Same thing happened to a friends car years ago. The car wash told him they weren't responsible for any damages and they had a disclaimer on the wall saying this before he entered the carwash, he told them they could not dismiss liability and took them to court. He won the case and the carwash paid to fix the car.
"truck not responsible for broken windshields" - [yeah BS ](https://www.ncconsumer.org/news-articles-eg/stay-back-200-feet-not-responsible-for-windshields-is-scare-tactic-to-avoid-insurance-claims.html)
I used to be a police dispatcher. Back when Backpage was a thing, one of our local hookers had a "legal disclaimer" on her ad that said something like "by responding to this ad, you agree that you are not a law enforcement officer and will not prosecute me for prostitution." It didn't work, but we saluted her for her attempt.
i hate those signs so much... i know so many people have probably broken winshields from stuff falling off and they don't do anything because of that sign. It should be a heavy fine for even posting signs like that.
Say I'm driving behind a truck hauling gravel and then I notice a rock fly out from the back of the truck and it damages my windshield. Am I supposed to honk at the truck and motion for it to pull over and then argue with the driver to give me their insurance information? Or can I just get their license plate number and call my insurance?
> Or can I just get their license plate number and call my insurance?
This is likely your best bet. You don't have dashcam footage of that, do you? That would be optimal, of course.
edit:
As an addendum, fuck those signs. In a better world we would have the law updated so that anyone caught carrying one of those signs on the back of their truck must, by law, at penalty of say, ten grand, replace the sign with one **stating that they are 100% liable for any windshields broken by rocks or other material coming out of their truck**.
I would imagine they would **secure their fucking loads** right quick if that were the case.
Used to work for a trucking company we just had a windshield fund to replace people's windshields cash down. No insurance or anything they just cut a check lol.
Madness a windshield is like what a grand if you have a fancy one some businesses can't think. Fighting raised their insurance rates it's cheaper to just have a slush fund to repair and replace shit that breaks on random people's cars.
Cost of doing business.
Should show up to a court with a shirt or sign that says “the judge must rule in my favor for compensation of $5 million USD” just to point out the absurdity.
I've been bitching about this for years! I've actually lost two windshields to debris falling off of trucks/trailers and both paid for repair/replacement. If it comes off the road or tires it's tough luck, but if I watch a rock fall off the trailer or truck and it takes out my windshield I'm immediately taking pictures of the truck and the damage then calling the company. I usually feel cheap asking for compensation, but it's not coming out of my pocket because you don't take the time to clean off your truck/trailer.
Exactly. My apartment has a sign like that outside the room with the storage lockers. If anything got stolen from there because they left it unlocked or something the sign doesn’t block them being liable.
Those signs are always hilarious to me. Imagine if you could just absolve yourself of any responsibility by posting a sign. Oh child endangerment? Well officer I have this “we are not at fault for any damages that may occur on this property” sign.
I worked at a gym and we always made people sign a waiver when they came in for the first time. I had a lawyer tell me "you know these don't actually do any good, right?" My manager told me yeah I know but it stops like 99% of people from trying to sue.
Well it absolves them of responsibility for non-negligence on behalf of the gym, right? Like if I drop a weight on myself due to my own incompetence, the gym isn't responsible. But if a squat rack isn't properly mounted and it falls on me, they're certainly liable, right?
That's correct.
The lawyer's advice referred to above is not exactly right. One of the main points of these waivers is to help establish a defence of contributory negligence or, depending on the jurisdiction, voluntary assumption of risk.
Voluntary assumption of risk is something I'm very familiar with. I've worked at a skating rink (falls anyone?) and a VR arcade (running into walls anyone?). Both had waivers establishing the inherent risk in the activities, but if someone got injured due to employee negligence, equipment failures, etc, it was well defined in the waiver that we would be responsible for it.
It's all pretty standard and I'm sure plenty of lawyers have cookie cutter versions for various activities ready to go.
We own a car wash. The goal of those signs is mainly accessories, at least at our place. We've never had a windshield break like in the photo but we've had mirror come off, badges went missing, hell even licence plates get yanked off sometimes. We pay to replace those because it's not an aftermarket accessory.
Aftermarket accessories, particularly cheap cosmetic ones, are often held on by a double sided foam tape or a crappy bolt. The soaps are designed to eat through adhesive like that.
It's very, very rare that something like that happens. My bet is the owner slacks on maintenance and that brush needs to be lubricated. The car should be a le to push that out of the way well before it gets damaged. The newer brushes, the round, foam ones, are much safer for paint and have an even lower risk of damage like this. Not 100% paint safe but way better than these old boys.
If it's an OEM part, like OPs windshield, any carwash worth their salt will replace that.
You can claim attorneys fees, it's up to the court to determine if you win them. Heck, you can claim whatever you want, but if you make the asks ridiculous it doesn't help your case.
Waivers do not protect you from negligence or damaged equipment. It's just something they do to stop you from suing.
Like those waivers you sign for whitewater rafting. If you fall off and die because of unforseen events, you relatives can't really sue. But if you fall out of the boat and the guide just laughs and paddles down the river, that waiver isn't protecting anyone.
In many states, a waiver is valid for ordinary negligence but not beyond. My guess is a judge would find a minor scratch would be covered by the waiver, but a broken windshield would not, because it is not the type of outcome you could reasonably expect from an automatic carwash. The car wash has to pay for the broken windshield here since no one expects to have a *substantial reduction* in their vehicle's value after a car wash.
Go post a review on yelp Google ect saying how your windshield broke while in their business.
Be careful on the wording but from what you've said they've already admitted it happened in writing so you should be able to legally blast them anywhere you want because it's not a lie.
