Damage, disclaimers and taking information

[carnut2]

Is taking information from a customer who claims damage an admission of liability or just covering yourself should they pursue a claim?

I am not sure whether to direct my site manager to always get photos and information when people make claims. Or, do you nicely say, we don't believe our equipment caused your damage, point at the disclaimer, and move them along?

Are there any role playing or training videos that could help me with this portion of training for my manager and myself? We both have prior business management experience but are both new to the car wash management model.

 

[pitzerwm]

IMO, gathing all the info that you can, is smart. If you need it down the raod and don't have it, you will spend more money. If it clearly not your fault, then Just have your people say that , "The boss says, everything needs to be documented", take the pictures get the info, then say, what it looks like to me is "whatever". In the event they get ugly, you have all the info, that you need to protect yourself, for your insurance company/the s,mall claims court. The more professional you l;ook the better you will fair, in court or anywhere else.

Another thing IMO is that the person just trying to "mug" you will realize that you do things by the book.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Is taking information from a customer who claims damage an admission of liability or just covering yourself should they pursue a claim?

I use an "Alleged Incident Report Form" for my employees and the customer to fill out. (If you want a copy e-mail me at EWeisstkd@aol.com)

The form itelf has 2 important statements:

"Completion of this report is not an admission of liability by the facility or customer."

and

"CUSTOMER HAS ASSUMED LIABILITY FOR LOOSE, DEFECTIVE, PREVIOUSLY DAMAGED,OR NON-FACTORY ORIGINAL ITEMS AS WELL AS UN-LOWERED ANTENNAS."

Keeping a digital Camera on site is a good idea as well.

 

[Chiefs]

We to have a damage claim form that we employ. We get all the pertinent customer information, vehicle information and allot space for the customer to explain their claim. At the bottom of the form we also stste that the form is for claim evaluation purposes and that no admission of responsibility is represented by the form.

We also use multiple forms and to save the customer time, we slip a piece of carbon paper between the forms so that it only needs to be filled out one time. This way, we have a copy and the customer has a copy. If we are not on site we follow up with the customer the following business day and arrange a time for them to come back so that we can evaluate their claim and decide whether or not we accept the claim.

IF we accept the claim we then fill out a Damage Repair Authorization form enabling them to take their vehicle to a local body shop we do business with.

Once a repair is completed we also follow up with the customer with a letter of apology for their inconvenience and a couple of free wash coupons for future visits.

Having cameras at the beginning in the middle and at the end of the wash process are absolutely vital and have saved us $tens of thousands in false damage claims, especially when customers do stupid thing like jump the track then try to drive out or knock the vehicle into drive and take a running start into the car in front of them, not to mention pre-existing damage or missing parts.

Handling damage claims effectively and knowing what your equipment is and IS NOT capable of doing is vital if you're not going to be a patsy for every customer claim.

Having these forms for the customer to fill out also takes a lot of steam out of the sails and lets them know immediately that you take their claim seriously and have a process for handling them and their copy of the form gives them the piece of mind (at least initially) that they have a record of the claim to take with them.

If you or anyone wants copies of our forms they can e-mail me at CHIEFSAW4345@aol.com

 

[Earl Weiss]

Ditto on the carbon paper for the alleged incident reports so customer gets copy. We keep org'l.

BTW, not always easy to find copy paper these days!