Free calculator for car wash owners
How many cars does a car wash need to break even?
Most car wash costs are fixed. Loans, rent, power and staff run whether you wash 3,000 cars or 6,000. Break-even is the number of cars a month that covers all of it.
Break-even point
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cars a month to cover every cost
Profit at today's level
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per month, before owner pay
Cushion above break-even
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how many you could lose and still cover costs
The starting numbers are an example for a car wash. Replace them with yours.
The worked example
Each car brings in $14 and costs $3.50 to serve. That leaves $10.50 toward fixed costs of $52,000 a month. Divide one by the other and you need 4,953 cars a month to break even. Every car past that adds $10.50 to profit.
Ways to lower break-even in a car wash
- Grow memberships. They cover fixed costs in bad weather.
- Track chemicals and water per car, and fix leaks and overspray early.
- Shift package mix toward higher tiers with better margin.
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