Here’s exactly what my car wash made, month by month
Gross, every expense line, the mortgage, and what was left. Free, and you read it the moment you sign up.
July – September 2026
| Line item | July | August | September |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross collections | $26,754.90 | $32,566.70 | $24,770.85 |
| Operating expenses | |||
| Labor | $500.00 | $1,076.00 | $840.00 |
| Cleaning and maintenance | $700.00 | $700.00 | $700.00 |
| Insurance | $820.00 | $820.00 | $820.00 |
| Repairs | $355.16 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Chemical | $0.00 | $2,281.46 | $0.00 |
| Capex | $0.00 | $2,060.14 | $18,458.23 |
| Taxes | $550.00 | $550.00 | $550.00 |
| Utilities | $1,978.07 | $2,125.44 | $2,432.37 |
| Trash | $175.00 | $175.00 | $175.00 |
| Other | $200.00 | $200.00 | $200.00 |
| Total expenses | $5,278.23 | $9,988.04 | $24,175.60 |
| Net operating income | $21,476.67 | $22,578.66 | $595.25 |
| Mortgage | $3,739.15 | $3,739.15 | $3,739.15 |
| Monthly cash flow | $17,737.52 | $18,839.51 | -$3,143.90 |
These are my actual results at one car wash and are not a projection of what you’ll earn. Read the disclaimer.
Why September is negative
September is negative because I bought air dryers. $17,500 of that $18,458.23 is the dryers, the rest is a pump, and the $840 in labor is what it cost me to get help installing it. That is a one-time purchase that gets depreciated over years, not a running cost. So here is the same month with it taken out.
| Total expenses | $5,717.37 |
|---|---|
| Net operating income | $19,053.48 |
| Monthly cash flow | $15,314.33 |
These are my actual results at one car wash. They are not typical, not a projection, and not a promise of what you will earn. Read the earnings disclaimer.
Who this is for
You’re buying your first one
You’ve been driving past a wash for months and you can’t tell whether the numbers work. This shows you what the expense side actually looks like on a real one, so you have something to hold a seller’s P&L against.
You already own one that isn’t performing
You know your gross. What you don’t know is whether your expense lines are normal. Four consecutive months of mine are in here, including the two that were bad.
What’s in the teardown
- One full month, itemized: gross collections, all ten expense lines, the mortgage, and the cash flow left over
- Four consecutive months side by side, including the two that weren’t good
- The four expense lines you can verify before you ever own the place, and how to pull each one
- The three lines to treat as unknowns, and what to ask the seller about them