What's new
By:
Car Wash Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Cars Bump - Handle how

E

Earl Weiss

Well-known member
Cars A, B, C, proceeding down tunnel.

Rear Wheel push - One safety roller. 7 foot spacing.

75 feet in for unknown reason car A loses all rollers, they pass under rear & then front wheel. Video does not show A applying brakes.


B Bumps A loses rollers and C Bumps B


B has scratches in rear bumper where hex front licens plate screws protrude from C.

I was not there. If I was i would typicaly try and check a for bad alignment or low tire. Some times in these cases A just drives off anyway.

Many thousands of cars washed in preceeding and following days with no similar incidents so i cannot attribute it to equipment issue.

Pay for B Repairs ($350.00)?
 
If you care about customers, by all means, pay the $350.

The why is regardless of how an operator describes “not responsible for” the service provider is ultimately responsible for damage that occurs during the “handling” of the customer’s property.

The fact it’s ride-through doesn’t change this.

For example, if in court, I would expect an argument like – it is not absolutely necessary to have people in cars during the wash (i.e. full-service), ergo, this could have been avoided.

Here, logic is used to circumvent the “chicken/egg” dilemma - was it customer error or equipment malfunction?

As for the $350, the “benchmark” for damage (exterior wash) is about $3,500 annually.

Conveniently, this works out to ten similar incidents.

So, you have nine more lives.
 
I wouldn't be happy about it, but I would probably pay in this case. Customer B, the one with damage, didn't do anything wrong. If there is no obvious fault with customer A, they aren't going to pay.

I would be thankful it didn't cost more to repair, pay the bill and move on.

David
 
I recently just had this happen. Car A didnt just lose rollers, their tires were on top of the side rail of the conveyor! I pulled them in, and there were no issues, went into tunnel clean (mine is a front wheel pull), loaded second vehicle into tunnel. first vehicle ended up on conveyor rails, second vehicle bumped him 3-4 times before my attendant was able to hit the emergency stop button. no scratches to either vehicle, however as i guided car a out of the tunnel (mind u, he is still on the rail) front tire slips back into track, so it dropped 2 inches. Customer then complained steering felt awkward. Internal Steering gears were damaged upon further examination...i got stuck with that bill as we cant prove the carwash couldnt cause that.

Last night i had an even better one. customer thought he put vehicle into neutral upon being guided into tunnel, took foot off brake while still in drive. went straight into first set of wraps. wash wasnt turned on yet. busted hood, wiper arm, and caved passenger side of windshield inwards. thankfully he said he was at fault and is claiming it on his own insurance.
 
Last night i had an even better one. customer thought he put vehicle into neutral upon being guided into tunnel, took foot off brake while still in drive. went straight into first set of wraps. wash wasnt turned on yet. busted hood, wiper arm, and caved passenger side of windshield inwards. thankfully he said he was at fault and is claiming it on his own insurance.[/QUOTE]

We have our wraps retract when the wash isn't on. You may want to look at having yours retract as soon as the conveyor is shut off. That should help keep the brush from riding up on the hood.
 
Good to hear you solved it quickly... now if only all customers in that situation were as easy to deal with.
 
Cause?

The cause could be low air in the rear tire and since since you not set up for front pull it could jump that roller also. The exact thing happened to us the other day but a quick thinking customer hit his horn and brake in time for us to stop the wash with no damage.
 
mikeycarwash said:
The cause could be low air in the rear tire and since since you not set up for front pull it could jump that roller also. The exact thing happened to us the other day but a quick thinking customer hit his horn and brake in time for us to stop the wash with no damage.
Click to expand...


If you found low PSI would you deny a claim?
 
It is not hard to prove low tire pressure- just check it, but it is hard to prove that was the cause.

It might depend on how low it is, if it is 5 psi or so, that might be pretty tough. However, if it 10 psi, that is a better argument.


This is off topic, but I assume car bump issues do not exist with the belt conveyors. Do they introduce new problems we don't see with traditional conveyors?
 
briteauto said:
This is off topic, but I assume car bump issues do not exist with the belt conveyors. Do they introduce new problems we don't see with traditional conveyors?
Click to expand...

If the customer at the end does not pull out the next car can bump him. If the customer has it in drive he can bump the car in front.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top