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What is a car wash worth? Limited data

Car washes that sold from 2021 to 2025 went for a median of 5.18x seller's discretionary earnings (SDE). The middle half sold for 3.2x to 6.7x. ^[1]

Last verified October 24, 2026

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What multiple do car washes sell for?

Lower quartile

3.2x

Median

5.18x

Upper quartile

6.7x

Times seller's discretionary earnings (SDE). Car washes, BizBuySell, sales 2021–2025; 296 sales.

SDE is the profit one owner takes out of the business: pre-tax profit plus one owner's pay and perks, interest, depreciation and one-time costs. How we calculate it.

Limited data. BizBuySell publishes no quartiles for its parent group, so we can't yet test whether it prices differently. Treat these figures as provisional.

What raises the value of car washes?

• Membership penetration above 50%, churn (typically 7–9% a month), labor under 15–20% of revenue and 40–50% EBITDA margins are cited premium drivers. ^[2]

What is the market for car washes like?

• PE and regional operators are buying established sites rather than building. ^[2]
• Car wash lower quartile (3.20) roughly equals auto repair's upper quartile (3.26): the distributions barely overlap. ^{[1, 3]}
• Express car wash single independents 3.0–5.0x SDE (advisor). ^[4]

What do larger car washes sell for?

Above about $2 million of price, buyers price on EBITDA (earnings after paying a manager) instead of SDE, and private equity buyers enter the market. These ranges are advisor estimates for larger firms, labeled as such. Don't apply them to an owner-run business.

How should you use these numbers?

Multiply your SDE by a multiple in the range to get a rough price for the business, not counting real estate. Where you land in the range depends on how much the business depends on you, how much revenue repeats, growth, customer concentration and the other factors in the calculator. Half of all sales land outside the quartile range, so a real deal can go higher or lower.

Where do these numbers come from?