Anyone had car wash issues and broken stuff? (1 Viewer)

[sleepycruiser]

I know some of you take the flares off and patch the holes....not interested in doing that.

So just had an experience at Zips Car Wash in my 80. Went in, heard a loud bang, and it ripped my front drivers side fender flare off. Pulled it off and broke 2-3 clips. I didn't even notice it until I got out to vacuum and a lady said that it was damaged. So...awesome. I spoke to the manager and he told me there was nothing they could do because my vehicle was over 10 years old. He said it might have been broken already....to which I said 'When I drove in here my flare obviously wasn't hanging off the side of my car and now it is broken'.

I asked to speak to the owner and was told they are corporate...so when I got home I emailed them as they are closed today. He asked if I wanted to fill out an incident report and my response was 'what does it matter if you aren't going to cover it?'.

I doubt they will do anything. So they just lost 3 cars getting washed there a month...and I am sure they don't care. Just giving others a heads up in case they weren't aware of the '10 year rule'.

The pic doesn't show all of the craziness....the flare comes detached until about 12 o'clock on the fender well.

Boooo.

 

[mingles]

10 year rule or not, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Be polite but firm that their car wash damaged your car and you expect compensation. Escalate it higher and higher through corporate, in both email and snail mail, and you might be surprised what they will do for you. I often bring my company into a service argument like this and say they stand to loose a commercial account (whether true or not) and ask politely for THEIR reputation to be restored.

Another angle is the media. We have local TV stations here that just love to have a consumer complaint story about how the big company is screwing an individual customer. I never cease to be amazed at the results those kind of stories get.

What do you have to lose. The worst they can say is no (and you already heard that at the local level).

 

[sleepycruiser]

Good advice. I have emailed them through their website and their Facebook. Since my LC has recently become my DD it drives me a little nuts that this happened. The manager just basically came to tell me what they couldn't do rather than anything they could or would do. Horrible customer service from my viewpoint.

 

[rc51kid]

Truthfully they will say whatever they want. How do they get to decide what they are responsible for if they damage someones property? If you had a brand new Corvette and they totaled it could they say "the max we pay out for compensation id $5000 per claim"? Sounds good from their perspective. They would rather not pay anything.

What i have found is that a company will say "we are not responsible because...." and most people get mad and walk away. It works for them. There is no legal anything to it but it is enough to get most people to walk away. They might as we tell you "we are not going to pay you just because we don't want to. So go get a lawyer and make us pay."

If you really want payment i would be nice, firm, put everything in writing and have a lawyer send them a letter with a repair estimate from a dealership or something.

 

[chap79]

I wish I could take my truck through an automated wash . I've been from those places. Hand wash only now.

 

[Tools R Us]

Some car washes can cause a miss?

 

[inkpot]

Some car washes can cause a miss?
View attachment 1404430

Oddly enough I did not get any codes after 3 passes thru this puddle. Upper vent hole in dizzy base is full of RTV. Has been 100% effective for over 3 years.

 

[Funner]

I know some of you take the flares off and patch the holes....not interested in doing that.

So just had an experience at Zips Car Wash in my 80. Went in, heard a loud bang, and it ripped my front drivers side fender flare off. Pulled it off and broke 2-3 clips. I didn't even notice it until I got out to vacuum and a lady said that it was damaged. So...awesome. I spoke to the manager and he told me there was nothing they could do because my vehicle was over 10 years old. He said it might have been broken already....to which I said 'When I drove in here my flare obviously wasn't hanging off the side of my car and now it is broken'.

I asked to speak to the owner and was told they are corporate...so when I got home I emailed them as they are closed today. He asked if I wanted to fill out an incident report and my response was 'what does it matter if you aren't going to cover it?'.

I doubt they will do anything. So they just lost 3 cars getting washed there a month...and I am sure they don't care. Just giving others a heads up in case they weren't aware of the '10 year rule'.

The pic doesn't show all of the craziness....the flare comes detached until about 12 o'clock on the fender well.

Boooo.

View attachment 1404338

I am sure you are frustrated, but step back and put yourself in their shoes. Its a 20'year old vehicle with 20 year old brittle plastic clips holding on a 20 year old plastic fender flare. If you approach them with lies about corporate fleet accounts that you will pull from them, they will spot you for a flake. Be reasonable, tell them you just expect them to be fair about the repair cost and work something out.

