Re Car Wash

[nikkiwilinski]

Hi, can anyone help, please. Yesterday I took my new VW beetle that I have only owned fpr 3 weeks through the car wash, I removed my ariel as advised and drove through, when I got to the rotary brushes there started to be a loud intermittent bang, that accumulated with smashing the rear windscreen I sounded my horn, but the car wash continued as I got to the dryer it blew all the shattered glass into the car, damaging the interior and hittng the back of my head, it was very scary. My car has extensive damage to paintwork both interior and exterior. The guy came round and gave me an incident form, a driver behind me went into car wash with guy to see what had caused the problem and it appears that a car ariel from a previous car had got stuck in the rotating brushes, the man who witnessed this has gave me his contact details if needed as a witness? they said they would contact me today to sort it out, but should I inform my own insurance or a solicitor? My biggest concern is if I had had my children in the back seat they would have been seriously injured. The man continued to let the car wash operate and didnt tell anyone to remove their ariels, just seems really dangerous. Any help greatly appreciated.

[rebel11]

Hi nikki

 

Welcome to CAG

The guys will advise as soon as they are available. Thread Moved.

 

I would report it to your insurance company, even if you aren't going to claim from them.

[raydetinu]

best advice dont use mechanical car washes; they ruin your paintwork!

Just advise your insurance company and let them deal with it, but you could write to their head office and advise them of the incident as there is obviously something wrong with their procedures that can allow this to happen. Health and safety etc. Perhaps the HSE may be interested as well, as you say somebody could have been injured.

[sailor sam]

Hi and welcome to CAG.

 

I would assume that there would be signs at the entrance to the car wash laying out the user criteria which normally referrs to ariels, roof racks spoilers ect. No doubt the signs will also state that 'you use the casr wash at your own risk' or words to that affect. Well, don't worry about that too much. Was the car wash at a petrol station or at a supermarket? Above else, you need to establish the owner/operator of the car wash. Take your car to your dealer and obtain an estimate for the damage. I would also consult your insurers especially if you have NCB protection.

 

Please come back and let us know when the operator has contacted you to let us know what they are going to do about it.

 

Please Note

 

 

The advice I offer will be based on the information given by the person needing it. All my advice is based on my experiences and knowledge gained in working in the motor and passenger transport industries in various capacities. Although my advice will always be sincere, it should be used as guidence only.

 

 

I would always urge to seek professional advice for clarification prior to taking any action.

 

 

Please click my reputation 'star' button at the bottom of my profile window on the left if you found my advice useful.

[Endymion]

Difficult to succeed against the car wash owners unless you can prove either the car wash was faulty and they knew about it or that they failed to warn other drivers to remove aerials etc.

 

The owners of the car wash are under the duties as specified under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957. These duties just state that the owner has to have a reasonable system in place to ensure that the car wash was working correctly etc.

 

If the owners can prove that they had a reasonable system of frequent inspections and that the machine, at these times, was without fault and no complaints from members of the public had been made then they can show that they had done all things reasonable possible to ensure that the machine was working properly.

 

It is likley that the OP's car will have been the next car after the one that had lost the aerial and so the owners of the car wash would not have been on notice that it was faulty. If it wasn't the next car and if previous complaints had been made then they will be found to be negligent for having not acted on the same.

 

If no complaints had been made and the system of inspection/maintenance was acceptable then all that the OP can rely upon is to whether any negligence can attach to the owners of the car wash in failing to warn users as to the possible problems of leaving aerials on or to have an engineer to inspect the machine to see if it was indeed faulty and not fit for purpose.

[bargainhunter]

I would ask the car wash company who their insurer is and also raise a claim through their insurer

[bargainhunter]

best advice dont use mechanical car washes; they ruin your paintwork!

Just advise your insurance company and let them deal with it, but you could write to their head office and advise them of the incident as there is obviously something wrong with their procedures that can allow this to happen. Health and safety etc. Perhaps the HSE may be interested as well, as you say somebody could have been injured.

 

Whilst this incident was unfortunate, the rotary car washes are actually better for your paintwork if maintained.

 

The handwash places do tend to throw the sponges on the floor... when they miss the bucket. All it takes is one little stone and you have swirls all over your paintwork... I had this and I made them tcutthe whole car and remove the scratches. Luckily I noticed it and the scratches were very small.

[raydetinu]

When was the last time you saw a high value car in a car wash! Talk to any paint shop or high end vehicle detailers. They wouldnt go anywhere near them.

[sailor sam]

Do we have any news from the OP yet?

 

Please Note

 

 

The advice I offer will be based on the information given by the person needing it. All my advice is based on my experiences and knowledge gained in working in the motor and passenger transport industries in various capacities. Although my advice will always be sincere, it should be used as guidence only.

 

 

I would always urge to seek face to face professional advice for clarification prior to taking any action.

 

 

Please click my reputation 'star' button at the bottom of my profile window on the left if you found my advice useful.

[sir_gilmour]

Hi

Welcome to The Consumer Action Group.

 

 

I am just letting you know that as you haven't had any replies to your post yet, it might be better if you post your message again in an appropriate sub-forum. You will get lots of help there.

 

Also take some time to read around the forum and get used to the layout. It is a big forum and takes a lot of getting used to.

 

 

Once you start to find your way, you will soon realise that it is fairly easy to get round and to get the help you need.

 

It can be bit confusing at first.