Car wash due diligence checklist
Use this checklist before your inspection period ends. For each open item, record what you asked for, who will verify it, the deadline, and what it would cost if the seller’s answer turns out to be wrong.
By The Car Wash Doc, car wash operator and acquisition educator
1. Revenue and expenses
Collect monthly sales, bank statements, merchant settlements, and cash collection logs. Match the same periods and account for sales tax, fees, and timing differences. Ask for utility bills, chemical invoices, repair history, insurance, property tax, and payroll or contractor costs. Identify expenses the seller performs personally that you will have to pay someone else to do.
2. Equipment and uptime
Run an actual paid cycle in each self-serve bay, automatic package, and vacuum. Check card and coin acceptance, chemical draw, pressure, hot water, drainage, and spot-free rinse. Ask the technician for a written repair scope, parts availability, downtime estimate, and a list of items that cannot wait until after closing.
3. Site, utilities, and permits
Verify what land, structures, equipment, and access rights are included. Check vehicle stacking, driveway access, lighting, roofing, electrical capacity, and water and sewer accounts. Ask the local authorities and your advisers which permits or approvals transfer, what discharge requirements apply, and whether further property or environmental review is needed.
4. Documents and obligations
Ask for equipment serial numbers, service agreements, leases, warranties, liens, and contracts that may follow the property or business. Confirm what must be paid off, assigned, or replaced. For seller financing, review the signed terms and identify the payment, maturity, and any balloon in your cash plan.
5. Price the work and decide
Split findings into immediate safety or uptime work, first-year repairs, and optional upgrades. Get quotes and estimate downtime before counting any upside. A seller’s statement that a part works, a contractor’s scope, and a tested cycle are three different levels of evidence. Keep those separate in your notes.
6. Prepare the handoff
Make a closing-day checklist for keys, codes, merchant accounts, utility transfers, insurance, spare parts, and vendor contacts. Agree on who owns collections before and after the changeover and how any in-flight card deposits will be reconciled.
Read the step-by-step car wash buying guide
Put it to work on a deal
The course walks through underwriting, financing, and closing with templates. For a deal you are evaluating now, choose one to three hours of consulting and arrange the time privately after purchase.