Carwash Damage, any advise?
Discussion
Morning. My mate is absolutely fanatical about his car, takes great care in looking after it. Unfortunately today he decided to save some time and leave it with the Polish gang in their corner of the small local supermarket car park.
They have loads of buckets and jet washes and hoses etc but anyway, we come to pick it up and the paintwork is unbelievable. I've never seem such bad/so much swirling. It's awful! Bloke won't accept liability, they've had a hue argument ad now my mate doesn't know what to do. He's furious at this guy, he's angry at himself for taking there and truly gutted about his car.
Car is a 53-plate RenaultSport Clio 172 in Monoco Blue, 47,000mi
They're currently washing a black Discovery 3 HSE, a grey Range Rover Sport HSE, an Astra SRI Sporthatch and a blue Touota Verso, so people seem to trust them, and they've been there a while...
We're taking hundreds of photos of it now, what does he do..?
They have loads of buckets and jet washes and hoses etc but anyway, we come to pick it up and the paintwork is unbelievable. I've never seem such bad/so much swirling. It's awful! Bloke won't accept liability, they've had a hue argument ad now my mate doesn't know what to do. He's furious at this guy, he's angry at himself for taking there and truly gutted about his car.
Car is a 53-plate RenaultSport Clio 172 in Monoco Blue, 47,000mi
They're currently washing a black Discovery 3 HSE, a grey Range Rover Sport HSE, an Astra SRI Sporthatch and a blue Touota Verso, so people seem to trust them, and they've been there a while...
We're taking hundreds of photos of it now, what does he do..?
Without the "before" photos, and with no witnesses, and the guy taking no responsibility for it I don't think he'll get anywhere because he can't prove it was this car wash place that did the damage; as opposed to the damage being there before he dropped it off.
I think he's going to have to learn his lesson the hard way, and not take it back there. Fortunately you can get swirls out usually but using a "paint correction" process, which is basically a thorough wash and clay followed by a polish with a dual action machine. A local detailer will be able to do this. Doesn't require adding any paint and will make the car look better than new in many cases.
Not cheap at £300+ for this service, but that's the price of his corner cutting unfortunately.
I think he's going to have to learn his lesson the hard way, and not take it back there. Fortunately you can get swirls out usually but using a "paint correction" process, which is basically a thorough wash and clay followed by a polish with a dual action machine. A local detailer will be able to do this. Doesn't require adding any paint and will make the car look better than new in many cases.
Not cheap at £300+ for this service, but that's the price of his corner cutting unfortunately.
Very sorry to hear of his problem, I'd be gutted too, I reckon he needs to-
1) Chalk it down to experience
2) Take it to a detailer (check out detailingworld to find one) who will be able to fix it, at a cost OR
3) Learn how to machine polish himself after reading guides on Detailing World and buying a kit from somewhere like cleanyourcar.co.uk; If he learned to do it himself then he has the skill to use on every car he ever owns and it'll probably cost less than getting someone else to do it.
Good luck!
ETA - I went with option 3 and am very pleased with my choice!
1) Chalk it down to experience
2) Take it to a detailer (check out detailingworld to find one) who will be able to fix it, at a cost OR
3) Learn how to machine polish himself after reading guides on Detailing World and buying a kit from somewhere like cleanyourcar.co.uk; If he learned to do it himself then he has the skill to use on every car he ever owns and it'll probably cost less than getting someone else to do it.
Good luck!
ETA - I went with option 3 and am very pleased with my choice!
Blue Oval84 said:
3) Learn how to machine polish himself after reading guides on Detailing World and buying a kit from somewhere like cleanyourcar.co.uk; If he learned to do it himself then he has the skill to use on every car he ever owns and it'll probably cost less than getting someone else to do it.
Good luck!
ETA - I went with option 3 and am very pleased with my choice!
+1 and take it on the chin. He'll be flogging a dead horse trying to pursue the Polskis.Good luck!
ETA - I went with option 3 and am very pleased with my choice!
falkster said:
MJK 24 said:
Take in on the chin as I cannot see how he can prove beyond doubt that the car wasn't covered in swirls before considering its nearly 10 years old?
Never a good idea to use these types of places if you're fanatical about your cars appearance.
ThisNever a good idea to use these types of places if you're fanatical about your cars appearance.
The alternative is some mates, baseball bats, then hospital, court and finally prison
I got nowhere when a dealer did this to one of our cars at its first service. Looked like someone had ice-skated on it. I was annoyed with myself that I forgot to tell them not to wash it.
At the end of the day you could go to court, but my advice was that they could well say "it's only a car" and/or "s
t happens". And that was against a dealership - good luck taking on a bunch of Polish car washers.
At the end of the day you could go to court, but my advice was that they could well say "it's only a car" and/or "s
t happens". And that was against a dealership - good luck taking on a bunch of Polish car washers.wildcat45 said:
A call to HMRC might get you a bit f revenge. You could threaten them with this, trading standards and adverse publicity.
It may put them in a position where they really don't want a st load of hassle. They may bung you a few wuid to go away. They may not.
I don't think they're going to entertain complaints from somebody with swirl marks on their car from a car park car wash somehow!It may put them in a position where they really don't want a s
t load of hassle. They may bung you a few wuid to go away. They may not. For ten quid did he expect a two bucket wash and dried with Microfibers etc?
I know it seems like I'm rubbing it in but he took it to a cheap polish car wash and they gave it a cheap polish car wash - people don't queue up for the quality of the work they queue up because they're cheap.
I can't see anything can come of it other than him chalking it down to experience.
I know it seems like I'm rubbing it in but he took it to a cheap polish car wash and they gave it a cheap polish car wash - people don't queue up for the quality of the work they queue up because they're cheap.
I can't see anything can come of it other than him chalking it down to experience.
I had no idea swirling existed before joining PH. I use a cheap east-european carwash because it returns my car to approximately the right colour in a short space of time for very little money.
If I cared about my paintwork I wouldn't take it there. I probably wouldn't let the wife or kids anywhere near it either!
If I cared about my paintwork I wouldn't take it there. I probably wouldn't let the wife or kids anywhere near it either!
not quite sure what he expected??? you pay £5-10 to a cheap car wash and this is what you get its not exactly a surprise...if hes so fanatical he should not of even considered it
similar scenario, buy cheaper £25 tyres, skid on minor surface water, blame the tyre supplier....instead of buying proper tyres
similar scenario, buy cheaper £25 tyres, skid on minor surface water, blame the tyre supplier....instead of buying proper tyres
Waugh-terfall said:
It's always hand washed and polished at home usually.
Always and Usually together,so sometimes it must be washed by others away from home. It's bad luck and possibly bad judgement on the choice of car wash, best option let as many of your real physical mates know which car wash it was so they can chose to avoid it.bhstewie said:
hstewie said: For ten quid did he expect a two bucket wash and dried with Microfibers etc?
I know it seems like I'm rubbing it in but he took it to a cheap polish car wash and they gave it a cheap polish car wash - people don't queue up for the quality of the work they queue up because they're cheap.
Nonsense. The local Sainsburys has a gang of "waterless" car washers who basically smear gritty mud over your motor for a fiver. I know it seems like I'm rubbing it in but he took it to a cheap polish car wash and they gave it a cheap polish car wash - people don't queue up for the quality of the work they queue up because they're cheap.
A 20 second drive away is a proper polish gang where, for a fiver, half a dozen of them will go at it with proper kit, sheepskin washmits, microfibres towels etc. and they do a bloody good job of it.
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