Valet parkers and the foot operated parking brake

[garycat]

I left my C-class coupe with Silver Parking at Bristol Airport last week. You have to hand in your keys to them and they move the car to a more remote and more densely packed part of the car park while you are away.

When I returned and checked the footage from my dashcam, I see they didnt apply the parking brake and the car rolled forward into a steel fence. It was only about 6 inchs so there was no damage I can see but it p**ses me off that they didnt take more care.

A complaint has been lodged, I'll see what comes of it.

Anyone else had similar problems with drivers not knowing how to use your car's features?

 

[renault12ts]

The car wasn't in P or in gear (if a manual)?

 

[garycat]

The car wasn't in P or in gear (if a manual)?

Its a manual, so I assume they didn't put it in first.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

You're right to be annoyed. It's surely common sense to leave it in gear if they couldn't find the hand/foot brake.

 

[Bluegnomes]

I have a friend who left a car valet parked at Gatwick. They left the window slightly open and rain poured in. He drove off and it shorted off the seat electrics and trashed a good deal of the ecu's writing it off. I park my own cars without valet parking!

 

[bluestreak]

Never had problem, but that said I always expect something to go wrong.

What type of parking was it?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

It must be hard to resist the temptation to snoop on valet parking staff if you have the technology to do so.

 

[garycat]

Never had problem, but that said I always expect something to go wrong.

What type of parking was it?

Described here - https://www.bristolairport.co.uk/parking/silver-zone

At £40 for a week it seemed decent value, but I won't be using it again.

 

[pembssurf]

Iv got plenty of friends who have had issue with valet parkers. Purple parking seem to attract the most complaints, one of my mates came back to his 3 series with 3/4 of petrol missing and 300 miles put on it. Another recently had a big scuff on his alloys and had a update online letting him know his car was parked around 20 miles away from where he thought it was parked.

I park my own car and take my keys, always use on site long stay parking so times for a month at a time and so far no issues!

 

[Darrell]

It must be hard to resist the temptation to snoop on valet parking staff if you have the technology to do so.

It's hard to resist snooping on anyone if you have the technology.

 

[bluestreak]

Described here - https://www.bristolairport.co.uk/parking/silver-zone

At £40 for a week it seemed decent value, but I won't be using it again.

There is room to grow at least, get an upgrade next time

 

[Deleted member 113659]

It must be hard to resist the temptation to snoop on valet parking staff if you have the technology to do so.

Only if you've waaaaaaaaaaaay too much time on your hands.

 

[EClassy]

My only experience with my pug 307 was a broken wiper. I couldnt understand what they'd have been doing to have broken it

Never again. Now I park and hold on to my keys or better still take a taxi.

 

[Dryce]

You're right to be annoyed. It's surely common sense to leave it in gear if they couldn't find the hand/foot brake.

The attendant may well have assumed that there was an electronically activated parking brake and that it would engage automatically.

Most MBs encountered with foot operated parking brakes will be automatics - so probably just leaves those with the gearbox in P and oblivious to the extra pedal in the footwell.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

It's hard to resist snooping on anyone if you have the technology.

I guess it depends on the individual.

I've had the opportunity to gain knowledge that would normally be kept secret in business on several occasions, having weighed up the consequences both positive and negative I have declined.

The same goes for my personal life, I've realised that the snooping cannot have a positive impact so why bother?

Take the OP, his car isn't damaged, he has no reason to believe that he needs to worry but decided to snoop anyway. That's his decision to make but what's the outcome? Outrage at something that has zero impact on him but he feels that he must be offended now that he is aware.

 

[tangey]

Outrage at something that has zero impact on him but he feels that he must be offended now that he is aware.

I feel the previous posting could be summed up with
"what you don't know, can't hurt you".

But I don't know if I agree with that saying.

If he checked his dashcam, and it showed the valet searching his vehicle, he'd at least know not to park there again, regardless of whether he found anything worth stealing.

Or is it better, in the above hypothetical, to not know that the valet searched your car for valuables.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I feel the previous posting could be summed up with
"what you don't know, can't hurt you".

But I don't know if I agree with that saying.

If he checked his dashcam, and it showed the valet searching his vehicle, he'd at least know not to park there again, regardless of whether he found anything worth stealing.

Or is it better, in the above hypothetical, to not know that the valet searched your car for valuables.

Would a dashcam show the valet searching for valuables?

To answer your question I'm not convinced that knowing that my car had been searched would benefit me greatly. Assuming that I wasn't dull enough to leave anything valuable in it while in someone else's hands then what would be the upside to me?
The downside would be that I'd feel that my personal space had been invaded and I need to raise a complaint which will be negative, time consuming and fruitless.

 

[Darrell]

I guess it depends on the individual. I've had the opportunity to gain knowledge that would normally be kept secret in business on several occasions, having weighed up the consequences both positive and negative I have declined. The same goes for my personal life, I've realised that the snooping cannot have a positive impact so why bother? Take the OP, his car isn't damaged, he has no reason to believe that he needs to worry but decided to snoop anyway. That's his decision to make but what's the outcome? Outrage at something that has zero impact on him but he feels that he must be offended now that he is aware.

I was joking

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I was joking

Oops.

 

[garycat]

I guess it depends on the individual.

Take the OP, his car isn't damaged, he has no reason to believe that he needs to worry but decided to snoop anyway. That's his decision to make but what's the outcome? Outrage at something that has zero impact on him but he feels that he must be offended now that he is aware.

Not all damage may be visible but I still expect the car park operator to take reasonable care of my property when it is in their possession. I think I have every right to "snoop" as it is my car, my dashcam and I am paying them to provide a service.

Take the example below - if the owner hadn't checked the dashcam they would not have known how badly their car was treated.

Dashcam catches mechanics taking £48,000 Mercedes on joyride - Car Dealer Magazine

Does that owner have the right to be offended?