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My first damage incident

Overachiever

Overachiever

Active member
I have a sign that says "Not responsible for any damages. The car wash is not responsible for any damage to fragile parts caused by water pressure or driving skills at all."

Heres what my attendant said happened, which lines up with what the customer said:

He forgot to put a cone in front of the bay while he was working on it.

He was in the process of clearing out some ice (we don't have doors on our IBAs, yet)

He decided to go climb up on the roof to fix an issue he found.

Customer tried to use the bay, got no water pressure cuz he was working on it on the roof.

Customer tried to exit the bay when the dryers turned on but couldn't get over a chunk of ice, so decided to back out of the bay and hit the brick pay station enclosure.

---

I'm working on downloading the camera feed right now to see how bad the accident was.

How much should I pay? 0 - 100%? I feel like I have some responsibility since the attendant screwed up and that customer shouldn't have been in that bay.

Should I have her fill out a damage claim form? Does anyone have a copy of one they can send me?

Thanks
 
Give me a freak’n break!! It’s not your fault. We wouldn’t give her anything or our insurance information. Who had physical control of the vehicle? Did any of your equipment damage her car? You should be getting her insurance information for backing into your brick pay station enclosure. Is there any damage to your brick pay station enclosure?
 
Kevin James said:
Give me a freak’n break!! It’s not your fault. We wouldn’t give her anything or our insurance information. Who had physical control of the vehicle? Did any of your equipment damage her car? You should be getting her insurance information for backing into your brick pay station enclosure. Is there any damage to your brick pay station enclosure?
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I saw a little bit of paint from her vehicle on it but otherwise it's fine. She definitely did a terrible job of backing out.

I just told her on the phone that I'd review the camera footage and get back to her.
 
If someone drives or backs into a stationary object it is there fault. If someone drove into the side of your building is that your fault for putting the wall there?
 
“He forgot to put a cone in front of the bay while he was working on it.”

This implies standard procedure when servicing equipment is to shut the bay down by blocking the entrance which is similar to locking out an electric motor for safety purposes while working on the equipment.

Was the accident preventable? Was the cone in place?

Does not have SOP in writing let you off the hook. No, because when servicing someone personal property there is an obligation to care for it.

For example, if operator “permits” customer park car on property and hail storm comes along and damages the vehicle or vehicle is stolen, the operator is responsible.

The why is because the operator should have parked the car inside to shield if from damage or theft.

Yes, you should document incident at time of event.

Boiler-sheet forms can be found searching online.
 
Not many women in the world that can back up. Sometimes I think vehicles that they drive don't even need reverse. For that reason I think this is an act of God and not your fault.
 
LOL. She called the cops after my attendant told her it wasn't our fault and she should have been more careful.

Cops didn't really do anything though, just told her to ask for my contact information.

From the looks of the video she didn't hit the paystation very hard.
 
This is a tough call. The fault is all hers, but it may be better to just pay. If the car has minimal damage and the repair is not too costly, then the damage she can do by talking poorly of your car wash could be greater. In a small market, word of mouth can reach everyone in town. In a large market you are probably okay, but you need to account for who she is. I once paid to repair a Caddy that hit our equipment because the driver owned the local newspaper, radio station, and television station. Plus a few hundred dollars is worth it if you can turn her into a lifelong fan that will go out and tell everyone how you really care. The reality is that you will pay in one way or another, so you need to minimize the damage to you as best you can.
 
PEI said:
This is a tough call. The fault is all hers, but it may be better to just pay. If the car has minimal damage and the repair is not too costly, then the damage she can do by talking poorly of your car wash could be greater. In a small market, word of mouth can reach everyone in town. In a large market you are probably okay, but you need to account for who she is. ..........
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She is an idiot. Let her tell the world she drove into a stationary object and it's your fault, not hers. I have one social media comment like this. Better she does not come back. It would just be another problem waiting to happen.
 
I disagree with offering to pay. She's upset because your equipment malfunctioned which caused her to do something unnatural at your wash, back out of an automatic. Shes putting the focus/blame on her hitting your building on the fact your equipment caused her to back up. However, it wasn't your malfunctioning equipment that damaged her car, it was her driving that hit a stationary object.

If she spreads word that you didn't pay, any reasonable person would side with you decision.
 
I disagree with offering to pay also. Its pretty clear who's fault it is. Word gets out that you payed for her lack of driving skills and now everyone is running into things at your wash. I would happily give her a few wash coupons for the wash(I never offer cash refunds) that malfunctioned, but as for her lack of driving skills you owe nothing.
 
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