Automatic car wash took off clear coat (maybe paint too)

[RACECAR go brrr!]

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

Avoid automated carwashes (really all carwashes that you don't do yourself - by hand) like the clap if you care about your car.

Zillions of people use touchless automated washes every day without any problems. Looking at the marks on OP's car, it looks like the nozzles were like 2 inches from his hood and not even overlapping the spray pattern. That suggests, to me, a major malfunction in how the wash was operating which allowed it to get WAY too close to the vehicle.

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Not sure about that station but every single one I have ever seen has a big sign out front that says “not responsible for damage."

Those signs have absolutely no legal standing whatsoever. Anyone can buy one of those signs on Amazon and slap it on their wall. Towing companies are probably the most well known for pointing to those signs all the time when they fuck up someone's car and hoping the customer just believes them and walks away.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by RACECAR go brrr!

Zillions of people use touchless automated washes every day without any problems. Looking at the marks on OP's car, it looks like the nozzles were like 2 inches from his hood and not even overlapping the spray pattern. That suggests, to me, a major malfunction in how the wash was operating which allowed it to get WAY too close to the vehicle.



Those signs have absolutely no legal standing whatsoever. Anyone can buy one of those signs on Amazon and slap it on their wall. Towing companies are probably the most well known for pointing to those signs all the time when they fuck up someone's car and hoping the customer just believes them and walks away.

Maybe not a legal leg but it does indicate that the place is willing to put up a fight.

[Pedro13]

I love wash my cars by hand, unfortunately in Canada this option is very limited, due the weather, at least from November to (maybe) end of April. That is why automated car washers are the only option during this time. Personally, don't use my 86 in winter, but for my 'beater' and wife's car, even in winter, I tried to wash it, sometimes twice per week (having season pass) in an auto-car wash, in order to try to keep away the salt from the car body as much as possible. This salt is bad for paint and create corrosion al over our body, plus looks very ugly, in special if you have a dark color car... So far, with no issues on auto car wash, of course using "touchless" car wash as much as possible...