last weekend I attended a wedding at a downtown hotel in Boston (The Liberty Hotel). The only parking available was valet parking which I always avoid if possible. I was staying overnight, leaving the following morning. The next morning after I checked out, the valet brought my Prius to the front of the hotel, loaded my luggage and I was off. Before leaving I checked for any body damage which there was none. Thinking that I had a positive valet parking experience, I drove off. When I left my Prius with the valet, I had 3/4 tank of gas and a mpg of 50.4. After driving off, I had a little more than 1/4 tank of gas with my mileage down to 32.8 mpg. The miles on my trip "A" meter had not changed. My guess is that the valet left the car on the whole time I was at the hotel which was about 24 hours. The car is running fine. Do you think that there could have been any damage done to the Hybrid system by leaving it on for such a long time? The A/C was also running during this period.
Your guess is probably right. Toyota should think about this, improve the car's interface. Carbon monoxide poisoning is one outcome. More importantly, it puts a nasty dent in your lifetime mpg.
IIRC, this means the valet left the Prius ON with the key fob still in the car, right? So, anyone could have stolen your car from the lot, right? I'd report the incident to whomever is responsible for the valet service. Their people should know better.
I've had my Prius less than a week, and now you're making me nervous. I have a doctor I go to that has no parking near the door. It's the only time I use valet parking. I normally avoid it like the plague anyway. SM-N910T ?
I am surprised at nearly 1/4 tank of fuel was used. I stayed in my car during a 13 day trip last year. Even in Death Valley, the engine would start and run for only a few minutes a few time an hour. I was watching very close at first but never saw any noticeable movement in the gas gauge overnite.
I left my car with valet parking at a nice restaurant in downtown Chicago. I put a Garmin GPS attached to a bean bag mount in the trunk. After I picked up the car I noticed that the GPS was turned over. A GPS with a bean bag mount will not turn over during normal driving. I suspected rough handling of my car. A few days later a Chicago TV station put hidden cameras in a parking garage to observe car handling by valet parkers. It was horrendous. Never again will I have a valet park my car.
One of the radio stations I listen to sent a group of on the air guys on a out of town trip. They valeted the rental car and later went out for dinner or sightseeing. Several miles down the road, one of the guys noticed a personal item was missing. Then someone opened the glove box to find personal items belonging to someone else! It seems that the Valet gave them the wrong car! Then on another outing, one of the same guys had their personal car wrecked by a valet. I would not loan my car to most of my friends. I am not paying someone I don't even know to drive my car but that's just how I look at it.
I called the hotel and was transferred to the "valet parking manager". I told him about the Prius not being turned off after being parked. He took all of the information and asked to call me back. He called back about 10 minutes later and said he spoke with the parking attendant who parked my Prius. Of course the parking attendant did not recall if he left the car on all night. The valet parking manager apologized and refunded the $49.50 parking fee. This is a learning moment to hybrid car owners who use valet parking. Should I be forced to use valet parking in the future, I will ride with the parking attendant to the parking space. Should I not be allowed to ride to the space, I will just leave.
One of my best friends used to valet for a major hub airport. Great cars and lots of fast driving. Since the valets would always be on the roads around the airport heading to and from, they knew the exact spots of all the cops in near realtime. And many customers when they return want their valet car fast. So fast it was... It should be no surprise that a valet will not baby your car. Unless of course if you specifically ask and PAY for that privilege. If a valet gets no tip, and you leave a neutral impression your car gets treated like anything else. Not well, not poorly. If you leave a mediocre tip, it insults the person and your car will be road toasted to the limits. Treat the valet like crap as if they are beneath you, and again your car will not be taken care of. Give them a good tip UPFRONT, and you have a positive impression. If this sounds like bribery, you are correct. But is $5 not worth the years of babying and pride you have taken over your $30,000 car? Like it or not, that's how it works. Play the game or don't and accept the consequences. As to them leaving the Prius ON, it was an accident and most are unfamiliar with the beep codes of the prius. How many car beep codes do you know? They are almost all different. The only bad thing is wasted gas and a deflated MPG number. As to CO poisoning, it has been theorized (using maths) that the Prius doesn't output enough CO over a normal operating period to fill a 2 car garage with enough gas to kill someone. So 1 Prius left on in a parking garage is not even noticeable. The one clunker from the 1980's that starts up will emit more in its first ten seconds of turn over than the Prius will all night long. And I must say I absolutely hated Boston parking. Was there for a wedding in January. Drove less than 20 miles, paid $39.99 a day to park ontop of a $300/night room. It was also a PITA to navigate out of the airport without paying any tolls, but we did it! Won't be going back there.
I gave the valet $10 with my transponder and assumed he knew how to turn off a hybrid car. I realize they did not go to college to know basic valet but they should know some basics about parking a late model car! I did not expect them to "baby my car" but for the $50 parking fee, I thought they had at least some responsible employees. Never Again!
The fob need not be left in the car. The car can stay on, and can be stolen, while the fob is properly stowed in the valet's key locker.
Avoiding valet service might not always be possible, so my suggestion would be to make the valet turn the car off and back on before you leave it with them, and explain why. I'd even go to far as to make a reminder tag that I could put on the steering wheel. Prius is not the only car that can accidently be left on, so they'll eventually figure it out. Perhaps they know now and this was just an oversight during a busy time. Several owners here have admitted they've done the same thing in their own garage.
