Imagine taking your new vehicle to the car wash and instead of it coming out pristine, it has more than $15,000 worth of damage inflicted on it?
That’s what happened when Barbara Hughes took her one month old BMW through a Petro-Canada car wash in New Westminster two weeks ago.
It turned out the culprit was a truck, which went through the wash before her, with unsecured metal that got caught in the spinning brushes.
Although Hughes noticed the car wash was making a lot of noise, her car was already in the automated tracks and was unable to stop the process.
As a result, her car’s hood was pushed in, the windshield smashed along with the panoramic roof, and that’s when the water started to come in the vehicle. Hughes kept her hand on the horn hoping one of the gas station attendants would help, but no one noticed or came to her rescue.
“I had to go through the whole system and then the blower… and I still had my hand on the horn,” she says.
“I put my car into drive but it did nothing. There was no way to get out.”
After the terrifying car wash, Hughes was shaken up along with being soaking wet. But now she says she wants someone to take responsibility for the damage done to her vehicle, which is estimated at $15,000 to $20,000.
After speaking to Petro-Canada about the incident, Hughes says they told her to contact ICBC since it was the truck driver’s fault. However, ICBC told Hughes this was not a case of negligence on the part of the other driver. Instead, they suggested she contact her own private insurer to cover the costs of the damage. But Hughes says she doesn’t think her insurance company should have to pay because someone else was at fault.
As far as Hughes is concerned, it’s Petro-Canada’s issue.
While Hughes could go through her comprehensive insurance to settle the claim, she’s not keen on the idea since it would mean a boost in her insurance rates.
So now it’s a waiting game and in the meantime, Hughes says she won’t be using a car wash anytime soon.
~ with files from Elaine Yong
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