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Damage Claim Coming - Suggestions!

Red Baron

Red Baron

Active member
Got a voicemail from last night asking me to come to the car wash (I was in bed and phone off). Got there this morning and watched the video. A lady pulls into my IBA (D&s i5000) and runs into the rightside rails, backs up, runs into the rightside again, opens driver door (can see she has 18" at least on the leftside) then runs into the rightside rail again. She then pulls out to the vacs and starts taking pics of her front wheel/tire. Evidently it wasn't flat because she drove away.

I suspect she's going to tell me I owe her a tire and/or wheel. My signs clearly say we're not responsible for driver error, and this was clearly driver error. Rails are new and smooth. I'm inclined to tell her I won't pay and she needs to contact her ins company but I thought I'd get your thoughts first.
 
If she calls I would just explain it just as you have here. Tell her you have video of the whole incident and describe it exactly as you see it on video so she will know you have it. I would guess that will be the end of it.

On a side note, I am amazed at how many times I have had customers never return when I am sure they will. About 6 months ago my touchless auto blew most of the paint off the roof of an '01 Yukon. I told that woman that it was a paint problem and I did not feel responsible. She told me that she was going to "do what it takes". As of today, I haven't heard from her. At about the same time my friction auto ripped off half the lower valance panel of a Ford Ranger. The owner told me it was broken already, but was still on there securely. The brush caught it at the break and ripped it off from there. I hemmed and hawwed until he asked me if I would pay half price of a used one. I agreed and never heard from him again so I could pay him. I can think of several other incidences over the years when the issue was questionable where I told them I would make arrangements with a body shop and never heard back. I can only assume they were attempting to get cash from me.
 
I watched the video again. The lady was clearly distracted by her little dog that kept trying to get in her lap as she was pulling into the bay.
 
Just keep it professional and tell her to have the insurance co. call you, and you can explain it the same way. If she was older than 65- you can request in our state after an accident, that they be retested for their license.
 
Evidently she had time to sleep on it because when I called this morning she said: Oh, we got it taken care of already, but thanks for calling me back.
 
It sounds like things worked out fine. If things would have been different I would have told her I would have to check out the damage done to my $150,000 automatic by her careless driving.
 
captain cw said:
Video cameras are a must. They will pay for themselves in no time at all over incidents just like this.
Click to expand...

They also help to fix intermittent problems with the wash. Nice to have inbay cameras but the most important view is of the license plate.
 
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