Note: The DearEsq free 'ask a lawyer' site is offered as a free informational service to the public and is not intended as legal advice. Laws vary from state-to-state, and in addition every situation is unique, and relevant facts may not be known. The answer to the question posed below may not apply to in your state or to your situation. For legal advice in your state and your situation you should consult with an attorney in your state who is familiar with the rules and laws in your state.
Question: I washed my pickup in a self-serve car wash bay finished and pushed the door open button. As I passed through the exit the overhead door slammed down on the top of my cab. The owner told me to get an estimate which I did at a local body shop and brought it back to him. We then went to the door and tested the operation by putting our hand in front of the sensor after the door started to come down. The door traveled about 6 more feet very fast before it went back up and the owner said he would write a check to the body shop and not to me personally. Do I have a choice to have the truck fixed at a different shop or maybe not at all? Do I have the right to make him issue the check directly to me for compensation? There is no loan on the vehicle and I live in Minnesota.
Do you have a right to make him issue the check directly to you? That is a very fact-specific question, and would require not only knowing the various laws of Minnesota (which may or may not include not only contract law, business tort law, and even laws specific to the liability of a car wash), but would also require a lawyer reviewing what exactly was the contract, both explicit and implied, to which you agreed when you entered the car wash, inserted the money into the machine, etc..
However, that said, even if you do have such a right, it would almost certainly cost you far more to enforce that right, even without a lawyer, than the amount of the check. Frankly, the owner is offering to do the right thing, no questions asked – why you would want to mess with that is beyond us. Also, in doing so, he is also protecting himself – for all he knows you may have noticed the defective bay door, and intentionally put your truck under it to get money out of him (we are sure that you didn’t Answer: do that, just explaining why it’s not unreasonable for him to say he will pay the body shop directly).
