GREENSBORO, N.C. — Valeria Jefferson pulled up to the car wash like she has dozens of times. The mechanical arm raised up, and she drove to the front of the wash where a technician was waiting.
“(I) get the thumbs up to enter, like every time,” Jefferson said.
Before the car enters the wash, the driver is told to put the car in neutral and make sure the parking brake is off. Jefferson then started to proceed into the wash area. The car wash has tracks that move the cars as they go through the wash cycle.
“Everything was going good, and then I notice the car in front of me had their brake lights on,” Jefferson said.
A few seconds later, Jefferson was honking her horn and screaming. Her car was about to collide with the car in front of her. The impact was not hard, but Jefferson said it was like bumper cars, the two cars colliding over and over.
“The car in front of me would turn sideways when I hit it, it would lift up,” Jefferson said.
There was another car in front of them that apparently caused the problem. The driver did not exit in time, causing a chain reaction. All three cars were involved in the collision.
“Once it started happening it was very scary, terrifying, you couldn’t stop, it was out of control,” Jefferson said.
A technician for the car wash was able to shut the system down a short time after the cars collided. Jefferson believes it should have been shut down faster.
“I was honking my horn and yelling,” Jefferson said. “I hit the car in front of me at least five times.”
A representative with the car wash immediately started an investigation into the crash. The representative took down information from all the drivers involved. Jefferson said they were told not to call the police.
Jefferson was able to drive home but there was a bit of damage to her car. She called the car wash in the few days that followed, but they denied any responsibility. The car wash said the driver in the first car was at fault and Jefferson would need to reach out to them for repairs to her car.
Jefferson reached out to News 2 for help. We contacted the corporate office and the insurance company for the driver in the first car. While the car wash again denied any wrongdoing, the insurance company did agree to pay for all repairs to Jefferson’s car.
“I appreciate (News 2), I really do. You are very helpful,” Jefferson said.