What would you do if you were me?

Hi, there,
Need to come to your wisdom again. I recently went to Los Angeles Downtown Inter Continental Hotel, valeted my newly acquired 2015 458, only 1000 miles. Loved it way more than my Cali T. I was promised that they would not move my car before I handed my key. It would just sit at the entrance. Next day I found the car was moved. Later I learned that the car was moved in the morning and during the time it did not need to be moved at all - the entrance was quiet and empty.

The valet service was subcontracted out by Inter Continental. I became very suspicious of possible tempering of the car. The director of front office, manager of the valet company, director of security, after understanding my request of viewing the video footage to make sure the car was not driven out of the property, all promised to get back to me and investigate. The funny thing was no one ever did.

I finally was able to talk to the GM who was promoted from Hong Kong Inter Continental to run this place. He literally told me he is not a car guy. I explained very professionally how my suspicion only grew since everyone who promised me to look at the tape would get back to me never did. He literally asked me "What's the big deal?" I told him to look at the video tape himself and get back to me.

Then he left a voice mail, stating that the car did not get move out of the property, and someone else would call me and that he will be out of US for 12 days. Of course, no one called afterward, despite these repeated promise.

I am quite frustrated. I made sure I did not come across as a rich ******. I was polite and explained my concern in a very professional manner. Now based on their reaction or lack thereof, I do suspect someone had fun with my car.

What would you do if you were me? I have not had a chance to go to the dealer to lift the car to examine...

 

Lawyer up.

 

Why? What tort was committed and/or what contract was broken? What are the damages? Hurt feelings are not recoverable.

Here's what I (a lawyer) would do: get over it and move on.



Mark

 

Thanks, Mark, that was what I was thinking too. In general, how long do I have to investigate the car for possible damage?

 

There was just a thread here last week talking about valet parking. The overwhelming consensus was ...... don't. Here's what I wrote -

"No doubt there are diligent, conscientious, caring and responsible valets out there. Unfortunately I can't tell them apart from the careless, incompetent, reckless and criminal ones.
So I never valet any of my cars."

Unless you can show damage to the car, and that the valet service caused the damage, I don't think you are going to collect. Even if a video shows a valet driving the car out of its parking spot, that doesn't mean he damaged it. I think at best if you keep pestering them, they may throw you a couple hundred. Companies will pay small amounts for what they call nuisance claims.

Since you don't see any apparent damage, I guess you can consider yourself lucky you didn't get put in Dr. Lawrence Miller's situation.

 

i would give the car a once over and if everything seemed fine id move on.

 

Bingo.
Its a car.
But check the milage in case of a Ferris Bueller.

 

You probably lost a 1/6th of a tank of gas idling and gained a dozen or more admirers. Remote immobilizer if you wanted to make sure it stays where it's parked. They will call you if they need to move it and so you play the game or you park it yourself. There are cars that are genuinely dangerous and very quirky, this isn't really one of them. Count your blessings.

 

I never valet my 458 spider. Too attached to it. I did valet my 360 spider, but it was half the price.

Just too tempting for mere mortals to leave it alone. They look at it as "a once in a life opportunity."

Never forget when l valeted my M3 and somebody else's car keys were on the floor. Took the keys back first thing in the morning. Lucky for them the keys belonged to a hotel guest and hadn't asked for their car yet. Still want to valet your Fcar?

 

Back in the day (late 70's) when the Sultan of Brunei was a regular visitor to London's Casinos ,he regularly rolled up with his entourage with a very tasty collection of cars...which were left double parked right outside blocking most of Piccadilly.Ferrari/Aston/Bentley/Jags etc all virtually brand new.He would drop +/- $1 million a night at the tables...then win or lose always gave a very good tip to the guys looking after the cars.

The 5/6 car jockeys's sprang into action ,grabbed which ever car they fancied to 'park 'it.However as parking right outside was very limited they 'had' to head off down to Hyde Park corner,up Park Lane to Marble Arch then back down Park lane then around Hyde Park corner {again}....down towards Buckingham Palace ,then back up to Trafalgar Square and finally return to the underground parking for the Ritz Hotel/Casino...

This was just the Club Circuit which could be extended onto the full GP 'track' running down to Big Ben then alongside the river Thames etc etc

Lot's of fun,never saw any car damaged,although one guy managed to spin a V8 Aston on Hyde Park corner in the wet without hitting anything.

No i never valet my 308..no way!!!!

 

To have any case, you have to prove damages (in this case damage to you car). If you didn't have it inspected and any damage documented immediately after retaking possession, your odds of proving the valet damaged your car are terrible.

 

No sign of damage and no evidence = zero case. If I were you I would write the ownership of the hotel and vent. Beyond that, chalk it up as a learning experience and move on. Oh, and never stay there again.

 

Check the mileage.

While they promised not to move your car, they are still legally allowed to move it. Unless there's any proof of damage or abuse, then pretty much this stays as a case of poor customer service.

let this be a cautionary tale for using valet in the future.

 

with all due respect, what is the big deal? Is the car damaged in any way? What does "tampering" mean?

 

What proof do you have that anything other than moving the car from a spot to another was all that happened? Once or twice? Is the mileage higher? Anything broken or missing?

Ask your dealer to see if any over rev was done during that period...if not, id just move on. You can always write to the hotel management and explain that they did move the car despite you being assured it would not and then no one ever replied to you.

 

Move on unless there's damage. Remember it's just a car. Fancy one but still just a car.

 

Agree. If there is damage to the car then you have a complaint. Otherwise they just didn't follow your wishes.

 

Note to shelf: Never valet, never hand over keys

 

Yup. You have no "legal" case but every reason to be POed. But be thankful that no real harm was done.

Note to self to totally disrespect the hotel however and thanks for posting that. I certainly know where I won't be staying.

 

Wait.

You valet parked your Ferrari, asked them not to move it, they said, "OK" and you believed them?

Bwaaaa haaaaaa haaaaaa haaaaaa haaaaaa . . .

I may have peed myself a little bit there, I laughed so hard.

OF COURSE THEY DROVE IT, just be thankful they didn't Ferris Bueller it. (You did see the movie, right? You were paying attention when they valeted the Fakey-do Ferrari?)

Honestly, I don't valet park anything, and it's not JUST because I'm cheap. It's about control. If you have the keys, you have control. If you don't, well, you don't, and all kinds of bad things can happen. Hell, the FBI wrecked an F-50, you just don't know who to trust with your keys anymore.

But don't feel bad, just don't do it again!

D

 

NO ONE ever touches my Ferrari key but me.

 

Let somebody Valet park my Ferrari? When hell freezes over and politicians are considered model citizens!

Unless there is damage to the car, let the ribbing from everybody on this forum be a lesson and move on! We all do silly things from time to time.

(I almost took an evening job as a spotty 16 year old valet parking at a fancy hotel. I know exactly what I would do if somebody handed me the keys to a Ferrari to park!)

 

Lol note to "self" not "shelf" damn autocorrect

 

Several reasons why a car would be moved. It could be that a delivery came, the maintenance crew was caring for the front entrance, emergency vehicle needed space or someone tipped more. I was a valet for a few years and would think it's either a tip from someone to put it there or the maintenance crew needed space and did not want to damage car. Since it was early morning this would be most likely. I don't think anyone was joyriding as 458 are very common in LA and the valet can get into trouble at locations as there are cameras and supervisors are more careful. Reset your trip odometer next time you valet and you'll see how far it went. Wouldn't make a big deal out of it

 

moved 50 feet or fifty miles?

initial post sounds like a huge overreaction unless it was the latter.