Case Studies
J.S. Held Releases Insights on Risks & Opportunities Expected to Impact Organizations in 2025
Read MoreLike, Kind, & Quality Equipment Replacement for Automatic Bay Car Wash System
The equipment division received a claim for a 12-year-old automatic bay car wash system that was damaged by a vehicle. J.S. Held was provided with an engineer’s report that included photographs showing a fair amount of damage to several components of the system, especially the tracks, which can’t be realigned to the precise calibration necessary after a significant impact. Replacement was warranted. The engineer stated the make and model was discontinued and recommended a different brand/model.
The replacement presented was a WashWorld Profile ST for $134,764.20, a completely different type of system. The photos provided show the damaged system was a Mark VII. J.S. Held was able to determine this manufacturer and model was still available. Our team contacted the Director of Distribution to inquire about finding a local vendor. We contacted the insured to let him know the local Mark VII distributor would be out to inspect the system and provide a quote; only to find the insured already had a quote for a Mark VII from his vendor totaling $138,210.
We forwarded the quote to our contact at Mark VII, who stated the quote was from a company that is “inactive” in their system and the quote would not include previous customer discounts or trade-in/trade-up allowances. The system was inspected by the local Mark VII vendor who verified that none of the proposed options quoted were upgrades. J.S. Held provided a more accurate quote for the Mark VII totaling $111,421.
J.S. Held applied accurate depreciation for actual cash value determination for a system of this age. Ultimately, J.S. Held was able protect the insured from a vendor who was not authorized to sell the system and was proposing an upgraded model; as well as ensure that the settlement from the carrier was for a like, kind, and quality replacement system at an accurate distributor approved price.
