Hand Car Wash have damaged my car... by trying to jimmy my doors!!

Laura1607

Hello folks, hoping there's some experts on here

Took my new car for a valet today (for the record, I've used this same company for years and had zero problems up to this point). The guys take your car and car key and do everything for you. While washing my car the fella locked my car key inside my car in the ignition with headlights and radio on 🙄. Very annoying but an honest mistake. I'd been doing shopping in the shop next door and when I came back they told me what had happened. Fun part is is my spare key is on back order at Arnold Clark so no way of getting into it! Explained to the fella who said he'd need to call his manager to get it sorted. All ok to this point.
Then manager walks in. Suggests I leave my car overnight INSIDE the car wash until I can get AC to come to sort my car. Say no, not willing to leave car with lights on in a car wash. He then asks if I have AA to which again I say no (yes, I am the worlds worst driver). He says he'll call the company AA but could be hours. Said that's fine but not willing to leave my car here. Off he goes. There is glass you can watch your car being washed through and I noticed 5 people around my driver window, though couldn't see what was happening. They then move round to the passenger side when I realise they ARE TRYING TO BREAK INTO MY CAR WITH A COAT HANGER AND STRING. I have a new shape VW beetle so all glass at the top of the doors so ran out to ask what they were doing. Said they were trying to save me waiting on AA, said not happy with them doing that and to wait on AA. Manager then comes in and asks is this has happened before, to which I said no, only had the car a few weeks. He then says 'I can see you've tried to force the door before though' and I said absolutely not! When I went out to look there was significant scuffing on my driver side, rubber torn above the window and a deep scratch above the window. Said there is no way that was there when I got there. They took it out with t-cut (though scratch and rubber still an issue).

AA comes, he asks the manager to sign a form agreeing that he may break my window which I protested, as wasn't sure why he was signing that agreement. At this point AA guy realises that the manager is using his personal AA insurance!! Turns out the company have no contingency for this sort of thing. Had to take out AA membership but thankfully he managed to get into my car smash free and jump my now very dead battery.

So very long story but manager maintains that this situation is my fault as my car automatically locked and they can't control that. Maintains now that he did not try to break into the car (absolute brass neck) and that he will not be liable for any damage whatsoever. Had to fight tooth and nail to get a copy of his public liability insurance (tried to fob me off with his employee liability insurance, wasn't born yesterday :cool:) he also has CCTV all over the area, explained I will want a copy of that. Called 101 and filed a report with police while there cause I'm 90% certain the CCTV will magically disappear.

Basically what I want to know is what is he liable for? I have paint insurance with no excess that I can get the paint fixed but it's the PRINCIPLE. I also feel he should be reimbursing me for the AA call out. What if they had crashed my car? Surely they need some sort of insurance to deal with these things!!! Had he been nice this could have been dealt with simply but now he's poked the wrong bear!!

Laura

photome

Lets hope she does

first mistake, leaving car and keys with a car wash.

If they are denying any liabilty, I am not sure what you do

tacpot12

Sorry but their Public liability insurance won't help you. You need their professional liability insurers details. Public liability covers members of the public again their acts of negligence. You are their customer, not a member of the public.

arcon5

Not their fault your car locked itself with keys in the ignition. Damage though is, but you playing the big man obviously isn't getting your anywhere. So get it sorted "simply" and get over yourself. Or you could go to small claims court and hope you can persuade a judge they was. Relive the despite you placing time constraints on them by refusing to leave the car overnight

arcon5

How did AA get in

peachyprice

arcon5 wrote: »

How did AA get in

Half a tennis ball?

timbstoke

arcon5 wrote: »

Not their fault your car locked itself with keys in the ignition. Damage though is, but you playing the big man obviously isn't getting your anywhere. So get it sorted "simply" and get over yourself. Or you could go to small claims court and hope you can persuade a judge they was. Relive the despite you placing time constraints on them by refusing to leave the car overnight

I disagree. Automatically locking doors are not a new feature, and people who deal with different cars all day should be fully aware of it.

The car wash staff were left in charge of the car - anything that happens to it as a result is their fault. If they left keys in so they could listen to the radio, or left the engine running while cleaning the car, then they are at fault.

Get photos of the damage and a quote for making it right. Then write to the car park outlining your claim and giving them 14-21 days to either make payment or confirm that they have passed your letter to their Professional Liability Insurers (with the name and contact details of their insurer if they claim to have done this), or you will start proceedings against them to recover the money. Spend a couple of weeks reading up on making a claim through MCOL and the procedures involved - a free half hour with a solicitor could be worth your time.

macman

New cars almost always come with some form of breakdown cover, (AA, RAC etc) included in the warranty, so could you not have called them out yourself to open it 'professionally'?

Kimmy96

After taking my car to the havant wave car wash I asked for a gold service and front seats cleaned. Upon collecting my car it felt like my seats had been dunked in water they were so wet and my airbag warning light and passenger seat belt light permently on and warning alarms going off.

On.contacting the place I was told it was not their fault and my car is faulty. My car had no problems when it arrived but left with problems.

My car is now in the garage with a fairly large bill to pay as they have flooded the sensors and wires in the seats when washing them causing electrical damage.

I have had my seats cleaned before and they are damp to touch after....not so wet that all my clothes are dripping from soaking up the buckets of water they used!!

Any advice?

Manxman_in_exile

You need to start a new thread with a title relevant to your query. Your question might never be read where you've posted it.


Edit: the point is that you need a new thread of your own with a relevant title so that other posters who might have experienced this sort of problem see your query