Car damaged in collision whilst at Waves Car Wash

eventhestarsdie

Hello everyone,

I took my car to be cleaned at my local Waves Car Wash in a Tesco car park this afternoon, went off for a little lunchtime walk and when I came back the operators told me that my car had been involved in an accident.
Apparently another driver scraped the bumper whilst the operator was manoeuvring my car, so I now have a massive gouge out of my back bumper. The car is still drive able.
The manager of the car wash gave me his details and suggested I contact a body shop for repair prices and to get in touch with him to cover the costs. 
Apparently the other car involved drove off, and there is CCTV of the incident, but I haven't seen it.

I tried to call my car insurer to ask where I stand, as I was obviously not in the car at the time, but their number cut me off after 15 minutes waiting on hold (Aviva Zero).

I've requested a copy of the CCTV from Waves and also contacted Tesco to ask for the same - Waves are asking for a daft amount of ID to verify my identity already, but hopefully will be able to provide this.

I just wondered if anyone else has been in a similar situation and had any advice?

Waves' website states that their liability is capped at £1,000, but I have no clue about how much a repair is likely to be.
My insurance excess is £150, so if I claimed through the insurance, I'd hope that Waves would at least offer to cover that as the 'moral' thing to do (though I'm not very optimistic about that happening....).

Needless to say, I probably won't be using the same car wash again in the future.

MyRealNameToo

eventhestarsdie said:

Hello everyone,

I took my car to be cleaned at my local Waves Car Wash in a Tesco car park this afternoon, went off for a little lunchtime walk and when I came back the operators told me that my car had been involved in an accident.
Apparently another driver scraped the bumper whilst the operator was manoeuvring my car, so I now have a massive gouge out of my back bumper. The car is still drive able.
The manager of the car wash gave me his details and suggested I contact a body shop for repair prices and to get in touch with him to cover the costs. 
Apparently the other car involved drove off, and there is CCTV of the incident, but I haven't seen it.

I tried to call my car insurer to ask where I stand, as I was obviously not in the car at the time, but their number cut me off after 15 minutes waiting on hold (Aviva Zero).

I've requested a copy of the CCTV from Waves and also contacted Tesco to ask for the same - Waves are asking for a daft amount of ID to verify my identity already, but hopefully will be able to provide this.

I just wondered if anyone else has been in a similar situation and had any advice?

Waves' website states that their liability is capped at £1,000, but I have no clue about how much a repair is likely to be.
My insurance excess is £150, so if I claimed through the insurance, I'd hope that Waves would at least offer to cover that as the 'moral' thing to do (though I'm not very optimistic about that happening....).

Needless to say, I probably won't be using the same car wash again in the future.

Who is at fault for the accident, as far as Waves is concerned? 

Your car was being actively driven by someone not covered by your insurance so your policy will not respond unless the other driver alleges that your vehicle was responsible for the accident in which case they may respond as RTA Insurer but that means you would have to reimburse them given you consented for an uninsured driver to use your vehicle. 

MeteredOut

Presumably the car wash has insurance that covers their drivers/the cars they drive for the period when they move the cars as part of their business?

m0bov

A grand doesn't go far. Have you got legal protection??

Mildly_Miffed

Do not tell your insurer. You weren't involved, nor was anybody covered by your policy. This is not their problem - but it could easily become a big one for you.

The carwash owner/operator need to fix your car. Stating a maximum amount to their liability is very fluffy, but carries zero legal weight. Whether the cause of the damage was their driver or the other driver is also not your problem.

If they do not, then it's up to you to get the car fixed and launch a small claim against them.

MyRealNameToo

Mildly_Miffed said:

Do not tell your insurer. You weren't involved, nor was anybody covered by your policy. This is not their problem - but it could easily become a big one for you.

The carwash owner/operator need to fix your car. Stating a maximum amount to their liability is very fluffy, but carries zero legal weight. Whether the cause of the damage was their driver or the other driver is also not your problem.

If they do not, then it's up to you to get the car fixed and launch a small claim against them.

Why do you think stating maximum liability carries no weight? There are certain things you can't cap, like liability for causing a death, but it is possible to cap most liabilities under a contract. 

user1977

MyRealNameToo said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

Do not tell your insurer. You weren't involved, nor was anybody covered by your policy. This is not their problem - but it could easily become a big one for you.

