Car damaged in car wash

aitch-aitch

Apologies in advance for the long thread but I thought I should get all the facts down….

On Friday I went to a well known supermarket on my way home from work and used their automatic car wash for which I paid £4. I drove off and about 1 mile down the road I noticed that there were horizontal scratches on my driver’s side window. I stopped the car and got out and noticed there were similar scratches on the paint work of the driver’s door and the rear driver’s side door.

I immediately turned the car round and went back to the supermarket and reported the issue to the cashier in the petrol station. She was advised by her colleague to get a manager. After phoning and not getting a manager she walked to the store and after approx 15 mins “Harry” appeared with another colleague. “Harry” introduced himself to me as the checkout manager and followed me to my car.

He checked the car but didn’t make any comments apart from the occasional “mmm”.

We went back inside and he logged the details in a book but told me that this would have to be dealt with by their customer services dept and after about 5 mins he managed to find the number. I then returned to my car and was just about to set off when “Harry” appeared at the window. He said to me “one of my collegues has just pointed out the notice that we accept no liability for loss or damage caused whilst using the car wash”. At this point I was obviously fairly annoyed having waited for at least 30 mins trying to sort this out. I went back into the petrol station kiosk and was shown the notice.

There were in fact two notices – a separate A5 framed notice stating something along the lines of “we do not accept responsibility for any loss or damage incurred whilst using the car wash”. This was underneath the notice showing the charges for the car wash.

The other which was in very small print at the bottom of car wash charges notice and said something along the lines of “we do not accept responsibility for any loss or damage incurred whilst using the car wash, unless caused by our negligence”.

I checked the car again in the light on Saturday and I’m fairly confident that the scratches in the paint work will come out with “T cut” but I’m not sure how I can get the scratches out from the glass or if the window will need replacing. I haven’t yet contacted customer services.

What are my chances of getting any compensation from the supermarket and how do I go about doing this to improve my chances? At then end of the day I know I can’t prove that it was the car wash that caused the damage but I am 99% certain that it was as I hadn’t noticed the scratches up until then and I clearly look through that window every time I drive anywhere. Also how do I go about proving (or do I even have to prove) it was their negligence and are the notices they put up really valid? Does that fact that "Harry" didn't know about the notice in any way help my cause?

Any help would be much appreciated either from a legal standpoint and/or advise on how to get the scratches out of the glass.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Quentin

aitch-aitch wrote: »

At then end of the day I know I can’t prove that it was the car wash that caused the damage .....

That may be your stumbling block.

But ask for details of their insurer, write in with a claim, enclosing a quote for the repairs needed and ask them to pay for them and see what response you get.

Then take it from there.

mikey72

The signs are valid, but you need to prove the car wash did the damage.
If you had a photo of the brush with a piece of metal sticking out, or similar, you could challenge them over it, but if you can't show any way it could have happened, it's unlikely to get anywhere.

vikingaero

There's a couple of threads here in which users have had car wash damage:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2920924&highlight=car+wash+damage

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2576977&highlight=car+wash+damage

My Dads car was damaged in a car wash and he used his solicitor to write a letter and gain recompense. That was a few years ago. It seems that these companies are now hiding being their insurers much more and making you go to Court - the time and expense putting people off. I don't really want to say that you should go to Court but it looks like you may have to. Do you have Legal Expenses Cover on your motor policy?

The car wash companies are maintaining that the car wash has completed a number of incident free wash cycles and therefore are not liable. They are seeking to hide behind these disclaimers which I find odd. If a car wash damages your car then something is wrong with it - disclaimer or not. If a store assistant knocks you over with a large cage then they have done something wrong. What's the difference between a human and a machine?

Tilt

The signs are legally meaningless. Bit like writing 'sold as seen' or 'no warranty given' ect. Basically you are paying for a service of which apparently was not fit for the purpose. I say apparently because there are a few things to consider; did you adhere to the operating instructions/Did you car meet all the criteria for using the car wash? Providing you can show that YOU wern't negligent in using the car wash, you may have a case. Personally, I would return with a camera while the wash isn't being used and try and inspect the brush(es) which are on the side which caused the damage and take photos. It would be interesting if the brushes have been re-placed or the wash is undergoing maintanence. Also I would be writing to the both the site manager and the head office of the supermarket inviting them to offer some assistance in this matter as you are a regular customer in their store spending thousands of pound each week (get my drift?). Indicate that if you do not get a response within 14 days, you intend to seek further legal advice on the matter.

Do come back and tell us how you get on.

Strider590

This is why I always hand wash

Tilt

Strider590 wrote: »

This is why I always hand wash

Yes, hand jobs are always better! :rotfl:

Strider590

Tilt wrote: »

Yes, hand jobs are always better! :rotfl:

But not when you use a brillo pad

Lum

I only take the company car through the automatic car wash, never a car I care about.

The very nature of these machines means your paintwork is going to get scratched, usually they're small enough that you don't notice except in direct sunlight (the infamous swirl marks).

There's no cycle in these machines to clean off the brushes between washes, so even if they take them out daily and wash them (hint: they never do this) if the car that went in before you happened to have been parked in front of a building site all day, then all the little chunks from their car will now be stuck in the brushes just waiting to be rubbed all over your car.

That said, scratching the window is pretty extreme! Is it a straight line scratch or a curvy one?

aitch-aitch

Lum wrote: »

I only take the company car through the automatic car wash, never a car I care about.

The very nature of these machines means your paintwork is going to get scratched, usually they're small enough that you don't notice except in direct sunlight (the infamous swirl marks).

There's no cycle in these machines to clean off the brushes between washes, so even if they take them out daily and wash them (hint: they never do this) if the car that went in before you happened to have been parked in front of a building site all day, then all the little chunks from their car will now be stuck in the brushes just waiting to be rubbed all over your car.

That said, scratching the window is pretty extreme! Is it a straight line scratch or a curvy one?

They are straight lines. The brushes on the car wash are what I would describe as on oversized Vileda mop if that makes any difference.

aitch-aitch

Tilt wrote: »

The signs are legally meaningless. Bit like writing 'sold as seen' or 'no warranty given' ect. Basically you are paying for a service of which apparently was not fit for the purpose. I say apparently because there are a few things to consider; did you adhere to the operating instructions/Did you car meet all the criteria for using the car wash? Providing you can show that YOU wern't negligent in using the car wash, you may have a case. Personally, I would return with a camera while the wash isn't being used and try and inspect the brush(es) which are on the side which caused the damage and take photos. It would be interesting if the brushes have been re-placed or the wash is undergoing maintanence. Also I would be writing to the both the site manager and the head office of the supermarket inviting them to offer some assistance in this matter as you are a regular customer in their store spending thousands of pound each week (get my drift?). Indicate that if you do not get a response within 14 days, you intend to seek further legal advice on the matter.

Do come back and tell us how you get on.

Yes I did stick to the operating instructions and even removed the aerial (which sometimes I can't be bothered to do).

Think I will follow your advice and appeal to their better nature rather than trying to go down the legal route which I'm not confident will work.