Does anyone else find it exhausting making sure no one damages your Autopian-level daily driver?

B

BluBrett

New member
I’m feeling just a bit ticked off this past week or so.

I have a history of my cars being damaged, but with no claims on my record as none were my fault.

I had a Lexus CT 200h. Elderly woman veered into my lane and sideswiped me. 3 months later I was driving through a green light and had to slam on my brakes when someone ran a red. Minor damage to my car but major damage to hers.

Sold that car and got an Acura TL. Within a month, I had it street parked for an event I was attending and someone crashed their bike into the fender, severely denting it. The fender was pushed in from the weight and then pushed back out in some areas from the frame below the fender. Eventually after that was fixed, someone bumped the rear bumper and put license plate divots into the paint while it was street parked at my cousins house.

I got a Lexus IS 300 just under a year ago. A few months ago I was backing into my garage and cracked the mirror housing to pieces. My fault, ordered a factory painted housing and replaced it. Tonight someone hit the same mirror while street parked and I have to order yet another housing.

Additionally, getting my car serviced is always stressful. Are they going to set dirty fender guards on my paint and scuff them up? Are they going to drop a tool on my roof and not tell me about it? Scratch my paint with a pocket screwdriver?

This last time I took it in for service I notated “DO NOT WASH” 3 times and they took it through an automatic was before I could stop them. Luckily it’s only been washed twice by anyone but me and I have high metallic flake so the paint still looks new.

I’m just so tired of being so protective of my car and making sure it’s new but I also know that I will never let myself think of it as “just a car.” I didn’t buy a brand new luxury car so careless people could damage it while I’m not around.

I know I can’t control other people’s actions... I guess this was just a rant. I can’t dream of disrespecting someone’s property that way. Street parking my car gives me way more anxiety than it should after being damaged so many times.
 
BluBrett said:
I’m feeling just a bit ticked off this past week or so.

I have a history of my cars being damaged, but with no claims on my record as none were my fault.

I had a Lexus CT 200h. Elderly woman veered into my lane and sideswiped me. 3 months later I was driving through a green light and had to slam on my brakes when someone ran a red. Minor damage to my car but major damage to hers.

Sold that car and got an Acura TL. Within a month, I had it street parked for an event I was attending and someone crashed their bike into the fender, severely denting it. The fender was pushed in from the weight and then pushed back out in some areas from the frame below the fender. Eventually after that was fixed, someone bumped the rear bumper and put license plate divots into the paint while it was street parked at my cousins house.

I got a Lexus IS 300 just under a year ago. A few months ago I was backing into my garage and cracked the mirror housing to pieces. My fault, ordered a factory painted housing and replaced it. Tonight someone hit the same mirror while street parked and I have to order yet another housing.

Additionally, getting my car serviced is always stressful. Are they going to set dirty fender guards on my paint and scuff them up? Are they going to drop a tool on my roof and not tell me about it? Scratch my paint with a pocket screwdriver?

This last time I took it in for service I notated “DO NOT WASH” 3 times and they took it through an automatic was before I could stop them. Luckily it’s only been washed twice by anyone but me and I have high metallic flake so the paint still looks new.

I’m just so tired of being so protective of my car and making sure it’s new but I also know that I will never let myself think of it as “just a car.” I didn’t buy a brand new luxury car so careless people could damage it while I’m not around.

I know I can’t control other people’s actions... I guess this was just a rant. I can’t dream of disrespecting someone’s property that way. Street parking my car gives me way more anxiety than it should after being damaged so many times.
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Went to Discount Tire to get my free pressure fill up the other week, mind you I literally just washed the car, the guy filling up my tires proceeded to use my both my front fenders to help himself up, while wearing his dirty mechanics gloves. I kid you not, the Holy Spirit was the only thing keeping me in my seat, I am thankful that God is so much stronger than I am.

And yes, I do have to polish out the guys hand prints when I have the time. Why didn’t I say anything to the manager? Well, you know when you have those times where you’re so angry/frustrated that you have to excuse yourself? Yeah...
 
Week after coating my car I take it in to get an oil change. Girl at the counter was super sweet just had a kid. We BS for a while and then took off. Cane back and look into garage to see what’s going on................................................................................................................ ............................................................. same sweet gal is wiping bird poop off my fender with the dirtiest shop rag I had ever seen.


