Car damaged during auto car wash ***Settled with costs after Court claim issued**

[sue11]

Hello to all, I am new to this site and would appreciate any advice that you may have regarding my legal rights.

 

I put my car through a car wash which included the wheel scrub, I have used this auto wash a few times previously with no problems. On returning home my other half pointed out large circular scratches on the paintwork behind the wheel arch of the front tyres and before the wheel arch of the back tyres (on the sides of my car), 4 sets of scratches in all. This damage appeared to have been caused by the wheel scrub missing the wheels of my car as it went through the wash process. My other half took photos of the damage and we have kept the receipt from the car wash.

 

I wrote to the garage (Murco) advising them of the problem and they wrote back asking me to get 2 repair quotes. Given their response at this point, I thought it was all going to be a straighforward process. I obtained 1 quote from my local garage which seemed reasonable and wrote back asking if they wished to pay this directly or if they wished me to pay and then would recompense me. I heard nothing back and on contacting them again, they just advised me that they were investigating the incident. After waiting a few more days, I wrote to Murco stating that I was unwilling to leave my car in this state and I was going ahead with the repair using the local garage. Once again I asked them how they wished to settle the bill. I did not hear back from the company and went ahead with the repair assuming that they would settle, given that they had asked me for repair quotes.

 

A few days later, I then received a letter advising that they had found nothing wrong with the car wash, denying liability and pointing out their disclaimer notice which states owners take their cars to the car wash at their own risk. I can understand that the garage cannot expect to be held liable for damage that may be caused due to the actions of drivers, but in my case my car was damaged due to the machine not working properly.

 

We have advised Murco that they have until 22nd June to settle my bill (£150 for repair to the paintwork) or I will take further action to recover my money.

 

Can anyone advise me on the likelyhood of any legal claim succeeding? I have been on various sites where owners have suffered damage to spoilers etc and they have been advised that owners have no rights due to the disclaimer notices.

However I saw an earlier post on this site in which the person posting suffered the same type of damage. The response given told the poster to keep photos and write to the garage. The poster did not respond to this response so I do not know the outcome, but this response gives me hope that Murco may have some liability in this case.

I am not sure what defence Murco would offer apart from tryng to claim that I must have moved my car during the wash process. I turned the engine off when I used the car wash so I know this did not happen, also I would have had to have driven forward and then backwards to have caused the 4 circular scratches that appeared on my car both after and before the wheel arches on the sides of the car.

 

I would be grateful for any advice.

 

Many thanks

Sue

[MARTIN3030]

Welcome to the site.Have you kept a record of all your communications with them,and what have you got in writing from them ?

[rebel11]

Thread has been moved to the correct forum.

 

Please let us know how your problem has been resolved, it could help fellow Caggers.

[sue11]

Hello Martin 3030, thank you for your response. Yes I have emails and letters from them, intially asking for the quotes, then advising they are investigating and finally denying responsibility stating that they equipment has been tested and found to be working correctly.

I have kept all copies of communication. We also have a few photos which clearly shows the damage to the car before it was repaired.

For information, the earlier post I mentioned was responded to by yourself!

Many thanks

Sue

[MARTIN3030]

The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 is on your side. Although it was extensively amended by the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994, the overriding principle remains the same: Section 13 of the former states "In a contract for the supply of a service where the supplier is acting in the course of a business, there is an implied term that the supplier will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill." Provided you complied with the conditions that apply to that wash (ie, remove aerials, no spoliers or whatever they state) the supplier is bound to meet the reasonable cost of repair caused by the failure of his equipment

This assumes of course,that you followed all the instructions and were not a party to any damage due to ignoring any instructions.

You should give them 14 days to compensate you of go for it is the small claims.

But you need to have informed them that you will seek to recover it through the County Court.My guess is that they will settle.

[sue11]

That is excellent, thank you for your quick response.

I simply drove up to the arrow as I normally do as per instructions, the arrow changed to stop which of course I do so and turned off the engine. I think they may try to claim that I moved the car, but as I said I would have had to have driven forward and then reversed again to get 4 scratches before and after the wheel arches!

Thank you very much for your help, I will keep you informed of my progress.

Sue

[MARTIN3030]

If we were talking of £1000s then maybe they would put up a fight,but for £150,I cant see it really.

