#LegalHelpNeeded: So, went to get an oil change, inspection, and tire rotation at a dealership. After two hours, got my car on the freeway and TWO tires flew off. 😱🚗 All thanks to the dealership’s lack of proper securing! Am I legally screwed or can I take action? Feeling terrified of letting them near my car again… 😰 #HelpMeOut #CarNightmare
Hey there! Ever had a dealership fail to secure your tires properly, resulting in a wild freeway mishap? 🤯 That’s what happened to me recently and I’m left wondering what my legal options are. Feeling sore, spooked, and not so trusting of them fixing my car again 🤕. Has anyone been in a similar situation? What did you do? Share your stories and advice in the comments below! Let’s navigate this together! 💬🔍 #CarTroubles #LegalAdviceNeeded #DealershipDisaster
This is what insurance is for. They will go after the dealer on your behalf. They pay you, and then they try to subjugate the expense by going after the dealer.
Whatever you do, I would use proper terminology. You didn’t have a “tire” come off. You had a wheel come off.
Tires get mounted on the wheels. The wheels get bolted to the car. During any standard “tire rotation”, they don’t dismount the tires. They unbolt the wheel and move it with the tire still mounted.
If they failed to torque the lugnuts (which bolt the wheel to the car) properly -or at all- that would certainly cause a wheel to come off. Properly torqued lugnuts should not come off/loosen on their own. The fact that more than one wheel worked its way loose means they obviously skipped torquing the lugnuts. Definitely a clear sign of negligence.
Is this a name-brand dealership? Honda, Chevrolet, etc? While the dealer itself is an independent franchise, the corporate brand has customer hotlines you can reach out to and are generally very helpful. They wouldn’t want a story like this getting out, that’s for sure!
Edit: if the wheels are still bolted to the car and the tire itself is all that came off, that would be quite impressive… especially for more than one. That would indicate severe under inflation but I don’t think you would have gotten very far.
The shop carries insurance for these things call the shop explain what happened and ask for their insurance information to file a claim. The wheels fell off in less than a mile it’s clear they were never tightened. Take pictures of the bolt holes on the wheels that fell off they will be damaged and this is your evidence the wheels fell off before the crash not because of it.
Talk to your insurance?
Have the car inspected by a third party?