My Prius Prime car accident in Car Wash - video

I honestly don't know.
I don't think it's the car wash. If so the driver of the RAM pick up would be complaining and pointing at that failure. Plus I think if there was any significant breakdown the Car Wash would of shut down and not continued to service cars and put others at risk.

I think it's inexperienced Driver error.
So who is responsible to you?
Well you have some strange layers here....

I am NOT a legal expert. But my reaction would be since I think it was driver error, the company that leased the Truck, who employed the driver would be liable.
But I'm not sure. Maybe Enterprise takes responsibility and then THEY go after the leasing company?

In any case, the car wash will give you nothing. You were damaged, and the video clearly shows it's not your fault.

Let us know how this works out. Good Luck.

 

Don't take this at full face value. Your state laws might be different.

I.e. while they can certainly disclaim damage from normal operation of the car wash, state law might not allow them to disclaim damage caused by malfunction or their improper operation of their own equipment. Their sign could easily overstate their immunity from liability.

 

Isn't it the car wash operator's responsibility to monitor the wash and press the stop button if the vehicles are too close ?
Disclaimer notices of responsibility may not have any legal binding.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I've often wondered what would happen if you had a sign in your window saying "by letting me use your car wash (insert other facility types) you agree to accept any and all attendant liability and to waive any previous liability limitation"

Like those dump trucks that say "Stay back 200 ft. Not responsible for broken windshields" - why not just say "Not responsible for ANYTHING"? - I think it's just a meaningless sign to start you down a particular train of thought. You're already considering the car wash has immunity, but it doesn't.


In fact, why not have your sign say "by allowing me to use your car wash, you agree to give me one hundred dollars", then go through the wash, then go to the office and ask for your money. They of course will refuse at which point you show them the sign, they'll still refuse, then you sue them and their defense will be "well we don't recognize your sign, it has no validity" at which point you have a way of invalidating their defense for the accident

 

The sole purpose of those signs is to dissuade people from pursuing any sort of claim against them. Many people will just think “darn! Guess they aren’t liable!!”

 

"Y said when he got to the end of the conveyor, he stepped on his brakes. The conveyor then pushed the Prius into the rear of the Dodge Ram."
So the pickup driver admitted that his actions caused the wreck. Go after the company that operates the pickup.

 

This, recycled water with salt in it and grit laden brushes, is why I no longer use these car washes.

I would only use them for an old beater.

 

I disagree that what he admitted to in the police report means he caused the accident.. You pretty much always have the right to brake to a stop, or to not take positive action to drive forward when already stopped. It is the responsibility of the car behind you to stop, or otherwise avoid hitting you. There can be exceptions, but #1 I don't think this is one of them, and #2 anyone stopping can always say they thought they saw a child/dog/whatever running into their path. But this particular case is trickier. As the police correctly stated, the Prius driver was not operating a motor vehicle, his motion was being controlled by the carwash. So, I view it as the responsibility of the carwash to stop the Prius, until the Ram is out of its way.

Bear in mind that the Ram driver also wasn't operating a motor vehicle until the carwash pushed him off the end of the track. Unless there are very prominent signs and flashing lights warning him to promptly drive away, he was (inept but) within his rights to hesitate, remain stopped at the end of the track, put on the brakes, or anything else he cared to within reason. What if he'd run out of gas in the carwash? What if his ignition got wet and his engine stalled? What if winds blew a tarp onto his windshield? What if he'd just suffered a medical event?

The carwash should have a sensor to confirm that the area where it is pushing a car out the door, doesn't contain a vehicle or pedestrian, and stop the conveyor if it's not clear.

 

I think Geico is thinking of this as a collision claim, when the police report says it is not. I'm assuming your $1000 deductible that they're talking about is for collision coverage. What is your deductible for comprehensive? Because that is what the claim seems to fall under, to me, though I'm not an expert.

Also, in either case, check your policy for whether you have "waiver of deductible" coverage for an accident which isn't your fault. If you do, then maybe let Geico treat it as a collision, because you have a police report saying you're not at fault, even if it doesn't say the other guy was.

As for the video itself, it is very clear to me that something made the truck roll backwards, going up and over the carwash rollers. It definitely is not that you got pushed into him (hence both he and the police report are wrong to that extent), nor that he was stopped/jammed and his rollers got pushed past his tires. Nope, something pushed him backwards, and unless his backup lights weren't working, it wasn't that he put it in reverse. Very odd.

Was the track level or going uphill? It almost seems that the roller pushing his front tires disengaged with him left on an uphill stretch at the end of the track, and that the rear rollers weren't against his rear tires, allowing him to roll back and over them. But it that were true, it should happen for every car, or at least for any truck with the same wheelbase as his, anytime those two particular rollers were doing the pushing.

Every scenario seems unlikely. I guess that's why it's called an accident.

The backup lights not working, would explain it, though even that would have required a light touch on the gas by him to not use the brakes before hitting you so lightly. It is clear that the brake lights were working. So if you end up in court, be sure to ask for all maintenance documents about the truck, looking to see if the backup lights were ever an issue.

One last legal thought about going after the car wash. Do they have any video cameras there which might have caught it? Too bad the police didn't check for that and mention it in the report. But even without warning them to keep the videos, and not to mess with them, if they do have cameras looking in that vicinity and can't produce video from them in court, it is extremely good for you. It is called spoliation of evidence. Steve Lehto on YouTube has some good videos about that, including one dealing with how you should preserve all video on your dashcam even if if proves you were at fault. Because deleting it, editing it, or anything else, gives the other side the ability to make up the worst possible thing it might show, and the judge and jury have to take that as being fact, because you didn't preserve the evidence.

So, just showing that either the truck or the car wash had it on camera, will totally win you the case against either of them if they can't come up with the whole unedited video.

 

Feeling your angst! Thanks for the update and prudent information regarding spacing.