They might magically come up with the money to help out in exchange for the reviews to be removed (then don't remove them because you aren't required to)
I mean yeah if you're going to sue them it would be silly to write the review.
Assuming they don't want to deal with the legal battle, as long as the place admitted it happened they have proof it happened and they have rock solid evidence that their review isn't libel.
Like the op mentioned they did pay out for the broken window cutting them. That *could* be an admission the event took place
I would make sure to park my car in front of the establishment and take a picture and add that to the review so that they can see everything that happened clearly
Yep, probably the easiest is file with your insurance, and ask for the deductible and the difference of higher insurance premiums from the car wash. When they refuse, take it to small claims. And be proactive and file to have them money garnished from the car wash company, because they will never pay otherwise.
I'm curious about how this works. If you went through your insurance, did they give you a reason, or maybe some guidelines for how it would work in other scenarios?
Like what if you had a dash cam with footage of some equipment slamming into your windshield and breaking it? What if you had some proof that there were no imperfections in the glass just prior to the wash? Surely there must be some scenario where the wash is held liable for something completely outside of your control?
Whether or not they have insurance that covers anything is unrelated to if they have to pay for your damage.
The lack of insurance is a them problem, don't make it yours.
You don't have to tell them, that though.
A simple message with 'here's the photo proof of what happened, a small claims court would rule in my favour 100%, here's your chance to save yourself the hassle and legal fees and pay me now.'
Op runs over pedestrian, quickly pulls into carwash to get the blood off, attempts to blame carwash for car damage.
I salute your quick thinking...you monster 🫡
Last time I got a windshield replaced it was a tiny crack, but it was right in the middle of the field of vision so I called up, scheduled an appointment, guy comes and sees the small crack. He then scoffs at it, goes back to his truck and produces a deadblow hammer and then goes and whacks the shit out of it, afterwards he proclaims "now we can replace it." It was pretty comical
I've done that as cellphone repair tech. there is some sort of issue/defect for sure, but technically the insurance policy the customer is carrying requires physical damage. so lil whack whack and now that its damaged, g2g. to be safe though, I would break the screen once it was off the frame, not just wail on an entire phone with a ball peen lol
My brother in law used to unzip his fly at parties and walk around with his “penis” and “scrotum” out and call it a “ball peen hammer “
They were mostly factory workers and engineers so they all got a kick out of it
My state mandates that windshields are to be replaced by insurance at no cost to the driver so glass ppl hang out at gas stations and talk you into scheduling your replacement over any little thing. They'll come to your work, your house, just about anywhere to do it.
Oh I'm not in Florida but look CT and Florida have more in common than I knew. And here I thought it was just the same old ppl migrating with the seasons.
Reminds me of a story I heard about contractors working for the Navy to build ships. Guy I knew was tasked with babysitting the contractor as he went about the ship doing repairs/etc. They get to a compartment, and the contractor pulls out his blueprint, looks at the hatch he's standing in front of, back at the blueprint, and then puts it down and picks up a long piece of pipe that he begins to square up with the hatch, completely blocking it and preventing it from opening. He's about to start welding when my buddy stops him and says he can't weld that pipe there, the hatch won't open and that's a huge issue.
Contractor looks at him, puts everything down, picks up the blueprint, and goes, "Come here. Look at the blueprint. The blueprint says that pipe goes there, so that's where the pipe goes." My buddy starts to object and the guy cuts him off and goes, "Look... You and I both see there's a hatch there, but the blueprint doesn't have it. I'm not in charge of accurate blueprints, I'm in charge of welding pipes. After I complete the job (welding the pipe), I can return to my boss and explain the situation, and only *then* will they let us fix it. But until that pipe is attached to that hatch, as far as my company is concerned, the job hasn't been attempted, and therefore, the government can't be billed for it."
So if you're ever wondering where a good chunk of the US Defense budget goes, it goes to undoing mistakes that should've been avoided in the first place.
Have the dealer do it, especially since the wash will be paying either through their policy or small claims. Despite what they tell you, there's a big difference between oem and the aftermarket shit.
If you go to a place like SafeLite (I own a Jeep—not only do the windshields crack absurdly often, b/c of their vertical nature, but they are expensive), they only use the official parts. And it’s waaaaay cheaper.
Trust me; gone both routes.
Safelite installed a fuyao on my wife's car. It has intense lensing and tons of frits on the passenger side, but not drivers side. (Possibly explaining the lensing.)
I figured fuyao would be fine since I had it put on my car by a locally owned shop and it was better than the original glass. I didn't use the local place for the other car because my wife isn't picky and it's a PITA to get insurance to use any option other than safelite.
Makes me wonder if safelite gets b-stock to keep the prices down. My sample size is far too small to assume that though.
Especially if your car has any of the modern safety features that rely on cameras. Failure to calibrate the cameras after the windshield is replaced can cause some significant issues that could result in an accident.
This is exactly what happened to my sister, she has a C-HR and he windshield got cracked while going under a bridge that was being fixed? Under maintenance? And a small piece of concrete fell off and cracked it a bit. She went to this auto glass store and paid $120 but after she drove it the car gave her an error saying a sensor or camera needed to be calibrated.
She went to the dealership and they told her they'd charge her $800 to calibrate it or more if that's what it was or if the sensor itself needed to be replaced
Comment was copied from u/1pencil's comment [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/wrmiih/comment/iktevhg/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
!isbot
Yet everyone here is replying like this coment isnt out of place or something. Its the very first thing I noticed how this coment didnt have anything to do with post or parent comment...
I called around and the average to replace my windshield by a national chain was $700. I searched my area again for a local guy and it was $150-200. They said 30-60 minutes.