[sue11]

Thank you, I hope so too. They have already refused to pay, we have responded giving them until 22nd June to settle, this was reiterated from a date given on one of my earlier letters dated 2nd June. We have told them that there will be no further contact with them and we will take further action on this date. I hope that once they receive the small claims notification, they will pay up.

I will keep you informed regardless.

Many thanks

Sue

[sailor sam]

Providing that you adhered to the operating instructions as indicated by their signage, then they are liable. Any 'disclaimer' notice cannot reduce or remove your statutory rights.

 

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.

[sue11]

Thank you. I have a Merc SLK which has nothing to remove apart from the arial. I drove (carefully!) up to the arrow indicator light as I normally do and then when it changed to stop, switched off the engine and waited for the machine to do it's normal job. I don't think there was anything else that I needed to do, thinking about it there was a sound during the wash that did not seem quite normal but this may be my mind attempting to find a recollection that was not really there, I am not sure so would not try to suggest this in any legal action!

Pkus I have used this car wash on previous occasions without any issues so it was relatively familiar to me.

Many thanks

Sue

[sailor sam]

Have you sent them an LBA (letter before action) by recorded post?

 

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.

[sue11]

No I have not sent anything officially headed Letter Before Action. However I have sent them three letters during this issue, two of which gives them the deadline of 22nd June as the time that I expect to be paid. The first one giving this deadline was dated 2nd June and the second after they denied liability was dated the 12 June. Therefore I consider that I have clearly shown that I have given a reasonable deadline that I have asked to be recompensed by. I have also stated in the second letter that there will be no further contact before we take legal action.

Many thanks

Sue

[sue11]

Oh yes, I have also sent copies of all correspondence by email some of which has been responded to by Murco. Therefore I can assume that emails have reached them as well as letters.

Thanks

Sue

[horationelson]

Tricky situation to argue as they can generally disclaim for this sort of stuff. You just may need to show that the disclaimer didn't form part of your contract because you didn't see it until after you'd entered into the contract.

[sailor sam]

Tricky situation to argue as they can generally disclaim for this sort of stuff. You just may need to show that the disclaimer didn't form part of your contract because you didn't see it until after you'd entered into the contract.

 

Not very easily they can't. They can put what ever notice they like up but they cannot remove a consumers statutory rights. If the OP paid to use the wash and used it correctly, then the OP has a claim, it's as simple as that.

 

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.

[oddjobbob]

Yes Sam is correct, it makes no difference what the disclaimer says, asl ong as yuo followed the instructions (like removing aerial etc).

[stu007]

Hi

 

Could I also ask if this carwash was part of a petrol station forecourt?

 

The reason I ask this is if it is part of the petrol station forecourt the carwash may possibly be covered by any CCTV that they have especially if its a well known petrol retailer.

 

If it does have CCTV them request copies for the date this happened.

 

Also they say the have investigated this and not there fault basically (now what actual proof have they given you that they did investigate this ask them for a full breakdown of there investigation and the manufacturer of the Carwash)

Edited June 25, 2012 by stu007

[MARTIN3030]

Disclosure under the DPA allows them 40 days and they know this.

I would make it clear that should a Court claim be filed,then you would be seeking disclosure of this.

[sue11]

Thank you very much for the help and advice that everyone has given me regarding this issue. To update you, as there had been no contact from the garage by Saturday 23rd June, we put in a online claim via the small claims procedure. The garage had 14 days to respond to this and today they have sent me a letter offering settlement in full and final settlement of my claim. I had also claimed for administration and travel costs and the garage have agreed to pay these as well which is a final total of £256.

I am delighted that they have agreed to settle as I did not really want to have to fight this all the way to court.

Once again thank you all very much. your advice gave me the confidence to take this further, having looked at other forums damage to car paintwork at auto car washes seems very common and I guess that garages rely on most of the public dropping any claim before it goes much further.

Needless to say I will be washing my car by hand from now on!

Sue

[MARTIN3030]

Excellent news.

It is a pity that it took a claim to see them sort it,but we see this often.

In many cases people threaten Court action but dont actually follow it through.

I will mark the thread title to reflect the result.

Well done,your determination and effort will be an inspiration to others to do the same if the need arises.

[sailor sam]

Good result. They obviously did some homework!

 

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.

[Cazzalina]

My car has just had the same thing happen. I am in the process of getting quotes. I will then be sending my letter off to the head office of the car wash.