Case Study: Buying a $4.3M Car Wash as a First-Time Buyer

This is the story of how one of our clients bought a $4.3 million express tunnel car wash without ever having worked in the industry.

He didn’t come from private equity. He wasn’t a millionaire. Just a smart buyer who wanted a cash-flowing business that didn’t need him working in it every day.

We helped him make that happen.

The Buyer

He was a 41-year-old former service business owner. He had a solid track record running teams but was ready for something more stable, with recurring revenue and fewer headaches.

After spending months getting nowhere with brokers and listings that didn’t pencil out, he came to us for help finding something off-market and getting it financed.

Finding the Deal

This deal came through a direct outreach campaign we ran targeting car washes with owners nearing retirement.

The seller had owned the wash for over 10 years. He had already stepped out of operations and was looking for someone who could close quickly without disrupting his team.

Because the business wasn’t listed publicly, we were able to negotiate before it hit the market and lock it up at a fair price.

The Numbers

• Purchase price: $4.3 million

• EBITDA: $934,783

• Revenue: $2.8 million

• EBITDA margin: 33.4 percent

• Multiple paid: 4.6 times EBITDA

The wash had a strong recurring base with over 1,700 monthly members. Equipment was in great shape, and the location had steady traffic year-round. It only needed three full-time employees to run the whole operation.

How We Structured It

• SBA 7(a) loan: $3.4 million

• Buyer equity: $900,000

• Seller financing: none

We worked with an SBA lender who understood the space and helped the buyer avoid pledging his home as collateral. The equipment and cash flow were strong enough to carry the deal.

A Few Challenges Along the Way

It wasn’t all smooth. A few issues almost derailed the deal.

The water usage data looked inconsistent at first. We helped the buyer pull 12 months of POS reports and matched them against meter logs. Turned out the issue was just reporting gaps.

The point-of-sale system was tied to the seller’s license. We worked directly with the vendor to get the buyer a clean setup and migrated the data pre-close.

There was also an issue with outdated city permits on the grease trap system. We brought in a third-party inspection team to get a clean report for the lender.

What We Did After the Deal Closed

Once the deal was done, we helped the buyer get up and running without having to figure it out alone.

• We brought in a local general manager to run day-to-day operations.

• We renegotiated the chemical supply contract, cutting costs by 11 percent.

• We set up weekly KPI tracking for car counts, labor, and membership churn.

• We also handled the lender’s 90-day post-close reporting so the buyer could focus on learning the business, not paperwork.

How It’s Going

The business hit projections in the first 90 days. Revenue stayed flat, which was a win given the season. Labor stayed under budget, and the buyer didn’t have to be onsite once.

Today he spends about two hours a week reviewing numbers and approving payouts. That’s it.

He’s now under contract on a second location and we’re helping him figure out the best way to structure it using a 504 loan.

Final Thoughts

This deal worked because the buyer stayed focused on finding a business that fit his life, not just the biggest deal he could finance.

He followed a structured process, didn’t get emotional, and leaned on a team that had done this before.

You don’t need to be a millionaire or have industry experience to buy a great business. You just need the right approach and the right support.

If you want to buy a business like this, reach out. We help people buy real businesses that cash flow and run without them.

Want help finding and buying a business like this? Book a call with us here: https://go.eagledawncapital.com/1