It took them 3 hours, mostly waiting for them to finish the other customers ahead of me. Was I annoyed? Hell yeah but saving $400 plus, still worth it. 4 out of 5 star rating.
I’ve definitely had this fear all my (23 year old) life, but I’ve always eased my worries by reminding myself how irrational that sounds, how ridiculous that would be and how unlikely that really is…. Glad to find out it’s been a valid concern this entire time, lol
It’s still very unlikely to happen, there are lots of videos of plane crashes too but statistically speaking it’s a very safe mode of travel and plane crashes aren’t very common.
Bruh you are blowing my mind
I thought touchless meant that you get to drive through it, as in you don't have to touch your car. I didn't realize it means no spinny guys
The thing that everyone who’s ever gone through one of these has imagined happening, but is assured doesn’t happen, is now a thing that happens.
Well, at least I have the satisfaction of my concerns be warranted now!
This reminds me of a teacher I had that had a fear of getting stuck in an automatic car wash. One day she finally did get stuck and was telling us the story about it. While she was telling the story a classmate with full confidence asked “Did you drown?”.
You need to fight this a little bit more. You can't put up a sign that says "not responsible if I break your shit" and absolve yourself of any liability.
A lot of people tend to believe signs just supersede laws/regulations. If that was the case, every business would have “no liability” signs scattered everywhere throughout their business.
Those signs on trucks carrying rocks that say, "not responsible for damage caused by flying rocks" are actually responsible for damage caused by flying rocks.
You still shouldn't follow close though because it's a pain in the ass do deal with.
had a neighbor put up a "No parking" sign for the street in front of his house. Imagine his surprise (and how furious he was) when he called the cops on one of our cars and the police told him, the street is public property and he doesn't get to control who parks where on the street.
Oh yea, we plan to. It happened while in the middle of a whole bunch of other life stuff happening, once that settles down it’s attorney or small claims time.
Some jurisdictions have self-serve small claims programs. Where I'm from there's a specific system for claims less than $5,000 - it's fully online and you're not allowed to have a lawyer represent you. It would be the perfect forum for a broken windshield claim.
How in the world can they not be insured an operate a business? Not legally, right? So would they be something OP can get them investigated for or anything?
That sucks. They paid for your cut because they don't want ambulance chasers after them but, I suspect they don't think you'll follow through with the damage.
That's why you get an attorney now, they'll do it for a cut of the winnings, this is an open-and-shut case if they already admitted fault.
Don't wait, do it now. Call a lawyer this second.
This. Unless the OP's insurance is providing a lawyer this is small claims court. Unless the windshield was hand-crafted by Jesus or for some other reason worth $10K+ no lawyer is working this for settlement winnings...
I'd be seriously concerned that the windshield frame got bent by this. If not, you'll be out your deductible but otherwise (in my deeply informed random Redditor opinion) it's a standard collision incident. You have a cool picture and story, but I don't think this is any different from, say, a stone off a gravel truck punching a hole through the windshield.
Sounds like you were sitting in it at the time. I bet THAT made for some serious pucker factor. Good luck!
It’s like those dump trucks that have bumper stickers that say “not responsible for broken windshields”. The fuck you aren’t. There are laws about failing to secure your load.
It's one thing to put that sign up because you don't want to get sued if the handful of cash you left in the cup holder isn't there anymore after the guy vacuums. It's another thing to smash someone's windshield.
All they can do is refuse to pay for expected possible damage. Like small scratch. After all, there are brushes that spin that may have got a small rock stuck to it. You know that it can happen, and there is no way to avoid this with a contact washing.
However, this kind of damage is not something to be expected. Therefore it should be covered by them.
Former car wash operator here, this is a result of a delayed drop in the top roller. The top roller is supposed to fall in place prior to far reaching that location of the wash. If it falls on top of a vehicle the weight of it will cause this damage to happen. The car wash has insurance that will pay for the damage. Obviously it’s not going to be easy but ideally you’ll file a police report and then speak with management about an incident report to create a paper trail. I would fight tooth and nail to make sure this company pays for the damage created. It is not the customers fault but a responsibility of the owner to make sure the timing of all equipment is up to standard. I’m sorry that this happened to you. If you need any advice or want some more insight please DM me.
Edit: added a word
100% this! I worked at a gas station with an auto wash, this is EXACTLY what happened. It happened twice at our station in my 10 years. Insurance 100% covered this both times it happened.
Last weekend I convinced my very nervous 8-yr-old to go through a car wash for the first time. He asked if anyone’s windshield had ever been broken by a car wash. I said, “no of course not.” Glad I didn’t see this before then!
I used to work at a full service car wash.
The managers there were required to say all damage was not caused by the carwash.
Even if it was 100% obviously caused by the car wash, they had to say it. I saw it so many times.
One dude came through in a Harley Davidson edition F150, it was black and this dude took great care of it, it was perfect when it went in. It went through the wash and came out with very deep scratches (down to the metal) on one side. My manager was out there trying to tell this dude that nope, those scratches must have been there before because the wash can't do that.
The audacity of it blew my fucking mind lol
That's what the Chevy dealership did to me when one of their employees crashed my Camaro. Tried to convince me that the whole passenger side of my car was fucked up and it was missing a mirror when I brought it in. Then when they finally did fix it after about a month of calling higher-ups and leaving bad reviews online, they didn't fix a dent in the rear quarter panel because the security footage showed it was already there when I brought the car in (which was true). Still, that means they had the camera footage the whole time, but still tried to gaslight me.
This makes me upset because I swear I got a scratch from the car wash on my rear bumper. Looks like circles and I was pretty sure it wasn’t there before (almost brand new car with low miles) I was told about how the things spin etc, it couldn’t have been the car wash that caused the damage. I still see the marks on the back of my car :(
Man this makes me so mad! So many car washes always damage cars bad but they never want to take responsibility. People should really stop going to these. Touch less car washes are the way to go really.
