SBA 7(a) Car Wash Feasibility Study in Maryland

Maryland car washes: the largest ticket ratio in this group

Car washes in Maryland borrow at 1.71x the nationwide 7(a) median, with a median loan of $1.4 million, though most loans cluster from $70,000 to $2.5 million, a very wide band that mixes small equipment loans with major site purchases. The record holds 26 approvals worth $36.3 million. Franchising is 3.8%. Maryland holds a rank of 27 among states by count, and car washes stand at 21 of 39 locally. The distinctiveness check leaves every metric unflagged.

Hanmi and the Baltimore-Washington counties

Hanmi Bank shows 7 loans and $18.2 million, an outsized total on a small count, and Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company 6 loans and $3.3 million, the holders as SBA now records them. By county, Anne Arundel leads at 7, with Baltimore and Prince Georges level at 4, then Howard at 3 and Baltimore City, Carroll and Montgomery at 2 apiece. Approvals reached 6 loans and $12.7 million in FY2026 and 5 loans and $7.0 million in FY2021, with only one loan in each of FY2017, FY2018, FY2024 and FY2025, of which FY2024's was $25,000.

Maryland washes lack cancellation and charge-off rates, since few loans stand behind them. A rate that cannot be printed is not a zero.

Testing a Maryland wash

Maryland's car, truck and mobile washes are not separated by SBA, so the study must name the format: a tunnel, an automatic bay, self-serve stalls or staffed hand service. Traffic counts, visibility, ingress and egress, and competition along the corridor determine volume. The region is dense, so the study should weigh land cost against throughput. Membership plans can steady income but must be modelled with realistic churn. Equipment, water recycling, sewer connection and local approvals add cost and time, and Maryland's environmental rules on runoff deserve a line in the schedule. Weather cuts volume in wet and cold weeks, so use a monthly model. A lender will care about collateral value of land, building and equipment, and about how coverage holds if the opening year disappoints. The appraisal will lean on stabilised car counts, price per wash and membership revenue, and the study should justify each.

The enormous spread between $70,000 and $2.5 million means a Maryland study must state which kind of project it is analysing. A small equipment upgrade at an operating site and a new tunnel on purchased land are different credit stories, and the supporting evidence should match the one chosen.