Valet Parking

[robr]

Don't really need laws -- years ago I took my CRX in for work at a dealer I trusted. When I came to pick up my car, there was Taco Bell garbage on the floor. I confronted the manager about it, and at first he denied it, but the evidence was overwhelming, so he apologized. I told him to save it, as that was the last business he'd ever get from me.

A couple years later, they were out of business. I wept not.

No more laws, please -- our society has already drifted too close to authoritarianism for me. If something of significance does happen to your car, there are always civil remedies.

The legal system is not a remedy unless it's a small amount of $$ you can pursue in a small claims court. This sort of practice should have some strict consequences attached to it other than 'sue me' which is far too expensive to do unless you have the $$$ and the stake is large.

I don't want to have to worry that someone is going to take my car for a joyride because there are essentially no consequences. Look at the people who have had their cars wrecked from joyriding dealership employees or valets, in most cases they end up screwed because dealerships don't want to do the right thing.

 

[DocL]

I wonder if some obvious proactivity would limit the joyriding? For example, just before you hand over the keys, say "Just a sec, I want to note the mileage." Pull out your phone and take a pic of the odometer. Then pass the keys to the valet with a cheery "Thanks!"

Unfortunately that won't stop them from doing a brakestand or burnout in the parking lot. There is a lot of abuse that can be done without even putting 1/10th of a mile on the car. Trust me!

 

[flaminio]

The legal system is not a remedy unless it's a small amount of $$ you can pursue in a small claims court. This sort of practice should have some strict consequences attached to it other than 'sue me' which is far too expensive to do unless you have the $$$ and the stake is large.

Small claims in California is $10,000 now. As long as the car was not wrecked, it'd be hard to envision a claim over that limit, even for our cars. Also, insurance companies should get involved at some point, at which point you're only suing for the deductible and any disallowed expenses.

 

[flaminio]

Unfortunately that won't stop them from doing a brakestand or burnout in the parking lot. There is a lot of abuse that can be done without even putting 1/10th of a mile on the car. Trust me!

True, but I suspect that showing a level of attention and conscientiousness towards one's vehicle can go a long way to mitigate such shenanigans.

 

[robr]

Small claims in California is $10,000 now. As long as the car was not wrecked, it'd be hard to envision a claim over that limit, even for our cars. Also, insurance companies should get involved at some point, at which point you're only suing for the deductible and any disallowed expenses.

But really, what can you sue for if someone took it for a joyride to the beach for a few hours? Gas? Mileage reimbursement? I don't think I've ever met a dealership that gave a rats ass if you tell them you're taking your business elsewhere unless you bought and maintain a fleet of business vehicles with them.

In the case of wrecking an almost new car, do you really want a repaired car back that has $10K+ in damage? The M5 that got totaled a couple years back that we read about here was diagnosed by the dealership that wrecked it as having something like $4K in damage. The owner took it elsewhere and it was diagnosed as having over $30K in damage. He ultimately won that case by the way and was awarded $160K, $100K of it attorneys fees. What normal consumer has $100K to sue a dealership?

Nah you can't stop every abuse, but I think if the consequences of abusing someones ride were substantial, policies would be enacted and strictly enforced by the owners of these businesses.

BTW, we're just having a theoretical conversation here, I'm not going to be lobbying for such laws, just saying I think this is a case of where they would help rather than hurt and can't think of much of another remedy in general, though making a point of letting a valet or dealer know you've noted the mileage could help (I started doing that as well and having them note the incoming mileage on my service slip when I dropped the car off).

As a side note, I later became friends with the ex-service manager of the dealership that took my car to the beach and he told me a lot of stories about the car (that I no longer owned by that point) and other cars as well. It was rampant and service people used to fight over who got to take the nice cars home for the weekend.

 

[cmhs75]

The legal system is not a remedy unless it's a small amount of $$ you can pursue in a small claims court. This sort of practice should have some strict consequences attached to it other than 'sue me' which is far too expensive to do unless you have the $$$ and the stake is large.

I don't want to have to worry that someone is going to take my car for a joyride because there are essentially no consequences. Look at the people who have had their cars wrecked from joyriding dealership employees or valets, in most cases they end up screwed because dealerships don't want to do the right thing.

I second this opinion

Seriously, I had a repair garage that would put over a 150 miles on my truck every time I gave it to them.

Now it was an old truck so I didn't really care. But should I really have nightmares of someone having joyrides in my high end sportscar?

 

[PHOEN$X]

I won't even let the employees at the car wash drive my NSX, no way would I valet it. Walking is healthier anyway.

I've had service shops drive my cars before, so now I leave a printout of my service request items in the vehicle, with the "mileage in" odometer reading clearly written so that whoever drives my car knows I am aware of any additional miles put on it. And if the service doesn't require an overnight stay, I'll wait in the customer lounge until my car is ready.