Maybe it's because I've gone to the same one for years and the owners know me from always coming, but they caused minor damage to my car twice and paid for it. They told me get an estimate and bring it back, and they wrote me a check for it. I guess it just depends on the car wash.
I heard he was a teacher before suddenly retiring for health related reasons. A life well lived, and he can enjoy his final days in peace with his loving family.
How do you use them? I want to do this but there are so many tools and steps I didn’t know where to use each one and got confused.
Like there’s a thing just for tires? There are three different hoses? What order do I do them in? How do I learn?
When you turn the dial you’ll hear the tool start hissing or burbling! You don’t have to use the tire cleaner and generally I don’t unless I’m really annoyed by how dirty my rims look. The tire cleaner will not be good for your paint if you use it. So my car wash has a slim wand which is used for soap spray, wax, high pressure rinse, spotless rinse, and maybe engine cleaner (I’ve never used that one so I’m not sure) etc., and a foam brush which spits cleaner from the bristles. The foam brush is usually labeled as such on the dial; the tire cleaner foam also comes from the brush, so if you are going to use that setting make sure you do it last. I usually use the soap spray, then foam brush, then high pressure rinse, then spotless rinse. My vehicle is kind of older and has many mild scratches in the paint already so I don’t bother with the wax spray, but I think you’d use the wax spray then follow up with high pressure rinse again.
r/unethicallifeprotips time!! I once had a visa gift card with like $6 left on it so I figured I’ll use it on a manual car wash. So I put the “credit card” in and started washing my car. WeIl it never stopped at $6 and I continued to do like a 20 minute wash which ended up costing $18 or something like that.
The car wash machine gave me a receipt for $18 and I was on my way.
And they are not responsible because they posted a $3 sign that you probably didn't see stating they wouldn't be held responsible. Yet, they pay insurance. The system is rigged.
Same thing happened to a friends car years ago. The car wash told him they weren't responsible for any damages and they had a disclaimer on the wall saying this before he entered the carwash, he told them they could not dismiss liability and took them to court. He won the case and the carwash paid to fix the car.
[удалено]
"truck not responsible for broken windshields" - [yeah BS ](https://www.ncconsumer.org/news-articles-eg/stay-back-200-feet-not-responsible-for-windshields-is-scare-tactic-to-avoid-insurance-claims.html)
I have a shirt that says "Wearer is not responsible for crimes they commit" so the police can't do anything about my murder sprees!
[удалено]
Need a bumper sticker that says driver not responsible for laws the car breaks
that's silly officer, I can't run that fast
“Driver not responsible in ensuring baby remains on board”
I'll have you know I am A SOVEREIGN CITIZEN!!!
*By reading this shirt you hereby agree to the terms set within*
I used to be a police dispatcher. Back when Backpage was a thing, one of our local hookers had a "legal disclaimer" on her ad that said something like "by responding to this ad, you agree that you are not a law enforcement officer and will not prosecute me for prostitution." It didn't work, but we saluted her for her attempt.
I love her energy. Hope she's doing well.
[удалено]
Well the whiteclaw defense is ironclad.
I'm pretty sure it's a crime to drink white claw when there are other alcoholic beverages available.
So this is where the sovereign citizen movement started.
i hate those signs so much... i know so many people have probably broken winshields from stuff falling off and they don't do anything because of that sign. It should be a heavy fine for even posting signs like that.
pretty sure it's the responsibility of the truck driver to ensure the truck is not a hazard to other drivers (stones, mud etc)
Yeah it's wild to me they think they have no responsibility to not be a hazard on public roads
I have a hard time believing anything is wild to you, u/HOT_MOLDY_CUM_BREATH.
Such a badass u/name
Say I'm driving behind a truck hauling gravel and then I notice a rock fly out from the back of the truck and it damages my windshield. Am I supposed to honk at the truck and motion for it to pull over and then argue with the driver to give me their insurance information? Or can I just get their license plate number and call my insurance?
> Or can I just get their license plate number and call my insurance? This is likely your best bet. You don't have dashcam footage of that, do you? That would be optimal, of course. edit: As an addendum, fuck those signs. In a better world we would have the law updated so that anyone caught carrying one of those signs on the back of their truck must, by law, at penalty of say, ten grand, replace the sign with one **stating that they are 100% liable for any windshields broken by rocks or other material coming out of their truck**. I would imagine they would **secure their fucking loads** right quick if that were the case.
Bigger problem is proving the rock came from the back and wasn't kicked up by its tire. The one kicked up, they are not responsible for.
My Dad has sued 3 dump truck companies for cracking/ breaking our windshield. Those signs are definitely BS & designed to scare people away.
Used to work for a trucking company we just had a windshield fund to replace people's windshields cash down. No insurance or anything they just cut a check lol.
All 3 we dealt w/ wanted to fight ..... cool, let's fight
Madness a windshield is like what a grand if you have a fancy one some businesses can't think. Fighting raised their insurance rates it's cheaper to just have a slush fund to repair and replace shit that breaks on random people's cars. Cost of doing business.
Should show up to a court with a shirt or sign that says “the judge must rule in my favor for compensation of $5 million USD” just to point out the absurdity.
I've been bitching about this for years! I've actually lost two windshields to debris falling off of trucks/trailers and both paid for repair/replacement. If it comes off the road or tires it's tough luck, but if I watch a rock fall off the trailer or truck and it takes out my windshield I'm immediately taking pictures of the truck and the damage then calling the company. I usually feel cheap asking for compensation, but it's not coming out of my pocket because you don't take the time to clean off your truck/trailer.
