Liability issue.

[splitpit]

As a network member shop with the insurance cos. I carry the required business liability insurance. I have never had to use it though. Has anyone here ever had a situation where something occured in which they were liable for damages or losses because of an incident with a customer?

[gt_repair]

you are doing windshield repairs. most times you do not move the auto. What can go wrong.... ? If you have a step stool to get on a truck and you dent it.... Cash out of pocket... It is cheeper that trying to file a claim....

The policy is just to protect the networks assets. minis the ETS.

17 years, just paying for a policy of protetion to get work.

Don D.

[Brent Deines]

I had one in 20+ years. My wife was doing a repair and a drop of pit resin ended up on the cowl of an older SUV. The paint was already bad and the guy would have never noticed the drop of clear cured resin in a million years, but I noticed it and therefore had to point it out to the customer. I immediately offered to have the cowl painted at the best body shop in town, and the owner was very happy with that arrangement.

I would have paid for that out of my pocket but a few days later the guy called back to say that if he pained the cowl it would not match the hood, so I agreed to have the hood painted as well, still planning on paying for it out of my pocket even though the price was now several hundred dollars.

A few more days passed and the guy called to say that if he had the hood painted it would not match the fenders, and if he had the fenders painted it would not match the doors, and...well...you can figure the rest out. Since I had pointed him to the best shop in town the price was now several thousand dollars, so I reluctantly turned it over to my insurance company and the customer got a very nice paint job on his old beat up SUV.

I was ticked off about it for awhile, but what goes around comes around. I did the right thing by pointing out the damage, and that is all that really matters. I was glad I had insurance for that one.

[CV Windshield Repair]

Brent, just out of curiousity do you remember if you tried to remove the resin with denatured alcohol or something?

[StarQuest]

Brent,

Nice story but an RLI policy wouldn't cover any of the damages you described. Must have been another carrier. To date I haven't heard of one person respond on this forum to a RLI claim. If someone has filed one, please step forward!

[Brent Deines]

I did not have RLI as I had not heard of it then. I have used a lot of insurance companies over the years, and I can't for the life of me remember who I was using at that time. It was a basic garage keepers policy as I had a fixed location.

We tried alcohol, acetone, adhesive cleaner and everything else we could think of to remove the resin, but had no luck. It's quite possible a body shop could have gotten it off, but we thought we thought we would be generous and offer to paint the cowl for about $125. Actually the spot was nearly invisible so given the fact that the paint was old and had lots of other defects anyway, I thought for sure the customer would tell us not to worry about it. Unfortunately I think he saw this as a way to increase the value of his vehicle.

[SGT]

I did not have RLI as I had not heard of it then. I have used a lot of insurance companies over the years, and I can't for the life of me remember who I was using at that time. It was a basic garage keepers policy as I had a fixed location.

We tried alcohol, acetone, adhesive cleaner and everything else we could think of to remove the resin, but had no luck. It's quite possible a body shop could have gotten it off, but we thought we thought we would be generous and offer to paint the cowl for about $125. Actually the spot was nearly invisible so given the fact that the paint was old and had lots of other defects anyway, I thought for sure the customer would tell us not to worry about it.

Unfortunately I think he saw this as a way to increase the value of his vehicle. IMHO, this is why I think a waiver is very important in windshield repair, at least for my business. Although it does not apply in this scenario since you damaged, however small, the customers paint and sure it probably would have gone unseen but due to your morals and ethics advised the customer. Due to there lack of morals and ethics decided to take advantage of the situation and your generosity. Now although the situations a waiver may pertain to will be different, the reality of a customer wanting something above and beyond is certainly there.

..................

[Daveycrewcut]

Liability Coverage is for when someone sues you. The Insurance company will cover the cost of an attorney to represent you.

Damage to your customers property is covered by the "garage keeper's" rider if you have one. You don't have to have a fixed location to get the "garage keepers" coverage. It is for anyone who works on automobiles whether at a fixed location or on a mobile basis. There is usually a deductible that has to be satisfied before the insurance company takes over.

Riders can also be purchased to cover your tools.

Have your agent or insurance company explain what is covered by each part of your policy.

[StarQuest]

This is a little off topic but thought I would share it with everybody.

When I operated a full service glass shop there were times when techs would get either urethane or pinchweld primer on dashes, fabric or paint. After experimenting with many different products to lift the spillage without damaging interior or exterior finishes we finally found one that worked.

It's the spray primer that comes with 3M's Rear View Mirror Adhesive Kit!

Never tried it on resin but it worked on almost everything else.

[jayjacque]

A real strong citrus cleaner worked for me for many years in getting overspray off stuff, for instance lacquer base paint off interior gauges without harming the finish. Have also gotten overspray off exterior parts as well. Just need to spot wax when finished cleaning to restore the shine. Never had to use it for resin spill, but that's what I'd try if it happened. Coors, believe or not, made a real good industrial strength one. For some reason over the counter Orange Glow didn't work as well. The one I have now is called Multi-Clean put out by Flex-Proof of Seattle, very good and in a concentrate.