Mr. Sparkle Auto Spa

The Opportunity

On their way home from a Memorial Day holiday weekend in 2018, Charlie Trovero and his 5-year-old son made a pit stop at a car wash. Charlie remembers remarking to his son, “Man, we don’t have any good car washes like this at home.” Of course, his son had no idea what his dad was talking about, but the idea was stuck in Charlie’s head. That night he began researching what it would take to open up a car wash in his town of Peru, Illinois.  

In his search he came across the consulting group, Car Wash Pro Designers. He called and left a message and heard back from them the very next morning. It took six months of searching until Charlie and the Car Wash Pro Designer team finally found the perfect location to build a car wash. All that was left was a financing partner who could help make Charlie’s dream a reality.  

The Challenge

Charlie was a second grade school teacher at the time and will be the first to admit that he had no idea what he was doing or what he was getting into. Charle approached other banks, but it seemed as though he was just a number to them, rather than a person.  

The Car Wash Pro Designer team knew it was important for Charlie to work with a lender that would give him a chance, despite his lack of direct industry experience. They had worked with Celtic before and recommended Charlie to us for car wash financing.   

Charlie was referred to an experienced loan officer who was able to personally walk him through the financing process and was willing to go to bat for him to get the loan approved. Even though Charlie didn’t have direct industry experience, Celtic found his experience as an insurance agency business owner was transferrable. This experience, plus a down payment supplemented by his father allowed Celtic to extend $4.5M in financing.  

The Solution

To break even, the business needs to wash 180 to 200 cars a day, or roughly 65,700 cars a year. Charlie remembers finding that number daunting at the time. But a year after construction and being open for business, 97,000 cars have been washed at Mr. Sparkle Auto Spa. In 2022, the wash is averaging 900 cars a day—blowing the numbers from 2021 out of the water. Charlie is now looking to build additional locations with Celtic in the not-too-distant future.