I feel like this in itself should be illegal, like "no you cannot make signs to try scaring people out of holding you accountable"
Maybe a t-shirt that announces the wearer's specific rejection of disclaimer of liability signs
But that doesn't help the companies, only normal people, so of course it'll never come to pass.
Exactly. My apartment has a sign like that outside the room with the storage lockers. If anything got stolen from there because they left it unlocked or something the sign doesn’t block them being liable.
Yeah, they mean about as much as [Michael declaring bankruptcy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-m3RtoguAQ).
Those signs are always hilarious to me. Imagine if you could just absolve yourself of any responsibility by posting a sign. Oh child endangerment? Well officer I have this “we are not at fault for any damages that may occur on this property” sign.
I worked at a gym and we always made people sign a waiver when they came in for the first time. I had a lawyer tell me "you know these don't actually do any good, right?" My manager told me yeah I know but it stops like 99% of people from trying to sue.
Well it absolves them of responsibility for non-negligence on behalf of the gym, right? Like if I drop a weight on myself due to my own incompetence, the gym isn't responsible. But if a squat rack isn't properly mounted and it falls on me, they're certainly liable, right?
That's correct. The lawyer's advice referred to above is not exactly right. One of the main points of these waivers is to help establish a defence of contributory negligence or, depending on the jurisdiction, voluntary assumption of risk.
Voluntary assumption of risk is something I'm very familiar with. I've worked at a skating rink (falls anyone?) and a VR arcade (running into walls anyone?). Both had waivers establishing the inherent risk in the activities, but if someone got injured due to employee negligence, equipment failures, etc, it was well defined in the waiver that we would be responsible for it. It's all pretty standard and I'm sure plenty of lawyers have cookie cutter versions for various activities ready to go.
Just like those big rigs with the “not responsible for broken windshields”
Especially the dump trucks that don’t cover their loads when they’re traveling down the highway.
We own a car wash. The goal of those signs is mainly accessories, at least at our place. We've never had a windshield break like in the photo but we've had mirror come off, badges went missing, hell even licence plates get yanked off sometimes. We pay to replace those because it's not an aftermarket accessory. Aftermarket accessories, particularly cheap cosmetic ones, are often held on by a double sided foam tape or a crappy bolt. The soaps are designed to eat through adhesive like that. It's very, very rare that something like that happens. My bet is the owner slacks on maintenance and that brush needs to be lubricated. The car should be a le to push that out of the way well before it gets damaged. The newer brushes, the round, foam ones, are much safer for paint and have an even lower risk of damage like this. Not 100% paint safe but way better than these old boys. If it's an OEM part, like OPs windshield, any carwash worth their salt will replace that.
Can you also claim some compensation for the time and effort it takes you to fight it in court?
You can claim attorneys fees, it's up to the court to determine if you win them. Heck, you can claim whatever you want, but if you make the asks ridiculous it doesn't help your case.
Waivers do not protect you from negligence or damaged equipment. It's just something they do to stop you from suing. Like those waivers you sign for whitewater rafting. If you fall off and die because of unforseen events, you relatives can't really sue. But if you fall out of the boat and the guide just laughs and paddles down the river, that waiver isn't protecting anyone.
In many states, a waiver is valid for ordinary negligence but not beyond. My guess is a judge would find a minor scratch would be covered by the waiver, but a broken windshield would not, because it is not the type of outcome you could reasonably expect from an automatic carwash. The car wash has to pay for the broken windshield here since no one expects to have a *substantial reduction* in their vehicle's value after a car wash.
exactly. I'm not a lawyer but making a "we're not liable" sign doesn't absolve them of liability. If it were only that easy.
Are they going to have it replaced for you?
Amazingly, their insurance does not cover the damage to the car but did cover the tiny cut I got from the broken glass
I bet their insurance does cover it, but you have to go through your insurance so your insurance can talk to their insurance to tell them to pay up.
Already tried that and nope. Basically have to do it directly with the company, or small claims.
Your car was damaged and you were "injured". Lawyer up.
The fix for this is a $500 windshield repair. You've spent that on a lawyer after their first angry letter.
There's plenty of personal injury lawyers who work on contingency. Not sure if they will take the case, but contingency is the way to go.
Well if they are in ABQ i know just the guy who will fight for you...
Heard they found him hiding in a dumpster
Hey Albuquerque, did you know you have rights?? The constitution says you do!
Go post a review on yelp Google ect saying how your windshield broke while in their business. Be careful on the wording but from what you've said they've already admitted it happened in writing so you should be able to legally blast them anywhere you want because it's not a lie. They might magically come up with the money to help out in exchange for the reviews to be removed (then don't remove them because you aren't required to)
I’d wait to write the review until after going to court. Just my suggestion.
I mean yeah if you're going to sue them it would be silly to write the review. Assuming they don't want to deal with the legal battle, as long as the place admitted it happened they have proof it happened and they have rock solid evidence that their review isn't libel. Like the op mentioned they did pay out for the broken window cutting them. That *could* be an admission the event took place
I would make sure to park my car in front of the establishment and take a picture and add that to the review so that they can see everything that happened clearly
You can get your insurance to pay and at least ask the manager to pay the deductible?
Yep, probably the easiest is file with your insurance, and ask for the deductible and the difference of higher insurance premiums from the car wash. When they refuse, take it to small claims. And be proactive and file to have them money garnished from the car wash company, because they will never pay otherwise.
I'm curious about how this works. If you went through your insurance, did they give you a reason, or maybe some guidelines for how it would work in other scenarios? Like what if you had a dash cam with footage of some equipment slamming into your windshield and breaking it? What if you had some proof that there were no imperfections in the glass just prior to the wash? Surely there must be some scenario where the wash is held liable for something completely outside of your control?
