No. Unless I have scratches or dents that I don’t realize are from a car wash.
I had a standard non-collapsing antenna knocked off once.
This guy had it a little worse…
That guy was a frickin’ moron. WTH was he reaching for that was so damn important that he had to get it in the middle of the car wash?
Probably a flier for 10% off at the local Chinese place - those fliers are hard to come by, you know.
That’s why I don’t advocate going to full service car washes. I prefer express exterior washes and just do the interior/vacuuming, etc myself. I don’t like having other people in my car that I do not know. I don’t like having my car valet parked either.
You want to see something dangerously crazy? Watch this idiot person…coulda killed that attendant!
ETA: or this insane idiot…again, nearly killing someone.
I had my car damaged at an automatic car wash, but I suspect it was more likely human error from someone driving it rather than the machine. No proof though.
I dropped the car off to be washed and later found a shallow gauge in the car about 2 feet long along the passenger side. Because I drive a beater, and because I paid cash and didn’t keep my receipt, I didn’t bother following up–but it definitely looks like a few hundred $ worth of damage.
At my washes, customers remain in their vehicles. And you should have followed up.
The worst thing that’s happened to me so far is in a moment of inattention, I picked a wash option that came with air fresher. Apparently their spray nozzle for it was clogged as there was a foot long streak of the stuff on the carpet. I brought it to their attention, and after they apologized, they spot-shampooed the area. I had to go back two weeks later as the stuff was a dirt magnet. They shampooed the area again, but the stain endured for the rest of the car’s life.
Broken antenna from an automated BP carwash. They claimed no responsibility. They never saw another thin dime out of me either.
Here in Santa Fe, NM on 3/1/13 I drove into a touchless car wash in my not-yet-4-month-old 2013 Subaru Forester. As the soap and water flew around me, I heard and saw the passanger side mirror flipped forward by the machine. The next thing I noticed the car was lifting up slightly from the right rear quarter! The machine was jammed against my car. No one responded to my honking but the soap and water eventually stopped so I could exit the car.
It seems a sensor had malfunctioned.
The damage is pretty extensive; gouge in the mirror, deep scrapes along the bumper, rear panel and both doors, plus bent corner of the rear door and ripped gasket. The estimate is not yet in but the body shop says 4 days of work and much disassembling of the car…roof rack, ceiling, etc.
Does insurance pay for decreased value because of CarFax record?
Not yet, and that’s about all the aesthetic anything I do to my pickup.
It’s apparently painted with some sort of space-age clearcoat; it’s 8 years old, I’ve had it for 7, and while I’ve owned it, it’s spent work days in parking garages, and the rest of the time parked on my street.
Water still beads up on the hood, and it’s not noticeably scratched or dulled, except where I’ve accidentally scratched the bed side rails unloading things.
My antenna was ripped out of the car by the roots, and banged against the car door so hard, the door was dented & jammed shut.
I got partial repayment from the owner, & lucky to get that!:mad:
I know this thread has aged a bit since the OP but isn’t really a zombie so I’ll go ahead and ask my questions assuming [Bold]FoieGras[/Bold] is still paying attention to it.
I live in Central Indiana, and there is a guy here who seems to own a bunch of car washes, and I think also a handful in your area too. I 'm pretty sure his name is Mike. I’ve been taking my cars to Mike’s places for some time and have always been happy. My question though is about my personal car which is an '05 Mustang GT Convertible and if the automatic wash is ok for my top or not. I love to hand wash whenever I can, but in the winter, and even when I’m in a hurry it is so nice to just run it through and have a shinny car 5 minutes later. I’m just concerned I may be hurting my top, and/or if I should use/avoid any of the special treatments.
I also get down to your area frequently as my oldest kid just started attending one of your fine Jesuit Universities in Cincy. If you can recommend a good place to remove any road grime I may accumulate in my drive there I would appreciate it.
When our car was relatively new, I noticed a slight scratch on the hood shortly after we took it through the car wash. I’m not positive that it was the car wash that did it and it wasn’t a huge scratch, so I didn’t bother getting worked up about it.
Never heard of that. It’s one good reason to do your best to avoid all car crashes, even ones where you wouldn’t be found officially at fault. Your car may be made whole again, but I don’t believe insurance will compensate you for the loss of resale value. Part of that includes the uncertainty: if you sell it next year, your loss will be less than if you sell it ten years from now (since the difference between repaired/uncrashed resale values will decrease over time).
I’m extremely anal about my cars (it’s a hobby to me, and believe it or not, I enjoy it). I almost always only either wash them by hand (two bucket/grit guard method) or have them done by a professional detailer I know and trust. So I know the location of every single chip, scratch, ding, etc. on my cars. One time I got lazy and took my previous car through an automated wash, and ended up getting quite a few scratches in the clearcoat from it. They were pretty superficial (easy to polish out), and I hesitate to even call them “damage” because most people wouldn’t notice. But over the course of time those kinds of swirls and scratches definitely make the car look noticeably worse, so I hate them, and I continue to avoid commercial car washes for primarily this reason.
I would never complain or make a damage claim over something like this, though. It’s just the nature of this kind of washing (or really anything more than my ridiculously obsessive routines).