This thread is started from an "unfortunate" incident from using the neighbor's lawn mower to cut their lawn and then being blamed for the lawn mower's breakage of the self-propelled drive. Its breakage probably would have happened anyway regardless of who was using the mower, but because I was the ONLY one to use the mower in the last five years of its life to cut their lawn, I am now deemed responsible for its breakage. Needless to say I will not use the mower or cut the neighbor's lawn anymore because trying to explain that things wear out and breakage happens from use over the years is a moot issue, especially newer products these days that are designed to last for the life of the warranty. But that "excuse" has fallen on deaf ears and I am ultimately responsible for the mower's self-propelled drive demise and liable for its repair expense, which has lead to an unfortunate demise of being "good neighbors" for many years of this "misunderstanding" (at least it is deemed "a misunderstanding" on my part)
Which leads to another related topic on detailing older vehicles and when I say "older vehicle" I am defining that as a vehicle with more than 100,000 miles on it OR is 5 or more years old. How many of you have had the unfortunate experience of having some electrical switch or release cable malfunction or break on you from using it while trying to detail an older vehicle or maybe have a car battery fail from keeping the doors open for an extended period of time when detailing the interior??
It is one of those things that you are the untimely and unfortunate victim of a said part malfunctions or failures that would have happened anyway to the vehicle owner/driver next, but it happened while YOU were detailing the vehicle and, like my lawn mower experience, the owner/driver holds YOU responsible.
Which lead to the next question: How many of you detailers have a Part Failure or Breakage Disclaimer Agreement that you have the customer/owner/driver of the vehicle you are detailing sign to absolve you of such liability and costs in getting such items fixed or repaired?
I realize that for those of you who do detailing as a cash-only side job and not as a legitimate business (registered LLC, Company, Enterprise and pay business and local, state and federal income taxes) may think this is down-right insane. NO customer will, in his right mind, sign such an agreement. I say this because you can verbally "agree" that if such things happen, the customer is responsible for such repair and costs, but his-word-against-your-word in this day and age of lawsuit-happy consumers, you probably will NOT get paid for you detailing work, or worse, be dragged in court to have YOU pay for the cost of replacement and repairs.
Here is what I think the agreement should say:
Part Failure or Breakage Agreement
Because my vehicle (Model Year_______, Make_____________ , and Model______________) has (______,_______Miles/km) miles/kilometers on it, I, the customer designated below, do agree to absolve the detailer designated below for any breakage or failure of parts during its normal use while detailing the vehicle and subsequent cost for replacement and/or repairs as needed, and will assume such costs for replacement and/or repairs because of the above denoted age and and mileage of the vehicle being detailed.
Signed:
Date (mm/dd/year): _______/______/_______
Printed name of customer:_____________________________________________ Signature:___________________________________________________
Printed name of detailer:_______________________________________________ Signature:__________________________________________________
Customer's Copy
Part Failure or Breakage Agreement
Because my vehicle (Model Year_______, Make_____________ , and Model______________) has (______,_______Miles/km) miles/kilometers on it, I, the customer designated below, do agree to absolve the detailer designated below for any breakage or failure of parts during its normal use while detailing the vehicle and subsequent cost for replacement and/or repairs as needed, and will assume such costs for replacement and/or repairs because of the above denoted age and and mileage of the vehicle being detailed.
Signed:
Date (mm/dd/year): _______/______/_______
Printed name of customer:_____________________________________________ Signature:___________________________________________________
Printed name of detailer:_______________________________________________ Signature:__________________________________________________
Detailer's Copy
Not that this is a "legal form" by any means but at least it provides something in writing to protect your economic interest when you detail an older vehicle. I say this because the term "normal use" is subject to interpretation, but this is a short-and-sweet-cover-your-financial-interest agreement.
Please note the duplicity that some may not like having to fill in things twice, but you do need two copies for both parties. If you want, you could make a copy of it one and physically write "Customer's Copy" on the original after making a copy and write "Detailer's Copy" on the copy made from the original for yourself and keep it as a record.
All it takes its is ONE "incident" of this part breakage or failure to undo all the money you would have made detailing an older vehicle, not to mention the undoing and irreparable harm to your detailing reputation and side job income.
Which leads to another related topic on detailing older vehicles and when I say "older vehicle" I am defining that as a vehicle with more than 100,000 miles on it OR is 5 or more years old. How many of you have had the unfortunate experience of having some electrical switch or release cable malfunction or break on you from using it while trying to detail an older vehicle or maybe have a car battery fail from keeping the doors open for an extended period of time when detailing the interior??
It is one of those things that you are the untimely and unfortunate victim of a said part malfunctions or failures that would have happened anyway to the vehicle owner/driver next, but it happened while YOU were detailing the vehicle and, like my lawn mower experience, the owner/driver holds YOU responsible.
Which lead to the next question: How many of you detailers have a Part Failure or Breakage Disclaimer Agreement that you have the customer/owner/driver of the vehicle you are detailing sign to absolve you of such liability and costs in getting such items fixed or repaired?
I realize that for those of you who do detailing as a cash-only side job and not as a legitimate business (registered LLC, Company, Enterprise and pay business and local, state and federal income taxes) may think this is down-right insane. NO customer will, in his right mind, sign such an agreement. I say this because you can verbally "agree" that if such things happen, the customer is responsible for such repair and costs, but his-word-against-your-word in this day and age of lawsuit-happy consumers, you probably will NOT get paid for you detailing work, or worse, be dragged in court to have YOU pay for the cost of replacement and repairs.
Here is what I think the agreement should say:
Part Failure or Breakage Agreement
Because my vehicle (Model Year_______, Make_____________ , and Model______________) has (______,_______Miles/km) miles/kilometers on it, I, the customer designated below, do agree to absolve the detailer designated below for any breakage or failure of parts during its normal use while detailing the vehicle and subsequent cost for replacement and/or repairs as needed, and will assume such costs for replacement and/or repairs because of the above denoted age and and mileage of the vehicle being detailed.
Signed:
Date (mm/dd/year): _______/______/_______
Printed name of customer:_____________________________________________ Signature:___________________________________________________
Printed name of detailer:_______________________________________________ Signature:__________________________________________________
Customer's Copy
Part Failure or Breakage Agreement
Because my vehicle (Model Year_______, Make_____________ , and Model______________) has (______,_______Miles/km) miles/kilometers on it, I, the customer designated below, do agree to absolve the detailer designated below for any breakage or failure of parts during its normal use while detailing the vehicle and subsequent cost for replacement and/or repairs as needed, and will assume such costs for replacement and/or repairs because of the above denoted age and and mileage of the vehicle being detailed.
Signed:
Date (mm/dd/year): _______/______/_______
Printed name of customer:_____________________________________________ Signature:___________________________________________________
Printed name of detailer:_______________________________________________ Signature:__________________________________________________
Detailer's Copy
Not that this is a "legal form" by any means but at least it provides something in writing to protect your economic interest when you detail an older vehicle. I say this because the term "normal use" is subject to interpretation, but this is a short-and-sweet-cover-your-financial-interest agreement.
Please note the duplicity that some may not like having to fill in things twice, but you do need two copies for both parties. If you want, you could make a copy of it one and physically write "Customer's Copy" on the original after making a copy and write "Detailer's Copy" on the copy made from the original for yourself and keep it as a record.
All it takes its is ONE "incident" of this part breakage or failure to undo all the money you would have made detailing an older vehicle, not to mention the undoing and irreparable harm to your detailing reputation and side job income.
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