Hotel valet damaged my car...

[insanekiwi]

Hi guys,

Stupid valet person who was grinning at the time receiving my keys, has damaged my car. Ok.... I am not impressed at all from a 5-star hotel.

So in story short, I asked the car to be brought up for my use at 12:30am last night. Brought it up, the car sounded funny with some clanging noise. My partner who is into cars, have noted straight away that passenger's side front tyre is flat.

Tyre was torn, and the small lip of wheels damaged from what it looked like an encounter of wheel vs curve.

Wasn't impressed to change the wheel in front of the hotel foyer at 12:30am at night. Hotel manager offered to help and will get new continental tyres for my wheels. Offered to repair the wheels, but unless it's buckled I am not going to wait one week to get that sorted.

Then, after further inspection, I can see that the bastard has driven over a bump and landed on the underbody protection (which I also scratched a few days ago with party scratch), and on passengers side (where there is plastic part comes down the lowest on each sides) he has cracked the plastic, and exposing the car metal, and scratched some paint of it as well!


I wasn't impressed about the tyre, but it can be replaced. But damaging the underbody protection plastic I am not impressed at all.

The photo from the APR you see two parallel black plastic tunnel. This is what I am talking about.



I have taken the car back to the hotel, and they have taken some photos, and they will said they will decide whether they have done it or not!! What are they talking about. I checked under the car 2 days ago, and no one else drives this car.

Fortunately, the car drives normally as it should and have no problems. Alignment seems to be ok. Slightly worried about the front axle (this is my 3rd time hitting the curb at low speeds).

Sigh... I need to get the car hoisted up to get it looked properly, but it's really annoying.

The metal under the cover, there are some paint scratches -> should be ok right after some touch up paint, and getting the new underfloor protection part?

(

[Gti Dave]

Hi mate, I completely understand your frustration with leaving your car in the trusty hands of others and end up getting it back damaged in some form or way. It happened to me a while back. On the day I picked up the car, the sales lady was showing me around the car and in the process while holding my keys, she dropped it and got it scratched and made it seem like its no biggie at all. So I grabbed the keys off her until she took it off me again and managed to drop it AGAIN!!!. She was so damn clumsy. Then as I was inspecting the car, I found the emblem on the steering wheel was scratched and I brought it to her attention and all she said was "oh thats not that noticeable and we can't fix that" and all that other crap that sales people give us. Anyway, ended up finding a few more little imperfections here and there on the inside of the car trim. To put the cherry on the top of the ever growing mountian of problems, she car wasn't even detailed properly. After a while, I just gave up in hope that things would end there and be better in the long run. BUT it wasn't until I took the car to its first insection service at 4000km that I got it back with chipped paint on the rear wheel and a deep scratch on the front bumper.
Anyway, ended up getting most of the things fixed so am now a happy camper. Just not so sure about bringin it back there again though.

Sorry about the long essay.

[pomme]

Damn that sucks... i hate leaving my car with anyone. I know they will almost certainly treat them poorly. I know friends will generally look after it, but still want to see 'what it can do', but when i leave it to get stuff fixed, tint, tyres, services... i have to wonder just how they treat them. I used to work next to a major dealership that did nighttime servicing 2 days a week, and every single car was redlined in and out of the garage with cheers from all involved.

Then it just takes bad luck to turn into a minor accident.

[gregozedobe]

Sorry to hear that. Some people take no care of other peoples property, and many try to avoid responsibility for what they have done. At least the hotel isn't trying to fob you off, but it just shouldn't happen in the first place.

I like the fact that at my dealers (Lennocks in Canberra), us customers can see the cars being worked on - I'm sure this discourages a lot of potential stupidity.

I might be paranoid, but these days I do a quick walk around to inspect my vehicle just before I hand it over, and as soon as I get it back. Admittedly I won't notice damage underneath, but at least I will see anything new they have done while thay had it. And I let them know I check it too (not that I think that it makes much difference).

I do the same for any loan or demo cars they give me - dammed if I'm going to pay for anyone else's damage.

[s1831559]

sorry to hear what happened to ur beloved car.

I used to work in a 5-star hotel. know that valet ppl do trush cars. see it all the time. the hotter the car, the harder they trush...
i have seen Ferrari being trushed!

recently, my friend got his jetta serviced by a dealer.
car came back with a scratch on the side.
dealer denied it. this happen all the time!

in fact, 9 out of 10 ppl i leave my car with trush my car.
disregards whether they r dealer, tyre ppl, tint place, or hotel.
(ps. benefit of having a boost meter with peak memory function)

honestly, ppl in this contury dont look after other ppl's property.
(not trying to be rude, but this is my personal experience)

[DAN682]

That totally sucks!!

I remember my dad had a similar thing happen to him back when he had a HSV SV99. They were rare and the first of the LS1's at the time.

He had it Valet Parked at a reputable hotel, he warned the guy to be careful of the rims as they stuck out a little and were easy to scratch on kerbs etc..

Anyway he came back the next morning to a flat front and the whole LHS rims totally scratched and the front was bent.

The Hotel said they didn't do it, after threatening legal action and getting the paper involved, they replaced the rims and tyres.

[Chuck]

I worked in a 5 star hotel in Perth for 3 years....my advice to all of you is to refuse anyone parking/moving your car but yourself - you can do this! They will still charge you but its worth the peace of mind

DO NOT TRUST VALET PARKERS - i was one of them!!!

[leasaunce]

I don't trust valet parking. I'd rather keep the $$$ and walk 15mins.

next time put your car into "VALET" mode.

[DaveMack]

Get a lawyer ... seriously! Once you've retained a lawyer ... get him/her to write a letter explaining the situation and that you are not happy and prepared to take them to court over the damage ... don't forget to mention the night manager's admission of guilt. It's worth the legal fees ... trust me on this.

Oh and ... (I'm sure you've already learned this lesson) NEVER trust your car to someone who is earning minimum wage to park it for you ... he's gonna do burnouts in it 100% certainty.

Dave

[Chuck]

Get a lawyer ... seriously! Once you've retained a lawyer ... get him/her to write a letter explaining the situation and that you are not happy and prepared to take them to court over the damage ... don't forget to mention the night manager's admission of guilt. It's worth the legal fees ... trust me on this.

Oh and ... (I'm sure you've already learned this lesson) NEVER trust your car to someone who is earning minimum wage to park it for you ... he's gonna do burnouts in it 100% certainty.

Dave

+1!

Gina Rhineheart left her SL55 AMG with our hotel for a week (too much money) - i did a sick burnout in it

**3 years work...not one accident - i was the only one of my fellow employees with a clean record - did thrash quite a few cars tho...tried to keep the sillyness to just rentals tho**