Car damaged while being valeted

cocobean

My car has been damaged while being valeted.

Left my car to have a full valet while away on holidays. Returned to find it has significant scratches on one part of the bonnet. The marks are in keeping with the possibilities that a stone was on the cloth/sponge being used to clean it.

I have called to speak with the person responsible for the work but he is too busy to come to the phone.

Do I have any come back with this if I am told tough?

The car did not have the marks before being left for the work to be done.

Any advice would be great.
Thanks

D3V!L

Do you have any proof the scratches weren't there before ? I know from expierience that this would be intrinsic in proving they were at fault.

cocobean

Sadly I don't.

So frustrating.

coylemj

This isn't a criminal case, OP doesn't have to prove anything 'beyond a reasonable doubt', only on the balance of probabilities and if the marks look like they were caused by someone scouring the bonnet with an abrasive cleaner or using a polishing cloth with grit in it, you would be 99% of the way towards proving (in a civil case) that it happened during the valet.

OP, you need to pay the guy a visit, get him to look at the damage and see what he says. Hopefully he has public liability insurance though if he's a backstreet operator you may be p1ssing into the wind trying to claim against him.

cocobean

Thank you all very much for your replies.

I have just gotten off the phone to them again and the supervisor is not available to take my call as he is not on duty. I was asked to take photos of the damage. Instead of doing this I have told them that I will call to the airport in the morning to show the supervisor the damage.

I hope that he has public liability insurance. He is attached to one of the larger long term carparks beside the airport.

coylemj

cocobean wrote: »

I have just gotten off the phone to them again and the supervisor is not available to take my call as he is not on duty. I was asked to take photos of the damage. Instead of doing this I have told them that I will call to the airport in the morning to show the supervisor the damage.

First he was 'too busy to come to the phone', now he is 'not on duty' He's a car wash supervisor FSS.

Giving him a time means he now knows when to do a disappearing act and the staff will be told to fob you off with another excuse.

cocobean wrote: »

I hope that he has public liability insurance. He is attached to one of the larger long term carparks beside the airport.

Sorry but that doesn't sound good from your perspective, he's probably paying the car park a weekly or monthly rental to operate from there which suggests that he has zero in the way of assets or a premises of any kind.

cocobean

The person who was too busy to come to the phone was out working on a car.
He did not return my call.

The man I just spoke with advised me to speak to the supervisor who will be on duty in the morning because the is the person who deals with issues such as these. This valet service can be booked as an add on to the car parking booking which is processed online. I'm not sure if that makes it a more 'legitimate' service.

rajatparihar

cocobean wrote: »

The person who was too busy to come to the phone was out working on a car.
He did not return my call.

The man I just spoke with advised me to speak to the supervisor who will be on duty in the morning because the is the person who deals with issues such as these. This valet service can be booked as an add on to the car parking booking which is processed online. I'm not sure if that makes it a more 'legitimate' service.

Hi, can you please disclose the name of this valet company so that until your case is resolved, we all would avoid using their services. I am about to give my car valet to one of the reputed valet company on the Dublin Airport.

kirving

Don't name the service. Nothing is proven one way or another and they may turn out to be very helpful in the end.

In the mean time, I can't see one of the larger car park operators allowing them to operate from the without insurance, and if you booked it through the car park site, you can also look for recourse through them.

MarkR

You could ask for a pm, but not post about it online.

Pat Mustard

rajatparihar wrote: »

Hi, can you please disclose the name of this valet company so that until your case is resolved, we all would avoid using their services. I am about to give my car valet to one of the reputed valet company on the Dublin Airport.

Mod:

If people wish to send PMs, that's a matter for them and the people whom they contact. Please don't refer to this in the thread.

We have no evidence of the facts of what happened so it is preferable that there should be no discussion regarding identification of any party in the thread.

cocobean

I have no intention in naming the company I am dealing with as the situation is ongoing.

NUTLEY BOY

cocobean wrote: »

The person who was too busy to come to the phone was out working on a car.
He did not return my call.

The man I just spoke with advised me to speak to the supervisor who will be on duty in the morning because the is the person who deals with issues such as these. This valet service can be booked as an add on to the car parking booking which is processed online. I'm not sure if that makes it a more 'legitimate' service.

Out of curiosity, with which party does OP have the contractual relationship ?

Is it the valet company directly or the car park operator if the payment was to them in full. Doubtless there will be 1001 exclusions but I would threaten the operator to cough up promptly or that you will proceed against him and the car park operator. The supervisor might then find time to come to the 'phone if there is the threat of damage to the valet company's contract with the car park operator.

cocobean

Almost a year on and I can report that after considerable lack of communication from the CarPark and Valet Operator I finally found someone in the company who was more than willing to help.

My car was repaired last week, the price of the valet has been refunded and I await payment for a rental car I used while my car was being repaired.

nuac

Mod
Glad to see you got this sorted. Thanks for letting us know
Closing thread