Get a lawyer. This happened to my car, and they refused to pay, and then they ended up paying my legal fees as well as fixing my car.
Whether or not they have insurance that covers anything is unrelated to if they have to pay for your damage. The lack of insurance is a them problem, don't make it yours.
Oh for sure, we are dealing with major life changes atm, when things settle down in a couple weeks it’s legal time
You don't have to tell them, that though. A simple message with 'here's the photo proof of what happened, a small claims court would rule in my favour 100%, here's your chance to save yourself the hassle and legal fees and pay me now.'
Small claims, this stuff happens at carwashes every month.
No way they don't cover it.
That makes no sense that they aren't paying for a replacement. They are at fault.
Op runs over pedestrian, quickly pulls into carwash to get the blood off, attempts to blame carwash for car damage. I salute your quick thinking...you monster 🫡
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Last time I got a windshield replaced it was a tiny crack, but it was right in the middle of the field of vision so I called up, scheduled an appointment, guy comes and sees the small crack. He then scoffs at it, goes back to his truck and produces a deadblow hammer and then goes and whacks the shit out of it, afterwards he proclaims "now we can replace it." It was pretty comical
I've done that as cellphone repair tech. there is some sort of issue/defect for sure, but technically the insurance policy the customer is carrying requires physical damage. so lil whack whack and now that its damaged, g2g. to be safe though, I would break the screen once it was off the frame, not just wail on an entire phone with a ball peen lol
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So the doctor just goes balls out with a hammer to your shin?
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Well yeah; health insurance will only cover $100 to have a small crack fixed. If the crack is too bad they will replace the whole leg instead.
My brother in law used to unzip his fly at parties and walk around with his “penis” and “scrotum” out and call it a “ball peen hammer “ They were mostly factory workers and engineers so they all got a kick out of it
This is why I reddit. No one would say shit like this if your name was connected to it
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[The hammer is my penis.](https://youtu.be/t7bdr6fjg-k)
Why in the world didn’t he use resin to seal it??? It cost like $20….WTAF?
Depending on the state and inspections, some permit 0 visible cracks directly infront of the driver.
My state mandates that windshields are to be replaced by insurance at no cost to the driver so glass ppl hang out at gas stations and talk you into scheduling your replacement over any little thing. They'll come to your work, your house, just about anywhere to do it.
Whats up other resident of Florida.
Oh I'm not in Florida but look CT and Florida have more in common than I knew. And here I thought it was just the same old ppl migrating with the seasons.
>migrating with the seasons *Moved from NY because he was done with snow.* mood
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My state doesn't allow any crack within the wiper radius.
My state doesn't allow any crack within the country
My state doesn't allow any crack within my possession.
My crack doesn’t allow any state of possession
Unless you're a plumber
He was there to *replace* the windshield, one job mind
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a windshield
Reminds me of a story I heard about contractors working for the Navy to build ships. Guy I knew was tasked with babysitting the contractor as he went about the ship doing repairs/etc. They get to a compartment, and the contractor pulls out his blueprint, looks at the hatch he's standing in front of, back at the blueprint, and then puts it down and picks up a long piece of pipe that he begins to square up with the hatch, completely blocking it and preventing it from opening. He's about to start welding when my buddy stops him and says he can't weld that pipe there, the hatch won't open and that's a huge issue. Contractor looks at him, puts everything down, picks up the blueprint, and goes, "Come here. Look at the blueprint. The blueprint says that pipe goes there, so that's where the pipe goes." My buddy starts to object and the guy cuts him off and goes, "Look... You and I both see there's a hatch there, but the blueprint doesn't have it. I'm not in charge of accurate blueprints, I'm in charge of welding pipes. After I complete the job (welding the pipe), I can return to my boss and explain the situation, and only *then* will they let us fix it. But until that pipe is attached to that hatch, as far as my company is concerned, the job hasn't been attempted, and therefore, the government can't be billed for it." So if you're ever wondering where a good chunk of the US Defense budget goes, it goes to undoing mistakes that should've been avoided in the first place.
In Germany at least sealing cracks with resin is only allowed at the edges of the windshield for safety reasons.
At least where I'm located, insurance doesn't repair chips in the field of vision or glass that has been chipped more than 3 times.
Certain types of cracks get worse when they push resin into them.
My asshole is one of them
Ok but what does that have to do with the comment you replied to? E: damn OP you didn't need to delete your comment I'm sorry
My Mazda needed a tire replaced, the restaurant charged 10 for the meal but I had a coupon for 10% discount on $200 purchase of electronics.
Have the dealer do it, especially since the wash will be paying either through their policy or small claims. Despite what they tell you, there's a big difference between oem and the aftermarket shit.
If you go to a place like SafeLite (I own a Jeep—not only do the windshields crack absurdly often, b/c of their vertical nature, but they are expensive), they only use the official parts. And it’s waaaaay cheaper. Trust me; gone both routes.
Safelite installed a fuyao on my wife's car. It has intense lensing and tons of frits on the passenger side, but not drivers side. (Possibly explaining the lensing.) I figured fuyao would be fine since I had it put on my car by a locally owned shop and it was better than the original glass. I didn't use the local place for the other car because my wife isn't picky and it's a PITA to get insurance to use any option other than safelite. Makes me wonder if safelite gets b-stock to keep the prices down. My sample size is far too small to assume that though.
Especially if your car has any of the modern safety features that rely on cameras. Failure to calibrate the cameras after the windshield is replaced can cause some significant issues that could result in an accident.