I had something like this happen to me and was satisfied with the outcome.

 

[sleepycruiser]

I am sure you are frustrated, but step back and put yourself in their shoes. Its a 20'year old vehicle with 20 year old brittle plastic clips holding on a 20 year old plastic fender flare. If you approach them with lies about corporate fleet accounts that you will pull from them, they will spot you for a flake. Be reasonable, tell them you just expect them to be fair about the repair cost and work something out.

I had something like this happen to me and was satisfied with the outcome.

I wouldn't lie to them. It's like insurance....just make me whole again. I don't want anything else other than what I drove in there with...which was an unbroken flare.

 

[izzyandsue]

Sometimes you need a letter from an attorney to wake them up, may cost some but you might get what's reasonable. I know a very good one up your way, Todd Mosley, also an 80 owner. Ping me if you need his contact info.

 

[Rifleman]

When i was a kid in high school (early 70's) i use to work at a car wash, and more then once we had things ripped off of customers cars by the equipment. The car wash i worked for was family owned, but i have to warn you, they NEVER paid for a single repair to a customers car. They had signs up all around the car wash that stated they they were not responsible for ANY damage to your car, or items missing from inside your car. It was even printed on the back of their sales receipt, that you were using their services at your own risk. More then likely, if you go back to the car wash that caused your damage, you'll see those same signs. Is it right, hell no it's not, but with a corporate owned store, that has a whole bank of lawyers to fight you, you need to ask yourself is it worth the fight.

 

[jdayment]

Is it the clips that broke or the actual flairs? If its just the clips you can get them from autozone for super cheap or toyota possibly for free they are usually a shop supply

 

[sleepycruiser]

The plastic parts that are connected to the flares are broken. I don't think they can be reattached

 

[chap79]

I reattached a couple of my fender flare mounts with Liquid Nails Fuze-it a few months ago. It's been holding just fine.

 

[97 greenmonster]

I had a similar situation at a get go car wash. Ripped my driver rear door flair off. I saw it after I got done and did my normal walk around my truck. Told the car wash attendant and he got a manger, the young female manger told me that she fill out report and send to corporate. 24 hours later corporate called me a said to get 3 estimates and let them know. Within 2 weeks I had a check for 900$. Oh and I also had my 6 year old daughter with me who loves the cruiser and when she started crying because the truck was broke I thought the poor manager was going to break out crying too.

 

[sleepycruiser]

I had a similar situation at a get go car wash. Ripped my driver rear door flair off. I saw it after I got done and did my normal walk around my truck. Told the car wash attendant and he got a manger, the young female manger told me that she fill out report and send to corporate. 24 hours later corporate called me a said to get 3 estimates and let them know. Within 2 weeks I had a check for 900$. Oh and I also had my 6 year old daughter with me who loves the cruiser and when she started crying because the truck was broke I thought the poor manager was going to break out crying too.

I hope this is the outcome wth
mine but the manager didn't really seem to care. He actually didn't say he was sorry or anything...no one did. He was more I focused on what they couldn't do than anything.

 

[BILT4ME]

Because if they admit fault, they will have to pay for it. If someone else's vehicle jumps in front of you and you hit them , then get out and say I'm sorry, that's admitting fault and you will pay.

I had a car wash rip off the gutter trim on my 80 from the right side. When I got out the end, I finished pulling it off, then went around to the drivers side to look at that one and it was already missing. So now I have none and I'm not complaining because I didn't know they were there to begin with.

 

[trekker9]

I had a ZR2 Blazer about 15 years ago. Went thru an automatic and it put identicle softball size dents in the rear panels. They told me to get lost. I persisted but they wouldnt budge.

Ive never went to an automatic since.

 

[Fj81]

I pay to get hand wash on the wifeys car and do it myself on my vehicles at the coin op wash bays. Once every few months... Or years in the case of my old dodge ram.

 

[sleepycruiser]

Still no response from Zip's Car Wash. I emailed them Saturday from their website and their FB page. I also called today and the number gets transferred to a robot voicemail...weird. I left them a message.

In the meantime, I also called Toyota to get a price on the fender flare...$357 unpainted.