The carwash owner/operator need to fix your car. Stating a maximum amount to their liability is very fluffy, but carries zero legal weight. Whether the cause of the damage was their driver or the other driver is also not your problem.

If they do not, then it's up to you to get the car fixed and launch a small claim against them.

Why do you think stating maximum liability carries no weight? There are certain things you can't cap, like liability for causing a death, but it is possible to cap most liabilities under a contract. 

I think it would be treated as an unfair contract term, given it's a rather arbitrary and unreasonably low figure. 

BEBELUCA2017

MyRealNameToo said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

Do not tell your insurer. You weren't involved, nor was anybody covered by your policy. This is not their problem - but it could easily become a big one for you.

The carwash owner/operator need to fix your car. Stating a maximum amount to their liability is very fluffy, but carries zero legal weight. Whether the cause of the damage was their driver or the other driver is also not your problem.

If they do not, then it's up to you to get the car fixed and launch a small claim against them.

Why do you think stating maximum liability carries no weight? There are certain things you can't cap, like liability for causing a death, but it is possible to cap most liabilities under a contract. 

Under these circumstances the OP is relying on tort not contract law. The carwash owed him a duty of care, they breached that duty by crashing his car and now need to recompense him. They cannot limit their finance liability in tort. 

Ectophile

Mildly_Miffed said:

Do not tell your insurer. You weren't involved, nor was anybody covered by your policy. This is not their problem - but it could easily become a big one for you.

Read your insurance policy document.  It almost certainly requires you to tell them if your car was involved in an accident, whether or not you were driving it.

If somebody else's insurer ends up paying the bill, it will be on computer, and your insurer could find out.  They all share data with each other.

MyRealNameToo

BEBELUCA2017 said:

MyRealNameToo said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

Do not tell your insurer. You weren't involved, nor was anybody covered by your policy. This is not their problem - but it could easily become a big one for you.

The carwash owner/operator need to fix your car. Stating a maximum amount to their liability is very fluffy, but carries zero legal weight. Whether the cause of the damage was their driver or the other driver is also not your problem.

If they do not, then it's up to you to get the car fixed and launch a small claim against them.

Why do you think stating maximum liability carries no weight? There are certain things you can't cap, like liability for causing a death, but it is possible to cap most liabilities under a contract. 

Under these circumstances the OP is relying on tort not contract law. The carwash owed him a duty of care, they breached that duty by crashing his car and now need to recompense him. They cannot limit their finance liability in tort. 

We dont know that... the driver that failed to stop may be to blame for the accident

shera12

eventhestarsdie said:

Hello everyone,

I took my car to be cleaned at my local Waves Car Wash in a Tesco car park this afternoon, went off for a little lunchtime walk and when I came back the operators told me that my car had been involved in an accident.
Apparently another driver scraped the bumper whilst the operator was manoeuvring my car, so I now have a massive gouge out of my back bumper. The car is still drive able.
The manager of the car wash gave me his details and suggested I contact a body shop for repair prices and to get in touch with him to cover the costs. 
Apparently the other car involved drove off, and there is CCTV of the incident, but I haven't seen it.

I tried to call my car insurer to ask where I stand, as I was obviously not in the car at the time, but their number cut me off after 15 minutes waiting on hold (Aviva Zero).

I've requested a copy of the CCTV from Waves and also contacted Tesco to ask for the same - Waves are asking for a daft amount of ID to verify my identity already, but hopefully will be able to provide this.

I just wondered if anyone else has been in a similar situation and had any advice?

Waves' website states that their liability is capped at £1,000, but I have no clue about how much a repair is likely to be.
My insurance excess is £150, so if I claimed through the insurance, I'd hope that Waves would at least offer to cover that as the 'moral' thing to do (though I'm not very optimistic about that happening....).

Needless to say, I probably won't be using the same car wash again in the future.

That’s really frustrating. Sorry you’re dealing with that. Sounds like you’re doing the right things by getting CCTV and contacting the car wash manager. Hopefully they’ll cover the costs, at least up to their liability cap. If the repair ends up more than that, your insurance could help, but it might be worth pushing Waves to cover your excess too. Good luck, and fingers crossed it’s sorted quickly!