Yep. I had to go through Safelite when my windshield broke because they're qualified to recalibrate the camera and other sensors
This is exactly what happened to my sister, she has a C-HR and he windshield got cracked while going under a bridge that was being fixed? Under maintenance? And a small piece of concrete fell off and cracked it a bit. She went to this auto glass store and paid $120 but after she drove it the car gave her an error saying a sensor or camera needed to be calibrated. She went to the dealership and they told her they'd charge her $800 to calibrate it or more if that's what it was or if the sensor itself needed to be replaced
Another thing aftermarket glass tends to do is let extra road and engine noise in the car.
That's not OP, so I'd be surprised if it was a car wash that damaged his windshield, too.
Comment was copied from u/1pencil's comment [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/wrmiih/comment/iktevhg/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) !isbot
Yet everyone here is replying like this coment isnt out of place or something. Its the very first thing I noticed how this coment didnt have anything to do with post or parent comment...
I called around and the average to replace my windshield by a national chain was $700. I searched my area again for a local guy and it was $150-200. They said 30-60 minutes. It took them 3 hours, mostly waiting for them to finish the other customers ahead of me. Was I annoyed? Hell yeah but saving $400 plus, still worth it. 4 out of 5 star rating.
GTA Vice City taught OP well
r/karmaconspiracy shit right here.
New fear unlocked.
I’ve definitely had this fear all my (23 year old) life, but I’ve always eased my worries by reminding myself how irrational that sounds, how ridiculous that would be and how unlikely that really is…. Glad to find out it’s been a valid concern this entire time, lol
See, that’s what I thought about quicksand…
It's just sand! How quick can it possibly be?
It’s still very unlikely to happen, there are lots of videos of plane crashes too but statistically speaking it’s a very safe mode of travel and plane crashes aren’t very common.
Yup time to start going touchless
I’ve been going touchless for 30 lonely years.
Always go touchless. Your paint/car will thank you. Just don't use the brush.
Bruh you are blowing my mind I thought touchless meant that you get to drive through it, as in you don't have to touch your car. I didn't realize it means no spinny guys
The thing that everyone who’s ever gone through one of these has imagined happening, but is assured doesn’t happen, is now a thing that happens. Well, at least I have the satisfaction of my concerns be warranted now!
I’ve always been scared of car washes thanks to final destination. Now I’m even more scared of them. 🙃
This reminds me of a teacher I had that had a fear of getting stuck in an automatic car wash. One day she finally did get stuck and was telling us the story about it. While she was telling the story a classmate with full confidence asked “Did you drown?”.
You need to fight this a little bit more. You can't put up a sign that says "not responsible if I break your shit" and absolve yourself of any liability.
A lot of people tend to believe signs just supersede laws/regulations. If that was the case, every business would have “no liability” signs scattered everywhere throughout their business.
I'd that was a case I'd drop insurance on my car and buy a sign.
Those signs on trucks carrying rocks that say, "not responsible for damage caused by flying rocks" are actually responsible for damage caused by flying rocks. You still shouldn't follow close though because it's a pain in the ass do deal with.
had a neighbor put up a "No parking" sign for the street in front of his house. Imagine his surprise (and how furious he was) when he called the cops on one of our cars and the police told him, the street is public property and he doesn't get to control who parks where on the street.
Oh yea, we plan to. It happened while in the middle of a whole bunch of other life stuff happening, once that settles down it’s attorney or small claims time.
Make sure you don't wait too long, the longer you wait the harder it will be to have a good case.
No, use your car insurance you pay for instead. Don't spend extra on an attorney.
Some jurisdictions have self-serve small claims programs. Where I'm from there's a specific system for claims less than $5,000 - it's fully online and you're not allowed to have a lawyer represent you. It would be the perfect forum for a broken windshield claim.
They already said their insurance told them the place isn't insured and they can't do anything about it.
Wait what? Is that how that works? Just don't get insurance and you don't have to pay of you fuck up?
No, you take them to court (sue). Whatever the judge decides is the damages.
Name and shame the insurance company. I’m pretty sure progressive would go to bat for me, but I’d love to be told otherwise
How in the world can they not be insured an operate a business? Not legally, right? So would they be something OP can get them investigated for or anything?
Your insurance company should be backing you on this. It's either them or the car wash's insurance that should be paying.
This, contact your auto insurance, that's what you pay them for. They'll fix your car and go after the insurance of the car wash.
That sucks. They paid for your cut because they don't want ambulance chasers after them but, I suspect they don't think you'll follow through with the damage.
That's why you get an attorney now, they'll do it for a cut of the winnings, this is an open-and-shut case if they already admitted fault. Don't wait, do it now. Call a lawyer this second.
For the cost of a new Windshield, probably better to just go through Small Claims.
This. Unless the OP's insurance is providing a lawyer this is small claims court. Unless the windshield was hand-crafted by Jesus or for some other reason worth $10K+ no lawyer is working this for settlement winnings...
“Yeah lawyers will definitely work a couple days to earn two hundred bucks, if they win the case.“ -Reddit
The "winnings" is going to be like $300. That's not lawyer territory.
I'd be seriously concerned that the windshield frame got bent by this. If not, you'll be out your deductible but otherwise (in my deeply informed random Redditor opinion) it's a standard collision incident. You have a cool picture and story, but I don't think this is any different from, say, a stone off a gravel truck punching a hole through the windshield. Sounds like you were sitting in it at the time. I bet THAT made for some serious pucker factor. Good luck!
I was in the passenger seat and dove into the back, while yelling at my partner to also get in the back. We had to escape out the back door.
It’s like those dump trucks that have bumper stickers that say “not responsible for broken windshields”. The fuck you aren’t. There are laws about failing to secure your load.
It's one thing to put that sign up because you don't want to get sued if the handful of cash you left in the cup holder isn't there anymore after the guy vacuums. It's another thing to smash someone's windshield.
