Unattended tunnel incident

[Sparkleclean]

I have mentioned before that we run an unattended tunnel. Actually it is attended from 9-5 daily but we are open 24 hrs. Normally we run with minimal problems, the occasional conveyor jam and drunks being the worst of them. However sunday we collided with an elderly woman.....literally.

Here is just a short clip of her trip tough the wash. She came at 8:10 am on her way to church, 50 minutes before the attendant shows up, and had trouble from the get go. This video starts after she had already been trying to get on the conveyor for 5 minutes with no luck. It also continues for a time afterwards with her attempting to back out and hitting the wall behind her 3 times before finally leaving and almost causing an accident in the road on her way out.

When the police contacted her, only so we could get her insurance info, they asked her why she didnt notify anyone, she said she didnt want to be late for choir practice! Lol she said she came back by around 11:30 but no one was there, mind you my cell number is everywhere on the aalls and receipts etc..... the officer told her, thats be ause you ruined all their equipment and they had to close.....

I talked to her insurance today, they are covering it and paying for lost business as well. 2 beautiful days on a holiday weekend in a tourist town.... that hurt!

View attachment trim.98C47726-3C95-417F-BBEB-69FE3638E296.MOV

 

[br549ms]

Man that hurts, hope you recover quickly. I have often thought of going unattended at times. But I have a feeling that would happen too often here!

 

[OurTown]

OMG! Some people should not be driving! Hopefully you are up and running soon.

 

[Sparkleclean]

We were back open tuesday afternoon with some creative repairs..... lol. We lost a belanger uniarch, wall sign, photo eye, belanger wheel sprayer treadle on the passenger side, she hit the wall in at least 4 places, and pulled the hose from the boom.... it really could have been much worse! Luckily her car went to the side the way it did instead of going a little further into the tunnel, if that had happened she would have taken out my gyro wraps and we would have been closed for months!

 

[jfmoran]

I'm amazed this doesn't happen more often. No way I would do an unattended tunnel... ever. I've see people do this kind of shit WITH an attendant.

 

[Greg Pack]

"Your car wash scratched my car"

So anyway, do you feel that you get enough night business to make it a worthwhile risk? Have you ever figured out what % wash after hours?

 

[Waxman]

I cannot believe that a tunnel can be run un attended, ever. People can't even figure out an IBA wash!?!?

 

[MEP001]

My customers can't even figure out the self-serve bays.

 

[Sparkleclean]

"Your car wash scratched my car"

So anyway, do you feel that you get enough night business to make it a worthwhile risk? Have you ever figured out what % wash after hours?

I dont own the wash, but yes we have figured that number out. I think it is less then 200 cars per year use it after 11p/12a. But without it being open unattended i would have to keep attendants there until 7/8pm because we get a lot of customers that come through after 5pm on their way home. Attendants are there from 9-5. We would also have to have someone there by 7am since we get a lot of customers early on their way to work. We are also a VERY small town (maybe 6000 people) and market in general. Most night time customers are well aware of how to use the wash.

This wouldnt work in a large market or town, but it works for us here, and i wouldnt change it even if i did own it. Customers are trained already and if it works why not....

 

[Sparkleclean]

A follow up to this post, the customer had mmg insurance out of maine and they were great! They took responsibility quickly and paid in full 100%! They didnt even try to argue depreciation, or lost business. I was expecting them to only pay for lost PROFIT not the whole income But they did. They even paid for "future closure dates" for repairs that had yet to even take place.

They are a great insurance company, i use them for my cars and house in nh and i had a chimney fire last year they paid up on, without raising any rates, and they even told me to go with the higher estimate because the guy was doing more work.

To me a great insurer is one that pays when they have to without fighting it out, mmg is that. We got lucky because if they had depreciated everything this would have cost us a small fortune.

 

[Jeff_L]

Personally I say you really got lucky with this one. I wouldn't take the risk of a tunnel being open 24/7 and unattended. Surprised you haven't had more issues than this. I even shut down my IBA soft touch at night so I can sleep well knowing my equipment isn't touching a car that decided to drive in sideways lol.

Not telling you how to run that business, just giving my unsolicited opinion. I would encourage you to speak with an attorney for "what if" scenarios to see if you dodged a bullet here or if you are completely risk free. Might be a waste of $$ for the hour with them, or it might be a great investment for risk avoidance.

 

[Sparkleclean]

Personally I say you really got lucky with this one. I wouldn't take the risk of a tunnel being open 24/7 and unattended. Surprised you haven't had more issues than this. I even shut down my IBA soft touch at night so I can sleep well knowing my equipment isn't touching a car that decided to drive in sideways lol.

Not telling you how to run that business, just giving my unsolicited opinion. I would encourage you to speak with an attorney for "what if" scenarios to see if you dodged a bullet here or if you are completely risk free. Might be a waste of $$ for the hour with them, or it might be a great investment for risk avoidance.

I tend to agree with you but if you read the original post you’ll see that I don’t actually own the car wash and the decisions not really mine overall. Being in a really small market it works for us, but it definitely would not be something that could be replicated in a larger market. This lady’s insurance company actually said she was in control of the car therefore it was her fault. If your hands are on the wheel and your feet is on the gas you can always stop and back out.

 

[Wash4Life]

I myself would never do an unattended tunnel. Even while attended, I saw so much crazy stuff when my father and I had one.