BATON ROUGE - A woman's car was damaged in a car wash, not by the car wash itself but by something that fell off of another car. So far, no one has accepted responsibility and she has reached out to 2 On Your Side.

Valerie Walton likes to keep her car clean and gets bi-weekly car washes at WhiteWater Express Car Wash. She has had an unlimited membership for several years and frequents the Cortana location. On December 6, 2024, Walton says she was going through the wash tunnel when her car started trembling.

"I was thinking I was off of the conveyor belt," she said.

The wash stopped and Walton watched as someone entered the tunnel and pulled an object from her car's path. It turned out to be a bike rack that fell from the car in front of Walton's. The rack damaged Walton's fender and scratched her car in several places.

After filling out an incident report, Walton was in contact with the store's general manager and was instructed to get three estimates to fix her car.

"I provided all three of the estimates to them and I've basically been ignored ever since," she said.

Even though Walter received an apology from the car wash, she's still waiting to hear who is going to pay for the damage to her car.

She contacted the insurance company for the other driver, which found no liability or negligence on the insured.

"I want my vehicle fixed anyway possible, if they have to pay for the deductible for my insurance company I want my vehicle fixed and I shouldn't have to come out of pocket for it," said Walton.

A White Water Express Car Wash employee told 2 On Your Side Friday that the car wash determined the incident was not caused by their equipment. Signs around the facility say it's not responsible for several things while in the car wash tunnel including luggage racks, trailer hitches and bike racks. It does not elaborate on what happens if a vehicle is affected by another driver's property.

Walton hasn't been back for a car wash, even though she was recently charged for another month of membership.

"I'm scared to go through the car wash because I'm not sure if something else is going to happen to my vehicle, and you guys are not going to be responsible for it," said Walton.

Friday, 2 On Your Side reached out to WhiteWater Express Car Wash corporate office and the store's general manager. At the time this story was published a response was not provided.