Damage claim "Very Old Post"

[TowZone]

03-11-03: Jackmaster Wrote,

 

One of our drivers went out to do a tire change for AAA. Took tire off car and put spare on, ok simple job. As he is putting the spare on the lug nuts start to turn hard, the wheel is not tight on the hub so he turns the lugs a little further and the wheel tightens up. The wheel is not perfectly straight on the hub so he advises the owner to not drive the car to far or he can tow it for her. So she takes the car to the tire shop and they procede to take the spare off the car, bang broken stud.
So tire shop says that tow company stripped the lugs.

Ok we get the call that there is damage and we need to pay for new studs and nuts and labor to replace them.

We look into this as we should and find out the following.
Honda civic.
1. the car had aftermarket wheels on it.
2. the lug nuts were of the cap type.
3. the after market wheels were thicker than stock wheels.
4. The after market wheels had an alignment spacer on the hub that centers the after market wheel on the hub.
5. the customer does not have stock lugnuts to install spare wheel.
6. when we installed spare wheel we turned the lug nuts onto the stud further than they were designed to go, so that screwed up the end of the stud, so when they tried to take the nuts off they would come off a ways then stop and break the stud off.

The customer wants us to pay the $475.00 to repair this car. New studs,front hub,nuts and labor.

I refused to pay so now looks like we are headed to small claims court.

Am I liable for all of this? Where does the car owners responsability start and end?

Thanks Glen

 

ncoast said:

As he is putting the spare on the lug nuts start to turn hard, the wheel is not tight on the hub so he turns the lugs a little further and the wheel tightens up. The wheel is not perfectly straight on the hub

Sorry Glen, but the driver knew there was a problem and sent the cust. down the road. It should have been towed to your shop, or one of your accounts so you had some control over the repair.
I would say you owe the guy something, Maybe not 100% because I dont see why the hub had to be replaced. I would find out why the hub was replaced, and go from there. I would also want to see all old parts.
But a lot of people will say their going to sue you, but never will.

 

WM010544 said:

Now keep in mind I don't know how AAA's damage responsibility lies, so I'm shooting in the dark, here.

The way we do it regularly is that if it's stock parts, we should know how they go. If it's aftermarket and the customer does not advise us that things are different and there are different proceedures in place and different way things need to be handled, then they are on their own. This problem is apparent in tow away's. We get (down here in beautiful Florida) low riding cars with low spoilers all the time. You take extra care but sometimes they're just too low and they rip. We tell people, since it's not stock, we're not going to do anything about it. It's your car, if you parked it where you shouldn't, that's just tough. Now I don't damage things on purpose but the harder they make it on us to move it, the more chance of damage to THEIR property.

As for your situation, I would say that you're doing the right thing. If the customer was there with the driver, he should have said something... We're not mind readers! Now I will have to say that your driver did see something wrong with it before he left and it's apparent at the moment your customer is trying to take advantage of the situation by fixing everything that's wrong with his car, or as we refer to it, "all of the imperfections in your automobile"

Good luck and keep us posted!Ant
 

interstow said:

Unfortunately, I think that you need to accept the responsibility, pay to correct the problem and move on. Your driver felt something wrong and saw a misalignment of the wheel on the hub...and then still sent the person on their way. Be happy it did not end much worse. The cost seems a bit high. Is there any way to just replace the studs on/in the hub and not replace the entire unit?

 

Jackmaster said:

we did offer to tow this car but the member refused the tow and told us to finish putting the wheel on. Thanks for your replies. Keep them coming. Glen

[Ed Johnson]

I am a firm believer in making sure a spare tire is fully inflated (air pump in my truck), that the wheel fits properly, and that lug nuts are torqued to specification. If wheel does not fit properly, the car should not be driven. If the customer refuses to allow a tow, return the vehicle to the situation it was in when you arrived.  The car should not have been driven with the wheel wobbling. It is possible that the hub was bent by the wobbling or that the shop was being very cautious and did not want to assume any risk of there being a future problem with their work. It is always our responsibility to make sure the job is done right or pay to get the job corrected. Interstow was right in saying "Be happy it did not end much worse" and in saying "...pay to correct the problem and move on". I would just pay the bill and not waste time in court.