Last night we had dinner at Fogo de Chao. Needless to say, I was stuffed full and satisfyingly drunk after dinner there. Well what do ya know?!? Afterward, we came outside and found ourselves in a torrential downpour. What we ALSO found were all 5 valets huddled in a circle under the "$4.50 for valet service" kiosk's umbrella. No big thing except for the SL55 parked (not) 10 feet from all of them WITH THE TOP DOWN! It seems I have annointed myself "Captain Top-up" since the imfamous "Topless F50 in the rain valet fiasco!" I went in and got the hostess and told her to find the car's (soon to be LIVID) owner and had the monkeys put up the top, since they had the key. The Valets took 5 minutes to figure it out. Everyone outside thought I was a hero. The scene must have been priceless when Mr Benz got out there but we left!
This is a post I made in Dec. of '01 on another Ferrari board...imagine that! Last night I was witness to a very disturbing occurance. We received 1 inch of rain in a two hour period here in L.A. during which time a yellow F50 sat outside uncovered with no top. Keep in mind this was inside the parking lot of a luxury highrise within eyesight of 5 valets! I was going over there with MY Maranello car cover when someone, who looked alot like Spike Lee, came out and put the car away. I told him that Enzo was probably rolling over in his grave and he should be ashamed of himself that his neighbor had more respect for his car than he did!
Funny you should mention Valets, not to hi jack this thread, but last week here in Toronto we were at North44 on yonge and Eg and parked our car behind the bentley(it was not new, was a mid 90s car). Touches the concrete curb real nice and hard, we park behind(wife and I) and the Valet in the red jacket comes out. I stayed and watched a few minutes, 2 kids come over with water and a rag, take out the white mark from the rubber to hide the mistake. Wifey and I get out, and I casually walk past the car, sure enough the rim had a chewed ring 3/4 of the way around. It was not chromed(thank goddness), but still visable when you looked, I made a comment to the head person at the front table of what the valet did...poor owner. I wish now I would have tried to find that owner in the resturant, and tell him/her.
While I can see the point of view of this thread, the owner has some liability here as well. Valets are paid to park cars, not necessarily babysit them. If you own a convertible and valet it with the roof down, I heavy suggest you get a weather forecast on your way to the restaurant. Suppose this Benz experienced real damage as a result of rain, say electrical problems. Would the establishment or valet company bare any responsibility in a lawsuit? If reading the stub they give you is any indicator, they are responsible to park your vehicle and to return it to you without any damage from an accident. Do valet services have any comprehensive liability in such an incident?
don't think darth's point is to assign legal liability or applied responsibility....it's about common sense. if these valet parkers are old enough to drive cars, they are old enough to possess common sense to alert the owners (at the very least...). nice work, dave. i'd have done the same for your 550, too....bud
Ok for one you are flat wrong. It does not matter what the ticket says, trail law is very clear on the subject. They would, and are, flat out liable to any and all damage to the car once it is intrusted to them. (Ask me how I know.) Also, at the Ritz Carlto in Biuckhead Ga, they valet saw a storm comming and flew to get my 348 under the awning and then came and got me!!! I gave them $20.
That's funny since I asked a question and did not give an opinion either way. Since I am sure we are not talking about federal laws, but rather state laws, experiences in different places may yield different results. I realize you are riled up over this and feel like your experience speaks for the subject everywhere, but that is far from conclusive barring supporting evidence. I have read of cases where valet parked cars were stolen and the owner's insurance was liable not the valet company's. I truly believe in different jurisdictions the expectations and liabilities of the valet vary.
Do a search in f-chat about this and the term "bailment." Other wise here is another thread on the same subject or there abouts. http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11192&highlight=bailment
It's ALL in the "Lawyering"! DrS is right. The valet co. is liable. The disclaimer on the ticket is meant to be deterrent and it actually works 90% of the time.
As a a valet "veteran" of over 3 years, I'm horrified by the above story. Even though my current job is a little different from typical valets, we make sure that every window is up, every top is up (if possible...and if not, we find covered parking), and every door is locked (with key in our posession), regardless of weather conditions. With that said, I have been absolutely stunned by the lack of common sense and sense of duty that some valets (not all, but some) have regarding the vehicles they park. Even though the valet company CAN be held liable, I do feel that it is ultimately up to the owner to make sure his vehicle is taken care of. If he chooses to trust valets, so be it. My recommendation is this, if you own a convertible, T-top, etc....put the top up before you give the keys to the valet. Make sure lights are off, windows are up, things put away, etc.... Just my .02 Texan-Canuck cents.
Geez Darth.......thsi would have been a good opportunity for you to really wow them....you can close the top on the SL's with the remote key simply by pushing on a button and standing beside the car. You don't even have to get inside it.
Will try not to de-rail this too badly but do you like Fogo? I went there once and with only 1 person drinking the bill was over 400 dollars for 6 people. Seems like you could eat at a much nicer non "buffet" type restaurant for that kind of cash.
Dinner for 4 was $300 with drinks and tip. Most of the better steakhouses here charge 40+ for the steak a la carte. Fogo is $48 all in. It's all relative. It's expensive but a good deal (comparatively) just the same.
Not always the case...though more often than not. My cousin works for some place called Ruth Chris Steak House or something like that in Nashville. She got the job after graduating from Tennessee with a degree in biology about 3 years ago, but found that she could make more money than starting pay as a biologist and work whatever hours she wants parking cars . I keep telling her to quit being lazy and doing something with her degree but she's as stubborn as a mule.
