One more reason not to Valet your car...

[Parker]

So tonight, I was working at a venue that had Valet Parking service
I walk out to my car which is parked in the back to seek a change of clothes and two cars to the left of mine are a group of valet guys around a 2005 Toyota Camry that one of the valet drivers was backing into a spot, hit a Honda CR-V in the passenger side and then continued to accelerate the car into the bushes, totally destroying the back and side of the Toyota and bending the right frame at the Front Passenger's door to the point that the door won't close.

Then the site manager of the Valet rips off a piece of cardboard from a box in the bushes, folds it up, and sticks it under the gas pedal of the Toyota to try to find something to blame the accident on;
however, when the cops questioned the driver and the owner of the vehicle, both stated the cardboard was never there leaving the manager in a bad situation.


That's my story for the night!
Pictures to come tomorrow (time for sleepy now)

[krissel]

Gee, don't they follow the latest news? All they had to do was to claim an "unwanted acceleration". After all, it IS a Toyota.  

[gunug]

I actually had my 2002 Highlander with a velcro rug ball stuck under the pedals; I don't know whether that was original equipment but I threw that mess out.  I've never felt less than secure in either of my other Toyota vehicles: 2005 Highlander, 2001 Avalon.  I thought it was interesting when NPR totalled up the reported wrecks due to unwanted acceleration over the past 5 years and only 19% of them were Toyotas.

[Xairbusdriver]

Oh, it's just a co-incidence that certain groups, supporting certain policies of certain parties who've elected certain people who arranged for certain monies to go to certain industries, also happen to be slightly involved with automobile manufacturing. And I am not a conspiracy theorist. But certain facts seem to get lost, such as the 19% of total accidents or the percentage of vehicles reporting the 'problems' (before the news was made available). Something about this whole 'problem' stinks to my nose.

[jcarter]

Hey, have you ever had a TENNIS BALL under the brake pedal?  I have, you darn well deal with it. This happens to us countless times during the summer, but we are only on back roads.

Jane

[krissel]

Then there's my nightmare experience with my runaway Celica (Toyota).    

Maybe I already told this story?

[Parker]

Pictures here!

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/6776/dscn0912c.jpg
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/9936/dscn0918o.jpg
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/1021/dscn0914w.jpg

[kimmer]

Oh stink! So what's the rest of the story? Site manager of the Valet still working there? How about the charming fellows who crunched all the cars? I imagine the car owner's insurance company is doing some digging.

[Xairbusdriver]

Well, young man, I hope you've learned to never visit a place with such a unkempt parking lot! Just look at all that trash around there! The quality of the vehicles should be another clue as to the clientele of such an establishment...

[Paddy]

Yikes.

I mean really...HOW do you do that much damage? I can see backing into the car by mistake - but this twit kept on going, by the looks of it - all the way down the side of the car.

Sure hope the valet service covers the cost of repairs. Despite the fact that almost all of them say they have no liability for lost, stolen or damaged cars/items in the cars, they do generally cover damage to cars caused by their valets. It can be difficult to prove though - and the internet is littered with cases where the valet service said the damage must have been "pre-existing" etc. etc. or stalled terribly on making payment for the repairs.

[Xairbusdriver]

I even had a dealer claim the damage was pre-existing even thought the Service Reps check-in diagram plainly showed no damage in the area. I suspect that the "kept on going" had something to do with "speed versus braking ability and reaction time." I would highly recommend discussing the events with the insurance company who are sometimes more than willing to cover the costs by raising your rate... That's easier than their legal haggling with the owner and/or another company...the key word being "easier," of course. "Whoever said 'The customer is always right' couldn't have been running business!" "Customers are a dime (despite inflation) a dozen."