£1000+ damage done in a car wash

forgotmyname

Sounds like you parked too far over, I thought they had sensors to stop things like this happening?

Useless untrained staff is sadly the norm.

Money_maker

thefishdude wrote: »

what sort of car wash was this, i have never ever seen one with shutters back and front. sounds odd to me.

Most of the ones I've been in do.

Forwandert

Don't persue the 'injuries' you recieved they are rediculous, no car wash goes fast enough to cause any sort of injury like that, if the car wash came forward as you said and didn't clear your car it sounds like you hadn't parked properly in the wash as you don't mention it moving to one side or another to hit your car, however at the same time they usually have sensors to detect that.

Gizmos_dad

To be honest I would have thought these auto car wash machines were almost fool proof. Usually these are designed for idiots in mind who cannot go wrong. Imagine they would have carried out risk assessments and trials and alsorts before letting us loose on them!! With all the built in features to safeguard the end user. One could imagine all the compensation claims and injury claims if these things were as bad as described.

My understanding is you cannot go wrong when all you do is drive on to the carrier and follow the given signs. Unless something has gone wrong and then the thing normally stops anyway (safety feature).

OP mentions he/she couldn't have postioned the car correctly, but you can't go wrong anyway. There are guides built in to the tracks on the ground, so even if you are not perfectly aligned it will guide the front wheels.

Something not right about this story.....Maybe the whiplash and all that sudden jerking has affected the OPs reasoning/thinking:rotfl::rotfl:

AppleCore

What do you mean something's not right about the story? Which bit do you mean exactly? The car wash smashed into my car, shunted it into the shutter and caused a lot of damage. My car is quite wide but not enormous so I must have had it positoned wrongly for it to smash into the car. I presume if my car was perfectly straight this wouldn't have happened. I have to admit I haven't been in a car wash for about 10 years but presumed it wouldn't even start unless my car was positioned correctly - surely something was very wrong here? Shouldn't all modern car washes have sensors to prevent accidents like this?

I'm quite upset that my reasoning/thinking has been questioned when I have explained in detail exactly what happened to me, I don't get why a comment like that has been made - it's not very nice and not particularly helpful.

AppleCore

Forwandert wrote: »

Don't persue the 'injuries' you recieved they are rediculous, no car wash goes fast enough to cause any sort of injury like that, if the car wash came forward as you said and didn't clear your car it sounds like you hadn't parked properly in the wash as you don't mention it moving to one side or another to hit your car, however at the same time they usually have sensors to detect that.

I'm not going to, I'm just shaken up by the whole thing and want my car sorted. I can't bear the thought of taking it to court at all and dragging it out. I just want my car fixed and forget all about it. It's upsetting enough as it is and I would never have the confidence to stand up in court against a big petrol station company, injury claims are the last thing on my mind. I mentioned it as part of the explanation in the first post and it I wish I hadn't as it's not really relevant and I'm not asking for advice on injury claims.

Charliezoo

Gizmos_dad wrote: »

Something not right about this story.....Maybe the whiplash and all that sudden jerking has affected the OPs reasoning/thinking:rotfl::rotfl:

Unnecessary comment, give the op a break. Are you trying to say he/she is lying about something?

I don't know if all car washes have sensors but I thought they would have something to make sure that it didn't commence until the car was correctly positioned. Sounds like the car wash was badly maintained emergency stop buttons broken and people unable to get out of there quickly - what if there was a fire or something? Sounds like an accident waiting to happen if you ask me.

Mankysteve

Let your insurance sort out the repair and monetary claim and inform the H&S people if the police haven't already.

marlot

The machine should be designed to sense if a car is in slightly the wrong position.

If it was so badly maintained that the emergency buttons weren't working, then sensors to detect the sides of the car could well have been faulty too.

jcb208

No way would I put a week old car through a car wash.