Hello, I wonder if someone has any advice for me?

I put my car through a car wash which included the wheel scrub, I have used this auto wash a few times previously with no problems. On returning home my other half pointed out large circular scratches on the paintwork behind the wheel arch of the front tyres and before the wheel arch of the back tyres (on the sides of my car), 4 sets of scratches in all. This damage appeared to have been caused by the wheel scrub missing the wheels of my car as it went through the wash process.

I wrote to the garage (Murco) advising them of the problem and they wrote back asking me to get 2 repair quotes. Given their response at this point, I thought it was all going to be a straighforward process. I obtained 1 quote from my local garage which seemed reasonable and wrote back asking if they wished to pay this directly or if they wished me to pay and then would recompense me. I heard nothing back and on contacting them again, they just advised me that they were investigating the incident. After waiting a few more days, I wrote to Murco stating that I was unwilling to leave my car in this state and I was going ahead with the repair using the local garage. Once again I asked them how they wished to settle the bill. I did not hear back from the company and went ahead with the repair assuming that they would settle, given that they had asked me for repair quotes.

A few days later, I then received a letter advising that they had found nothing wrong with the car wash, denying liability and pointing out their disclaimer notice which states owners take their cars to the car wash at their own risk. I can understand that the garage cannot expect to be held liable for damage that may be caused due to the actions of drivers, but in my case my car was damaged due to the machine not working properly.

We have advised Murco that they have until 22nd June to settle my bill (£150 for repair to the paintwork) or I will take further action to recover my money.

Can anyone advise me on the likelyhood of my claim succeeding? I am not sure what defence Murco would offer apart from tryng to claim that I must have moved my car during the wash process. I turned the engine off when I used the car wash so I know this did not happen, also I would have had to have driven forward and then backwards to have caused the 4 circular scratches that appeared on my car both after and before the wheel arches on the sides of the car.

I would be grateful for any advice.

Best regards

Sue