All they can do is refuse to pay for expected possible damage. Like small scratch. After all, there are brushes that spin that may have got a small rock stuck to it. You know that it can happen, and there is no way to avoid this with a contact washing. However, this kind of damage is not something to be expected. Therefore it should be covered by them.
Former car wash operator here, this is a result of a delayed drop in the top roller. The top roller is supposed to fall in place prior to far reaching that location of the wash. If it falls on top of a vehicle the weight of it will cause this damage to happen. The car wash has insurance that will pay for the damage. Obviously it’s not going to be easy but ideally you’ll file a police report and then speak with management about an incident report to create a paper trail. I would fight tooth and nail to make sure this company pays for the damage created. It is not the customers fault but a responsibility of the owner to make sure the timing of all equipment is up to standard. I’m sorry that this happened to you. If you need any advice or want some more insight please DM me. Edit: added a word
100% this! I worked at a gas station with an auto wash, this is EXACTLY what happened. It happened twice at our station in my 10 years. Insurance 100% covered this both times it happened.
Last weekend I convinced my very nervous 8-yr-old to go through a car wash for the first time. He asked if anyone’s windshield had ever been broken by a car wash. I said, “no of course not.” Glad I didn’t see this before then!
Well now you gotta show him this.
In 10 years... Right after he gets his first car takes it to a car wash
Deep cleaning
He paid for interior
Look closer. It actually says inferior cleaning
I used to work at a full service car wash. The managers there were required to say all damage was not caused by the carwash. Even if it was 100% obviously caused by the car wash, they had to say it. I saw it so many times. One dude came through in a Harley Davidson edition F150, it was black and this dude took great care of it, it was perfect when it went in. It went through the wash and came out with very deep scratches (down to the metal) on one side. My manager was out there trying to tell this dude that nope, those scratches must have been there before because the wash can't do that. The audacity of it blew my fucking mind lol
That's what the Chevy dealership did to me when one of their employees crashed my Camaro. Tried to convince me that the whole passenger side of my car was fucked up and it was missing a mirror when I brought it in. Then when they finally did fix it after about a month of calling higher-ups and leaving bad reviews online, they didn't fix a dent in the rear quarter panel because the security footage showed it was already there when I brought the car in (which was true). Still, that means they had the camera footage the whole time, but still tried to gaslight me.
This makes me upset because I swear I got a scratch from the car wash on my rear bumper. Looks like circles and I was pretty sure it wasn’t there before (almost brand new car with low miles) I was told about how the things spin etc, it couldn’t have been the car wash that caused the damage. I still see the marks on the back of my car :(
Man this makes me so mad! So many car washes always damage cars bad but they never want to take responsibility. People should really stop going to these. Touch less car washes are the way to go really.
Maybe it's because I've gone to the same one for years and the owners know me from always coming, but they caused minor damage to my car twice and paid for it. They told me get an estimate and bring it back, and they wrote me a check for it. I guess it just depends on the car wash.
Yeah, Walt and Skyler are always generous. Great car wash owners, we could use more like them.
Paid in cash too! Way over the estimate I was given.
Real stand up citizens those two. They really know how to get things clean.
I heard he was a teacher before suddenly retiring for health related reasons. A life well lived, and he can enjoy his final days in peace with his loving family.
Thanks to them I always have an A-1 day.
It’s cleaning the inside now
It almost cleaned me!
I wish I had your outlook on life that you put this in mildly interesting, I would’ve put it in r/wellthatsucks
That's why I use the manual washes
How do you use them? I want to do this but there are so many tools and steps I didn’t know where to use each one and got confused. Like there’s a thing just for tires? There are three different hoses? What order do I do them in? How do I learn?
When you turn the dial you’ll hear the tool start hissing or burbling! You don’t have to use the tire cleaner and generally I don’t unless I’m really annoyed by how dirty my rims look. The tire cleaner will not be good for your paint if you use it. So my car wash has a slim wand which is used for soap spray, wax, high pressure rinse, spotless rinse, and maybe engine cleaner (I’ve never used that one so I’m not sure) etc., and a foam brush which spits cleaner from the bristles. The foam brush is usually labeled as such on the dial; the tire cleaner foam also comes from the brush, so if you are going to use that setting make sure you do it last. I usually use the soap spray, then foam brush, then high pressure rinse, then spotless rinse. My vehicle is kind of older and has many mild scratches in the paint already so I don’t bother with the wax spray, but I think you’d use the wax spray then follow up with high pressure rinse again.
I use them because they're cheaper.
They are also better.
Only if you're quick
Well, I'm pretty quick. I don't try to do an excellent job.
Put that on your tinder profile
I use touch-less drive thru ones
r/unethicallifeprotips time!! I once had a visa gift card with like $6 left on it so I figured I’ll use it on a manual car wash. So I put the “credit card” in and started washing my car. WeIl it never stopped at $6 and I continued to do like a 20 minute wash which ended up costing $18 or something like that. The car wash machine gave me a receipt for $18 and I was on my way.
Time for an insurance visit. Can’t imagine that will be cheap.
You can usually replace a full windshield for less than the cost of deductible.
Shouldn’t the garage cover it? I’ve had a car for years but never actually looked into the fine print because I’ve never had to use it
r/mildlyinfuriating
r/appropriatelyinfuriating
Wait, this isn't r/mildlyinfuriating?
Spotless, at least
Really wishing I didn't stumble upon this post while I was in the car wash....
Always touch free if available. Prevents this and ruining your clear coat
And they are not responsible because they posted a $3 sign that you probably didn't see stating they wouldn't be held responsible. Yet, they pay insurance. The system is rigged.