Dantley

My rims were damages at a car wash, you know the one ... automatic car wash (first and last time) with 30 young guys drying the cars. There was a warning sign that read:<p>Not responsible... (and in bullet points) <p>*for cars other than stock... <br>*items left in the car<br>*magnesium wheels<br>*power antennas<p>I didn't see the sign, but I did ask the guy who took my wash order if my rims would be okay. he said, "Yes, they'll be fine". So I made sure no marks were on them (to be on the safe side) and gave him the key. <p>Anyway, after they finished doing their half *** cleaning job I noticed bleamishes on the rear left rim (left tires are on a railing used to push the car through). I called the manager over to look at the rim and he told me that the rims couldn't have been damaged from the car wash... insisting I did the damage and just took notice now. I explained to him that I inspected the rims prior to it going through the wash and there were no scratches or scrapes. He kept arguing with me about it so I told him to run it though again to see if anything would happen since he was so confident that it wasn't his car wash... <p>Well, when they pulled the car in I saw the two wheels on the railing hit a hard plastic tube looking thing (if I had bigger tires it would have just hit the tires and not the rims)... so when the car came out there were more gashes... this time on BOTH left rims. The manager said he saw those marks before the car went into the wash and didn't say anything.<p>He still insisted that it wasn't the car wash that was doing the damage. I told him to run thr car through again... this time I would take a Polaroid of the rims before and after the run. He refused. I had him call the police... they wanted to mark the gashes and run the car through again and he refused.<p>So NOW I have to go to small claims court. Am I at fault? I asked the employee if it was fine to drive my car through and he said yes... The damage is only on the left side (where the wheels were on the railing). Also the Manager never mentioned anything about non-stock cars... he said that he has Oakland Raiders coming through with there "nice, big rims") and have never had problems... probably because they didn't have low profiles tires. BTW- The owner wasn't there.<p>My car is sitting on 18 x 8.5 wheels and 235/35/18 series tires.<p>Any advice would help!<p>Thanks.<p>-Dantley

ned

<br>Sue them, you have all the evidence needed.<p>Ned

Dantley

You think? Even with the sign stating "Not responsible for cars other than stock"... keeping in mind that an employee told me everything will be fine?<p>-Dantley

John

You had a verbal contract which superceded the warning sign. You also have, presumably, a police report indicating the refusal for an independent assessment of the cause of damage.<p>This type of case is made for small claims court!<p>That having been said, I would caution anyone who values their car NOT to use automatic car washes. They ALL more or less damage cars, although perhaps more subtly than the wheel damage you observed.<p>The last time I used an automatic wash, a "premium" wash which charged $17 for a wash, the final "detail" workers climbed into my car to quickly clean the glass. Someone dragged the dirty floor mats across the console, which was trimmed in wood, and left 4 or 5 deep scratches in the wood.<p>The car had only 900 miles on it and when I brought the damage to the attention of the management, they blithely said, "you have to prove we did it"!<p>I simply took out my camera, took several photos, and filed a claim for damage in small claims court for $375. They never showed so I was automatically awarded a judgement against them. Took 6 months to get my money from the SOB's, but I finally prevailed.<p>Never again!

Told you so

First, it was your own stupidity for taking to a car wash anyway. DO IT YOURSELF!

Joe N

So, if a childcare worker kills my son its my fault. We all know its not the best thing for a child.<p>Get a life buddy. We all love cars here. Just some of us have lives. Think about it and maybe do something with your life.<p>Joe

Chris T.

My friend I would advice that you first need to assess the situation before attempting the legal route. How much will it cost to repair your rims from a wheel repairer? Will your insurance cover it minus the deductible (ouch!). You have to weight this against the cost of battling it out in court; your time, emotional distress, etc. Lastly, make the decision when you are calm.

Ash

<br>Buddy, you try washing your own car when it's -20 celcius outside. Not f@*%ing likely. Even those do-it-yourself coin up carwashes are damn cold. Don't know about you, but all of us don't live in sunny california. My point is, there can always be a circumstance when you can't wash your car by yourself.<p>Of course then there's the option of just not washing it. But that's not really an option.<br>

Oscar

Re: That happened to me and the car wash is going to pay for half of the wheel

Oscar

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