Your car wash worst damage claim?

[soapy]

I know we all hope our car washes cause no damage but occasionally things happen and we do have to take care of a car that has been damaged by our car wash for what ever reason. I was just wondering what some of the worst claims are. Over 25 years I have had a few usually under $1000 and rarely over $2000 for paint etc. I have never submitted a damage claim to my insurance for a customers car but just paid them out of pocket.

 

[MEP001]

Belanger Vector was run into by something, don't know what because the DVR was acting up and randomly recording just black. Between parts and downtime it cost about $40,000.

Had one "customer" try to claim the foam brush scratched up her black Suburban, looked fishy from the start as if she was trying to follow existing scratches with the brush (video was working at that time). Before she used the brush she looked up at the camera and moved her vehicle back to make sure the hood was in view. We told her to have her insurance contact ours who denied the claim as we had clear signage to wash brush and we hadn't shown negligence. She pitched a fit saying we waited too long to submit the claim (Total BS because she submitted it herself and they called her three days after it happened with the denial). She'd also just gotten paid off for a new paint job on the same vehicle for hail damage and the work hadn't been done yet. So no claim, but still worst dealings with a "customer."

 

[carwashireland]

I have seen cars reversing in a friction iba wash when it was washing the rear, pick up truck with barbed wire in the back getting it tangled up in the brushes and scratching the truck and people throwing out their side mirrors during a wash to claim for replacement mirrors. The general public do think we are an easy target!

 

[Earl Weiss]

I think the worst was a pickup truck was allowed thru. It had a fuel tank with hose and nozzle in the back. Wrap grabbed hose pulled it off whipping nozzle around. Loader heard noise. Stopped conveyor. Did not see hose in wrap and started conveyor again. Pickup did not notice anything and left but 2 cars were beat up pretty bad. I turned it over to insurance. I think it was several thousand dollars.

 

[tiptopcw]

my worst claim is not the highest in value but the ridiculous reason it was filed. a bmw x5 was in the middle of the wash when somehow the ebrake was turn on by the car in the middle of the tunnel. my employee manage to stop the conveyor in time before it collide with the next vehicle. the distance between the two cars were 8 ft away. there were no damage so my guy turn off the e brake without taking picture of the distance. when the first car got out of the wash, he claim that i damage his car because we stop the machine and got into his car. he point out to a small dot in his bumper and call the police and the insurance company. the police left the moment they saw his bumper and somehow he got my insurance company to pay him 5 grand even though i show them the video and picture of the damage.

 

[tiptopcw]

i also got a close call last month, a uber driver was next in line for the wash when his transmission broke. i had to close shop for the day. lost 3 hour of business that day.