Last night at my company Christmas party, we valeted my wife's car. At the end of the party when they brought the car back there was a nice basketball size scuff on the driver's side corner at the rear bumper/quarter panel intersection. I pointed it out to the driver and he got his manager. The manager gave me his contact information and said he'll review the camera footage to confirm it wasn't there when they took the car into the garage, but it won't be until Monday at the earliest.

This is another fun adult adventure I've never had to deal with before. In November a rental I was driving got hit by a piece of debris flying off a construction truck driving down I-10, so that's still in the works.

To say I'm skeptical that the valet company is going to do the right thing and take care of this is an understatement.

Is there anything else I need to be doing while I wait for his "camera review" on Monday?

Martin Q. Blank said:

---

Will it buff out?

---

No. Look at the seam between the bumper over and the rear quarter panel. THe bumper will need to be replaced.


I'd be on the phone with my insurance. Even if you don't start an official claim with them there's no harm in talking to a pro that's on your side. You pay your insurance company. You're not the customer of the valet or the venue's insurance company

Wait for a response form valet. Talk to the party planner. File your own claim and fix it and move on with life.

Go in that order. Sucks but might have to eat it as cost of doing business.

it sucks, but see what the valet company comes back with. maybe you can settle with them for 400ish cash and just get it fixed with your insurance

What valet company? They gone. Vanished into the night, last night.

Unless they own up to it, the Insurance company will look for any excuse to say it's prior damage. Initial photos seem to suggest it's in a spot that's consistent with a valet backing a car into a spot and hitting something.

Did they give you a ticket that has a diagram of a car on it? They're supposed to indicate prior damage on it when you drop off.

If they didn't, it may have a neutral effect but could help if they did and didn't check damage.

Jason_Roofer said:

---

TexasAggie2006 said:

---

That sucks. Even when we had cheaper, less valuable cars, I refused to valet vehicles. It's just not worth it and no one treats your stuff like you do. Hope they take responsibility and make it right.

---

Lots of places, like Houston hotels are "valet only". I guess you can just park in a lot somewhere but that's almost worse. Risk valet damaging your car or risk it getting stolen completely. Not sure but I'm like you, I don't valet if I can help it, and if it is valet only, I drive my 25 year old truck. Go ahead, dig around in it, steal those two nickels that have melted peppermints on them that have been in the console for 15 years. Leave it unlocked. It'll be fine.

---

I borrowed my father's 2005 F-150 a couple weeks ago and it was exactly like that.

The amount of coffee he must have spilled into the cup holder over time was amazing.
It was so gross that I actually cleaned it before I borrowed it.

I assume that the more reputable valets are bonded/insured. A small claims case that gets referred to the bond company probably gets paid rather than fought.

Kenneth_2003 said:

---

Speaking of cameras...
Did you take the toll road to the venue? Toll both will have photos of your damage free car.

---

Or any cameras at your home for that matter when you left. They could still argue that it may have happened on the way there, but it's a start.

Sorry to tell you they all do. My mom's car was wrecked by the valet at the Lancaster.

Keep us posted. Sorry you have to go thru all of this.

file a claim on the Valet's insurance. Possibly the facility's you were at since they contracted out to the valet. Our brand new Yukon was wrecked the week we bought it by a valet in Ft. Worth. T-boned, $30k damage. Literally had 300 miles on it.

That's a body shop panel and replace the bumper. $2500 minimum. You need to file a claim on their insurance.

I've submitted the damage form back to the valet. I don't have any of their insurance information, despite requesting it from both guys I talked to when I got the car back. I've also made our party planner aware, and she is letting the event coordination company know. Any suggestions on how to go about getting the valet's insurance information? I suppose I can try calling The Rice and see if they will give it to me.

I have filed a report on our insurance, so at the very least it can be "upgraded" to a claim if things go south.

Just be patient. Not everyone cares about your car as much as you do so it's not even close to the top of their to do list.

YellAg2004 said:

---

Thanks for all the responses. The valet manager actually emailed me last night with their claim form. He also said he has requested the camera footage from the garage. I did get a picture of the valet ticket that showed no "pre-existing" damage on the vehicle.

The event was at the Rice in downtown Houston, so I'm hoping that means they won't have a fly-by-night sub handling their valet operations. Additionally, my company was paying for the cost of the valet for all employees. I'll let our party planning committee know about the incident first thing tomorrow.

Here are some pics of the damage once the dirt was wiped off.

---

I used to live at the Rice and the parking garage there is abnormally tiny. All the spots are insanely tight and so are the turns everywhere.

**Update**

The valet manager sent me the photos from the garage cameras and confirmed that the vehicle was not damaged when it entered the garage, so his company would be taking responsibility. He offered to have the repair done at a shop on Westheimer that "they work with often" or I could get a couple of quotes from shops of my choosing to then submit for approval.

I'm glad they're accepting responsibility, but I'm also not looking forward to the PITA of taking the car to multiple shops just for quotes. My plan is to go to Westside Lexus for one of the quotes. I had a previous truck repaired at Sterling McCall Collision on 290 just outside the tollway when some upstanding individuals tried to steal it, so that was going to be the other shop I was planning to get a quote from.

Any other suggestions on shops or how to proceed? I'm assuming they're only going to approve the lowest repair quote, but I honestly would like Westside to do the repair (I think) as this will be the only ding on a car that has otherwise been taken very good care of.

aggiepaintrain said:

---

get the name of their insurance company and policy # and cut out this middleman (manager)

---

Not trying to sound helpless, but any suggestions on how to actually get that information from them? When I requested the information the night of the incident, they just gave me the manager's contact info. When I talked to The Rice, they took the "they're a 3rd party contractor and we can't help" position. When I asked the manager for it via email, he said that they'll just be paying it out and not filing on insurance.

Obviously if they're not making a claim with their insurance then you don't need that information. Get a quote from who you want to repair it and send it to them.