I miss my Prius!

Sorry to hear about the accident. Glad nobody was hurt. I've driven other cars on occasion. Once during a repair (the cruise-control stalk on my Prius broke, and was fixed under warranty) and a few times during travel I've rented a car. I know how you feel because they were always a disappointment compared to the Prius.

Only the Xebra and then the Tesla have been more fun to drive.

I hope your car gets fixed soon and comes out as good as new.

 

You almost certainly have keyless entry, just not keyless ignition.

Don't worry, I've noticed a gazillion journalists making the same mistake.

 

I know what you mean... I had a Corolla rental while on a business trip a few years ago. I hate how people compare Corollas to Priuses as there's just no comparison.

 

I can relate. Three weeks after the purchase of my 2011 Prius, the valet at a hospital did 2400 dollars worth of damage to the front end. It was in the shop for two weeks. They gave me a stripped Camry that smelled like an ashtray.


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I am glad you aren't hurt Sis... your little car will be all fixed up and back to you soon enough...

 

Yes there is. The Corolla costs a lot less.

 

Good Lord! Sorry to hear that. Did you sue? I hope you recovered the cost of the repair somehow. How did the valet do the damage? (I don't come in contact with valet parking too often, but it is a huge concern in the back of my mind since picking up my '11 Prius Two last night. I don't speak Spanish, and many valet parkers are Hispanic and don't speak English or speak it marginally.)

 

Luckily they had cameras everywhere so they could at least see that when I gave the car to the valet it had no damage. They did pay for all of the repairs, but it still was very upsetting to have damage that soon. The car only had 900 miles on it. Supposedly the guy rammed it into a black Mercedes. He thought he was in reverse. Needless to say another poor soul had some white blizzard pearl paint on his shiny new black Mercedes.

I will only valet park where they have the ability to check the condition of the car beforehand via video. This will leave out most restaurants. I will never get into a car that was valet parked without totally walking around the car to check for damage. You almost have to inspect your car as you would a rental. Once you leave the premises they will not cover any damages.

 

I do not let valets drive my car. Period. If the only parking is by valet then I don't go. A parking valet is a deal-breaker for any place I might otherwise visit. If I needed to go to a hospital that had only valet parking, I'd take a cab. Let some minimum-wage kid drive my car??? Forget it!

Of course, when I first got my Prius, almost nobody knew how to drive it. A valet will typically claim to know how to drive a car when he in fact has no idea, because kids are cocky. But even today the chances are slim that a random kid will understand how to drive a Prius. In particular, how to shut it off before getting out. The Tesla is simpler, since it's just got the four buttons, D, R, N, and P, and you shut it off by taking the key out, like a regular car. But I'm certainly not going to turn that car over to a valet.

BWT there's a popular scam in Mexico: A person appearing to be a valet offers to park your car. You never see either the valet or the car again.

 

Glad you are alright. I felt like I was cheating on the Prius when I rented a Charger.

 

Glad no one was hurt. I have had rental cars for business trips and no what you are talking about. No SKS, the noisiness from the engine running all of the time, only an analog speedometer and tachometer to watch while driving, accelerator pedals that make you only want to race the guy beside you to the next traffic light

Yea, I was always ready to pick up my Prius at the airport.

 

After my 2008 was squished in an accident the insurance company gave me a Dodge Charger as a driver. I drove it some but unless I needed a back seat, I used my 2000 Honda Insight. The Charger sucked gas.

 

Dang, that is terrible.

Thanks for the advice about looking all the way around it before getting into it after it has been valet parked. I will keep that in mind.

@Daniel, valet parking is sometimes a necessity at long-term parking lots at airports, like JFK in New York and Logan in Boston. You show up, an attendant checks your car in, and either he or someone else parks it. You then take a shuttle bus to the airport, which is usually less than a mile away. This is much cheaper than taking a cab or a car service to the airport. In my case, taking a car service to the airport would be $70 plus tip and tolls each way--about $90, or $180 round trip. Long-term airport parking costs about $20 a day.

I see your point about body work being incredibly more expensive and time consuming than a $200 round trip to the airport by car service, but sometimes convenience is a big factor.

I am thinking about having a native Spanish-speaking neighbor record the parking instructions I would give to a valet on my phone and playing it back for the valet before giving him the key. It would be amazingly useful.

 

A fancy rooftop restaurant I visit occasionally has a parking valet operation at the building entrance. I noticed that on one busy night at least, while I was walking from where I parked a half mile away, they were parking customers' cars illegally (there isn't much legal parking around there...) and then moving them every X minutes. I'd think the meter maids would be all over that though - money for nothing!

I cringe at the thought of valets trying to deal with a Prius. So far I've only once taken my car in for repairs anywhere but a Toyota dealer (tire puncture repair). It was painful watching them try to figure it out. At least they didn't crash it into anything or leave it powered on the entire 3 hours they had it. I even left that quick-start how-to card that came with the the car when I bought it on the front seat, for all the good it did.

 

I only go one place that has a valet parking. I still park it myself. They know me by now and as long as I still tip them and pay for parking, they don't care. I used to drive a 2002 Ford Thunderbird and I didn't want it scratched.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they did leave the car on. I'm going to leave the quick start guide from now on. At least it can improve the chances of success.

Sometimes I wish we just had a plain old key. That would solve two problems for me. Since I have a 2011 and 2012V the transmitters interfere with each other. If my wife has her car key in her purse I cannot start my car without taking it out of my pocket and pressing the start button. Toyota penalizes you for getting two Prius', or perhaps the interference can be caused by any of the car companies with keyless start. I never checked that.


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Around here there are so many Prii even the kids know how to drive them. If I could afford a Tesla I'd buy one just to not be so ordinary. I'd still keep the Prius, just ship it to some island where I rent cars a lot.