Have you ever been to a car wash where a foreign worker gets into your precious car to drive it from the high pressure wash area to the drying area and then to the vacuum and interior cleaning area? Yes, this is common scene….but have you had your precious car scratched or rear ended into a wall by the worker?
Well, this happened to a friend in her residential area car wash and the worker after seeing the damage just ran away. The Malaysian owner of the car wash was not around during the incident and when contacted and arrived at his car wash he claimed that the worker was not on his payroll and so he is not liable as the foreign worker is not an employee.
A police report was made and an insurance claim made, but the insurance company replied that the car owner willingly ‘handed the car key’ to the car wash worker and so there is no claim possible. The car owner has to repair her car at her own cost.
So…….car wash operators are generally not liable for the customers’ mistakes in handing their car keys willingly to their workers.
So remember this the next time you go to the car wash.
