On the afternoon of Tuesday, October 3, 2017, my vehicle was damaged due to the actions of two employees of the BP Car Wash, 306 East Lancaster Ave., Wayne PA 19087. Abdel, the car wash manager, has been telling me that the owner, Gary Karakelian, would take care of it by paying the body shop directly or via his insurance up until this morning, Friday October 6, 2017. At noon today, Abdel, the car wash manager, informed me that Gary will not take care of the damage and I should use my own insurance. This is unacceptable and I now am using all legal options available to recover my damages, full story below:
At approximately 1:30pm on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 3, 2017, I drove to the BP car wash located at 306 East Lancaster Ave., Wayne, PA 19087. My family uses this car wash regularly, and has for decades. Abdel, the car wash manager, sees me every week with a number of my family's vehicles, knows me, and just this past Sunday we had two of the our vehicles washed there, including the one that was damaged.
At approximately 1:45pm Tuesday, I was in line for the wash and as the attendant was lining me up for the entrance he apparently was distracted and directed me to drive into a yellow steel pole, damaging the right front quarter panel and bumper of my vehicle. The attendants apologized and worked for about five minutes scrubbing as much of the yellow paint as they could from the fender.
After I exited the car wash, I proceeded to the office and showed Abdel the damage. He said no problem, and told me to go see Tim Lyons, the owner of Lyons Detailing, which is just a block away at 236 Lancaster Ave., Wayne PA 19087. I drove to Lyons and explained the situation and Tim told me immediately that the damage was much greater than a simple cleanup, he said the bumper was bent and creased and the quarter panel needed to be repaired and painted. I returned to BP, relayed the information to Abdel. Abdel again said no problem, he handed me a business card for John Damiani, the owner of Main Line Collision, on the back he wrote "Gary Karakelian" and told me to tell John that Gary will take care of the bill.
At approximately 2:30pm, I drove to Main Line Collision (MLC), located at 392 West Lancaster Ave, Wayne PA 19087. I met with John Damiani, he reaffirmed what Abdel stated earlier, that Gary Karakelian takes care of these damages, no problem. John then inspected the damage and started preparing the estimate. While I was waiting for the estimate, Abdel stopped in at MLC to see how I was doing. John completed the estimate shortly thereafter and handed it to Abdel, total was $1,332.46.
Abdel seemed shocked that the estimate was that much, John then took him to my vehicle and explained the damage. Abdel asked me if I really needed a new bumper and I replied that I just want the vehicle in the same condition it was in before his employees damaged it. He replied that he would give Gary the estimate and they would try to get MLC to lower the cost. Abdel stated that he would call me after he spoke with Gary and would let me know if Gary was going to pay out of pocket or turn it in to his insurance company, we then left MLC at 3pm.
Wednesday and Thursday came and went with no communication from Abdel or Gary. At 9:00am on Friday October 6th, I drove to the BP car wash and spoke with Abdel. He stated that he hadn't heard back from Gary yet regarding how to pay for the damages but he would try to get an answer today. At approximately 12:17pm, I texted Abdel for an update, he called me and told me that Gary didn't want to pay for it and I should put it on my own insurance. I told Abdel that it was not going on my insurance, it was BP's fault.
I contacted the Radnor Township Police Department and spoke with Deputy Superintendent Andrew J. Block and explained the events, he told me to file a police report and commence legal action. read more
