HOUSTON -- You drive in and hand over your keys. But now one man is asking KPRC Local 2 investigative reporter Amy Davis what drivers can do when their car is damaged at the car wash.

Davis did some checking and explains what recourse we all have if we're ever caught up in this situation.

Will Bishop says he only had his 2007 GMC Yukon for 10 days when he took it to the car wash. But he had more than just a shine on the wheels when he got it back.

For all of the scrubbing and sudsing we see at the car wash, there's a lot we don't see when we hand over our keys.

When Bishop jumped back in his SUV, it's what he did see that make him hit the brakes.

"Everything was 'Armor-Alled' and clean," said Bishop. "And I happen to look on the dashboard and there it was -- a major crack."

The crack is hard to miss. Bishop says when he pulled back up to the attendant, the employee agreed the crack had not been there when Bishop drove in his Yukon.

"I didn't see anything happen," Bishop explained. "My thought process is as they are cleaning the windshield, maybe they applied some pressure here to the middle causing it to crack."

But days later, a car wash manager told Bishop that just wasn't possible.

"He came back with nothing," recounted Bishop. "He said, 'We didn't do it.'"

The cost to repair the dash comes in at $800 -- a bill Bishop believes the car wash should pay.

But if they refuse, Bishop asked me what he can do.

"If it's worth more than $85 to you and a day of your time in court, I think that you would have to file a small claims action," said David Tiede, the director of the Texas Consumer Complaint Center at the University of Houston.

Tiede says there is virtually no case law on car wash liability in Texas.

Basic laws on negligence mean the business must take a reasonable amount of care to make sure your car is not damaged.

If it is damaged and the car wash denies it caused the damage, you are left to hash it out in small claims court.

"It was an accident, in my opinion," said Bishop. "And they did it. I just want them to take care of it."

Bishop has taken Tiede's advice. He filed a case in small claims court.

His court date is Sept. 17. We will follow up and let you know what happens.

We did talk with the manager at the car wash. He said he's never seen damage like the cracked dashboard and he can't come up with any explanation of how it could have been caused at his business. That's his basis for denying the claim.