Who’s to blame? Driver disputes fault after Tinley Park car wash crash
Who’s to blame? Driver disputes fault after Tinley Park car wash crash
A routine car wash ended with a collision, about $4,000 in damage and a dispute over responsibility, according to a customer who insists she did nothing wrong.
TINLEY PARK - A routine car wash ended with a collision, about $4,000 in damage and a dispute over responsibility, according to a customer who insists she did nothing wrong.
Bria Brooks says she had visited Gas & Wash on West 183rd Street dozens of times before the Jan. 16, 2026, incident. Now, she wants other drivers to know about her experience.
"I was so scared," Brooks said. "I didn’t know what was happening."
A sudden stop, then a collision
The backstory:
Brooks says driving a Lexus RX 350 through the automatic wash when the vehicle stopped moving.
"I was going through the car wash and all of a sudden it stopped," she said. "I thought they must have stopped the car wash. It was bad grinding underneath the car."
About four minutes later, she says, the driver behind her knocked on her window.
"It was the man behind me because he hit me," Brooks said.
According to Brooks, that driver blamed the equipment.
"He said, ‘I hit you because this machine malfunctioned,’" she said.
The records reviewed by FOX 32 do not establish whether a malfunction or a driver’s actions caused the collision.
What the documents reveal
A Gas & Wash incident report dated Jan. 16 records Brooks’ complaint that the Lexus was "rocking without moving" and that she heard a loud noise. It also lists scratches and dents.
The report contains no written admission of responsibility. But Brooks says a manager promised the damage would be covered.
"The manager assured me they would cover it, and they wouldn’t even give me the name of the insurance," she said.
Brooks estimates the damage at about $4,000 and says she also needed a rental car.
Screenshots of Allstate’s claim portal assign zero responsibility to the Lexus driver and 100% responsibility to the driver of a 2023 Ford F-150. That determination assigns fault to the other driver, not the car wash.
Later correspondence shows Allstate’s attempt to recover its payment and the deductible was unsuccessful.
A June 30 letter says an arbitration panel ruled against Allstate. The insurer said it could not recover those amounts and had been asked to pay part of the other party’s damages. A July 1 letter confirmed that recovery efforts had ended.
The letters do not identify the other insurer, explain the arbitration panel’s reasoning or provide a revised allocation of fault.
Brooks challenges the explanation
Brooks says she was told an adjudicator determined she applied the brakes three times during the incident. She disputes that account and says she asked to see the video.
"So now I am stuck with a 250 deductible, and it looks like I caused an accident in the carwash," Brooks said.
FOX 32 has not reviewed surveillance footage of the collision or the underlying arbitration decision. The documents do not establish whether the adjudicator Brooks described was part of the arbitration referenced in Allstate’s letters.
FOX 32 reached out to Gas & Wash’s corporate office for comment and to see the video. We had not received a response as of publication.
Illinois Law: A warning sign alone does not determine fault
A photograph of the wash entrance shows a yellow sign instructing drivers not to use their brakes and to turn off their automatic parking brakes. Under each instruction, it states: "You will be responsible for accidents."
Brooks says the sign was added after her accident. FOX 32 has not independently verified when it was posted.
The sign alone does not establish what caused the collision or automatically place responsibility on the driver.
Under Illinois negligence principles, a car wash may be liable if its failure to use reasonable care in operating or maintaining equipment caused the damage. A driver’s actions, including whether instructions were followed, can also affect who is responsible.
Fault can be shared. Under Illinois law, a claimant’s compensation is reduced by their percentage of responsibility. If the claimant is more than 50% at fault, recovery is barred in a negligence action.
Those general rules do not resolve what happened in Brooks’ case. The cause of the collision remains disputed.
Brooks says she paid about $50 a month for a wash membership. What she once considered a familiar routine has become a fight over damage and blame.
She insists she did not cause the accident and wants other customers to hear her account before entering the wash.
The Source: The information in this report came from interviews with Bria Brooks, Gas & Wash incident records, Allstate claim documents and correspondence, photographs from the car wash and Illinois law.