by number of car wash loans in the 7(a) program, Kentucky stands at 20 among the states; inside Kentucky, car wash takes spot 13 of 39. Midpoint size: $338,850. Relative to SBA 7(a) car wash loans in the rest of the nation, Kentucky runs at 0.43x on that median, a smaller ticket size. Half of all Kentucky loans fall from $118,550 to $825,000. The franchise share of Kentucky loans is 8.3%. The $338,850 median is where Kentucky car wash clients under SBA 7(a) differ from both comparison group, the class across programs in Kentucky and the class under SBA 7(a) nationwide.

Who lends, where and when in Kentucky

The lenders with the most Kentucky car wash loans are Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company (6 loans, $2.6 million). Read the 6 loans and $2.6 million for Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company with care: SBA lists each Kentucky loan's current holder, so a Kentucky lender above could have taken over a car wash note rather than writing it. By county, Jefferson with 8, Boone with 4, Bullitt with 3 and Daviess with 3 top the car wash loans in Kentucky. The yearly pattern for Kentucky is clear: approvals peaked at 8 loans, worth $3.7 million, in FY2025, with FY2026 at 2 loans and $164,200; the series opened in FY2017 at 2.

Kentucky: outcomes, read as minimums for car wash

No figure appears for the Kentucky car wash cancellation rate, because the cohort funded in FY2017 to FY2024 holds too few of the 36 loans; read the Kentucky gap as withheld, not as zero car wash cancellations. Kentucky car wash loans funded across FY2017 to FY2021 are few, so the charge-off cohort drawn from the 36-loan record is too thin; we give no Kentucky number and imply no zero for car wash. Each Kentucky car wash rate above is a minimum, because open car wash loans among the 36 can yet change. The grouping has a classification limit that is worth knowing in Kentucky: no line separates Kentucky's fixed-site car washes and mobile washes; every kind is filed in one code.

Matters an SBA 7(a) car wash study in Kentucky must pass

Under 7(a), a Kentucky car wash request, one of 36, is judged by the Kentucky participating lender, whose guaranteed car wash loan rests on Kentucky cash flow and the real estate the Kentucky study must document. Wash volume for a Kentucky car wash depends on corridor counts, entry design, household numbers and competing washes. Site, utility connections and approval in Kentucky often decide a car wash budget. Test the Kentucky car wash cash flow at the $338,850 median plus at $825,000: coverage which survives only under the good year will not be persuasive. An appraisal will separate real estate and equipment, so our work keeps that split. A borrower that is approaching Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company must read its 6 loans here as context alone: SBA's numbers describe loans, not its requirements.

Take the Kentucky car wash history above, 36 loans, as context: a car wash study from Loan Analytics for Kentucky, signed by Daniel Smith, MAI, for car wash, does the project-level Kentucky testing, and nothing here assures Kentucky approval of a car wash loan.

SBA 7(a) car wash loans in Kentucky

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY202636
Gross dollars approved$26.6 million
Median loan$338,850
Middle half of loans, from$118,550
Middle half of loans, to$825,000
Franchise share of loans8.3%
Rank among states for SBA 7(a) car wash loans, by number of loans20
Rank of car wash among classes in Kentucky13 of 39
Median loan against the national SBA 7(a) median for the class0.43x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) not reported: fewer than 30 loans in the cohort
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) not reported: fewer than 30 loans in the cohort

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 7(a) car wash loans approved in Kentucky, by fiscal year

02468FY2017FY2018FY2019FY2020FY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025FY2026Loans, FY2017: 2Loans, FY2018: 2Loans, FY2019: 3Loans, FY2020: 3Loans, FY2021: 4Loans, FY2022: 3Loans, FY2023: 5Loans, FY2024: 4Loans, FY2025: 8Loans, FY2026: 2
Fiscal yearLoansDollars
FY20172$185,800
FY20182$2.4 million
FY20193$3.3 million
FY20203$2.6 million
FY20214$4.5 million
FY20223$776,800
FY20235$6.1 million
FY20244$2.8 million
FY20258$3.7 million
FY20262$164,200

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
LenderLoansDollars
Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company6$2.6 million

Where the loans are, by county

CountyLoans
JEFFERSON8
BOONE4
BULLITT3
DAVIESS3
FAYETTE2
MADISON2
OLDHAM2
PERRY2
PULASKI2
SCOTT2

Car and truck washes, including mobile washes, share one code. Shared code: Truck washes share 811192.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; Loan Analytics loan-outcome cell SAP-KY-C02-7A.

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a car wash project in Kentucky, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.

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