I am looking for advice on this incident. What would you do.

I am a long term (5 MINI) customer at my dealership. With my first F56 I almost wore a rut in the driveway I was in the service department so much. So I know the place well.

So the other day I drive to the dealership to pickup some parts and it is raining so I decide to park in the service entrance as there is no cars there and it is the middle of the day. They have electric doors and the right one has a car outside it so I nose up the left one and it is not opening. I go closer and it opens and I drive in. I decide to park on the right side as I do not want to block the drive-in if another car comes. I see a cone on the floor just inside the door so I drive past it and turn right. There is a loud grinding noise and I assume I've hit the cone so I back up and go forward deciding not to park on the right after all. When I get out of my car I look back and see this ramp thing that is bolted to the floor. It is raised up and the side of it has cut open the plastic lower rocker sill on my car.


You can see the mechanic inside looking at the damage...

I am pretty pissed and go to the service manager and tell him what has happed. He tells me he will get the general manager down.

I grab the parts and come back to find the GM looking at the contraption on the floor. Not even looking at my car. The thing is bent where I hit it on the side. He tells me that it is an alignment sensor that check cars when they come in and that I have damaged it and will I be contacting my insurance. I told him that there is no way I am paying for his machine and that it has no markings or high cones or sign on the door or........

He tells me it has been there for 2 months and no one else has hit it.

Anyway I feel that he should pay for the damage to my car (the cover is around $180). IMO anything on the floor of a drive in place should be clearly marked and should be signed. I did not see it because the door is not glass all the way down and they should have it marked better anyway.


So....what would you do? I'm not going to take the dealership to court - although I think I would have a case. Should I just pay the full retail for the cover and install it myself and work away. My wife thinks so...it is just one of those things. I see it as irresponsible of them at the dealership. They would never let you drive your car onto one of those lifts yourself at any other garage for good reason. This gadget requires the same precision to a point - and it is not signed or marked clearly.


Thoughts...

 

I have seen them in other dealerships as well - and they're also not marked there. Based on ones I see, it would be hard for it to damage the car. You just drive over it, like a speed bump. I have to imagine that in the event I did damage the car and it, that they would be looking at me as well.

 

This one had raised sides with a laser firing across at the high point. The laser had a cowling on both sides I hit the right....

 

Another reason why most shops don't allow anyone but employees to drive into and out of the shop area.

 

I think at this point you are thinking from a point of being embarrassed by the incident. Your wife is as usual correct. Your dealership personal are at fault as well for many reasons, which I won't bother with.

 

Thanks for the advice. Just out of interest here is the device and the way they marked it.

 

Oh man, I feel for you! I thought that kind of thing only happened to me! Just suck it up & get it fixed proper...maybe they will cut you a bit of a break considering the circumstances

Best of luck & keep us posted how it works out.

 

Yep, that's the same thing I've seen.

 

IMO, this one's on you. You'd really have to use rationalize this to shift the blame to the dealership.

Had it been one of the mechanics driving your car and did the damage, then, yeah, dealership dime for everything.

 

I agree. The way insurance would look at it is that turning right was your decision, and then you hit a stationary object — a gold standard of determining who is at fault. Imagine if something like this happened while you were pulling into a friend's garage.

 

You're totally at fault for this incident - so pony up and pay for the damage to your own car and for the damage to the dealerships equipment. As an attorney I can tell you you'd have no case whatsoever if you decided to pursue this as a litigation matter.

 

 

This.

To the OP: You were behind the wheel, you hit something, you're at fault for the damage and the damage to the object.

Pretty cut and dry.

 

So what you guys are saying is that if the dealer decided to dig a 20 foot deep pit just behind the door and decided not to sign post it in any way and I drove through the door in the pit...it would be 100% my fault? Really?

 

A bit extreme, isn't it? Does everything everywhere need to be marked so that we don't do wrong? How far does society have to go to protect us from ourselves?

A 20' pit would most likely not have working doors in front of it - and would be a known hazard. As I said earlier, I drive over one of these in a dealership here - and no issues that I'm aware of.

Had there been cones in front of it - that forced you to turn right and drive off of it, you might have something.

 

You got it bud - you're not even meant to drive into the service bay!!! But way to take it to the extreme - it wasn't a 20 foot pit, right behind the door, because if a property owner decided to do that they probably wouldn't put a working door right in front of it. Take some responsibility for your own actions. Honestly, I'd say to them "listen, no worries guys, my bad, I'll pay for the damage to my own car" and be happy that they don't charge you for the damage that you did to their equipment. Hey, and watch out for that hot coffee when you pick it up from Starbucks, wouldn't want to spill and get burnt because you didn't realize it was hot

 

I think any judge or jury would see it as a clear and present danger.

I would never drive into a service shop without prior authorization or someone standing there waving me in. That is the way I've always HAD to do it anyway.

Now, if I were the shop owner, I wouldn't make you pay for my broken equipment, but I wouldn't pay for yours either.

Horrible situation all around though.

 

Just to be clear here. This is a public area. You are meant to drop your car in this space. They have someone else drive your car out of this space to the service workshop.

 

I'm on your side on this one...I'd be pretty pissed if that happened to me & my dealer lets owners drive into the service area. What is that thing for anyway? This is the reason I don't take my JCW to my dealer for anything except for any needed warranty work as things seem to happen when the car is out of my sight...lol! That appears to be a worthless obstruction
imo! Pavement is suppose to be flat right? There should. be a big yellow sign that says "Achtung!"...beware the obstruction on the floor! ;-)

 

Yes. You are the operator.

I'm certain a sufficiently clever attorney could make things annoying enough to the pit owner that they would give you money to go away, but yes, morally and ethically, it's your job as the vehicle operator to watch where you are going, especially in an unfamiliar location.

Complaints like this are why many shops do not allow customers into the work areas.

It's a sucky situation. No doubt about it. But it isn't their fault that you drove over their equipment.

 

Is there such sign or post saying "Employees Only" or "Authorized Personnel Only" so it is obvious for customers that they should not or would not drive their car through there?

If there is such sign, you would be at the fault.

If there is no such sign, you might not be at the fault.

However, for me, I never drive my car into "inside" of any automobile shop or building (structure) whether there is such sign or not without permission or guidance of their employee. It's just not a normal thing to do for me. It's like just walking into someone's house without their approval. Into their yard or parking lot outside, yes, maybe. But NOT into their house or INSIDE of their building.

 

Lets put your example into some context, "If the dealer had a oil change pit off to the right side of the entrance and didn't have a sign posted that there was a pit there and you pulled your car into it, would you think he's responsible? Really?

Every service center I've ever seen that have the customers pull into are designed for cars that are schedule for a service and to be pulled straight in a parked. It's purpose to get customers out of any weather and allow the service mgr to take VIN, and mileage and put a tag on the car to be moved into the service area by a tech or employee.

If I were going in to pick up parts, I'd park my car outside and walk in to get the parts. Since I'm not having my car serviced, I would not want to block anyone that was coming in for service by pulling my car into the service area.

 

I don't think you're supposed to drive into the service bay I think you're supposed to park outside and let them drive your car in. I bet they don't hit that thing every time either. You did it one time and hit it because you didn't know about it. They know about it. Case closed.

 

Realistically, for insurance purposes, you are not supposed to be driving the car in the service area (no matter how many times you have done it before). A dealership employee is supposed to be driving back there, so yes, the scenario you described would be 100% your fault. My wife is also an attorney and confirmed that you have no case.

 

Sorry but it appears that the majority of the voices here is obvious - it's the fault of the driver. Lesson learned and we all need to be careful when driving on someone else's property. Do not assume!