Oh, I hit something?

[I.B. Washincars]

Yesterday, I got a call that someone had maybe run a dually through my Wesumat SoftWash and done quite a bit of damage. When I got there, I found a sign at the entrance run over and smashed to the floor and quite a bit of damage to the gantry. The main part of the damage was the bending of the gear box shafts (1" diameter) that drive the wheel brushes. There were other bent up parts and tires marks nearly 4' up as well, in addition to the black paint left by the offender. We had a distant picture of a white F-250 pulling a trailer, entering the bay and backing out when finished. Luckily, he paid by credit card and we had him within a couple of hours. I arrived at his house with police in tow to see him just wrapping up repairs to his trailer in the driveway (F-250 wasn't there). I parked up the street and let the policeman confront him and waited until he waived me over. Upon getting a closer look at the trailer, both fenders were severely mangled and it was wearing two brand new tires complete with stickers. The owner had already fessed up to the policeman before I came over. He proceeded to apologize to me and told me that he had no idea he had done any damage. Other than my reply "Seriously?" I didn't push it any further. The cop let him know that this would be a felony charge and strongly advised that he square up with me, which he assured me he would. Three hours later my distributor had my auto back up and running (without wheel scrubbers) and his insurance company contacted me today.

Sometimes it's just your day

 

[JeffM]

Wow! Glad to hear it worked out in the end for you. At least he didn't try pulling the "it's not my fault" routine.

 

[rph9168]

What I like is the line "I have washed this truck here before with no problem". My reply is, "No you didn't because my equipment is still standing.".

 

[Jimmy Buffett]

Be sure to check your gearboxes for hairline cracks. The first time somebody opened their door in mine I didn't notice that my gearbox was slightly cracked. I had to replace it a year later and those things are pretty pricey! If it bent 1" arms it likely broke the gearbox too.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

No, it actually bent the gearbox shafts so new gearboxes are definitely in order.

On a side note, someone called from another wash this morning telling me that they hit my sign base, breaking some brick and bending a pole. When I got there, he pointed out the damage, to which I told him that it was there before he hit it. All he did was leave a paint mark on an already bent pole.

 

[MEP001]

I.B., are you in Texas? Some idiot drove an overheight truck into our Vector last week, and when I talked to the insurance guy he told me he'd just looked at one that had been hit, and what he described sounded just like what happened to yours.