I ran back there yelling NO,NO,NO,NO! Look she was trying to be nice (at least she sprayed it with windex I think) and didn’t know better. She was a good soul so I kept cool. Her manager though tried to tough guy me “ you can’t come back here past the rail...... I explained what I had just done to my car and the time it took and didn’t want to have to redo more than the panel she just wiped down.

He told me he didn’t care and to get out of his garage.

Let’s just say he caught the heat that I was keeping from her....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I interviewed a *LOT* of shops before I found people I can trust with my vehicles. And I travel a good long ways to get to those shops (well over an hour for some of `em).

"Nobody touches my paint with anything. Period. Is that gonna be a problem?" OK, good...now here, I`m gonna show you how to open and close the doors, hood, and trunk. IF anybody does it differently, I`ll notice and that person will regret it. Just let me know if this will be a problem, no hard feelings if I need to go somewhere else."

I have the same basic conversation with the Service Manager, and the specific Tech who will be working on my car (determining which Tech that`ll be is a whole `nother project). And the valet, if that`s part of the deal. Big, long process, but better than getting damage. Nobody else even gets *near* them, period. The shops I deal with have mostly been really good about keeping me happy, or rather...about not [ticking] me off ;) (My Audi dealer once *fired* an employee who didn`t listen.) The big exception being what happened to my Jag...

IME the trick is to impress upon everybody how unpleasant it will be to displease me...and to find a shop that wants the business that badly. I`ve sold cars that I liked over not having somebody trustworthy to work on `em...in fact, that`s why we now have Audis instead of Benzes.
 
I agree it’s frustrating. Whenever I take my car in for service I expect to find scratches left behind by the mechanic. It’s not their vehicle and they just don’t care. I just know in the back of my mind I can fix most of the damage they can inflict, most.

I park my vehicle as far away from everyone else as I can and walk to the store. This saves me the normal door dings that occur when some large individual tries to extricate theirselves from their too big SUV or pickup truck. It takes me a little while to walk but it sure helps out my mental stress. I have actually watched people open their car doors hard into other peoples cars and laugh about it. I boggles my mind.
 
I park far away all the time. When I have to go to Walmart I go very early in the morning and still park far away. With all the walking I do for fitness I don’t mind the walk to and from the car. And if I don’t like the parking lot of a particular shopping center, I’ve been known to leave the car at home altogether and just walk there. Takes me ~40 minutes to an hour. As a matter of fact, one the appointments I have next week I will be walking to purely for fitness and another I can park far away from.
 
The one time I park near the entrance to a place (it was later so figured few people). This was the 4C, mid-week, again figured few people.

Don`t touch or lean on other people`s cars.

 
I`d estimate about 10-25% of people just have zero respect for other people`s property and will become highly defensive when questioned about it. It`s not just cars. Trespassing on property. Don`t get me started on littering and dog and cat feces. I have neighbors a few houses down that litter in their own yard, of a house that is north of 700k...

I park far away and hope for the best but try to mentally prepare myself for the worst. The challenge for me is when a car gets "worn" it is no longer appealing to me and I get rid of it. So I try to keep them as nice as possible. Having a "beater" helps too, but when your beater is nicer than 99% of the cars out there.... it just sucks.
 
Yes, sometimes my wife gets mad because we park so far away...and for some reason, every now and then, there is that one person with the most beat up, dinged, dented, rusted and dirty car that just has to park right next to you!
 
They do that for spite. Luckily hasn’t happened to me yet.

I once had a barber who parked far away and someone parked so close to him he couldn’t even get into his car. He saw the driver and got into a confrontation with him. He applied for a concealed weapon permit the next day.
 
Bill D said:
They do that for spite. Luckily hasn’t happened to me yet.

I once had a barber who parked far away and someone parked so close to him he couldn’t even get into his car. He saw the driver and got into a confrontation with him. He applied for a concealed weapon permit the next day.
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I often think of a nice drywall screw placed in their tire... Or four would be a nice thank you. Trouble is people like that probably have a dozen people that would want to do that to them so short of keying "park somewhere away from the blue corvette" on their hood, it might get lost.
 
I`m wondering...does anybody else here insist on meeting/interviewing/*KNOWING* the Techs who work on your vehicles. Paul, Eric-at-Chevy dealer, Dale, Eric-at-Ford dealer...no strangers are getting near my vehicles, much less wrenching on `em.
 
I know the mobile mechanic who comes to my house to install new batteries. When my Accord went in for an airbag recall, I met the tech who did the job. To me, it’s kinda like meeting your doctor before a procedure.
 
I’m the same. Even anxious that the mechanic will mar the paint when closing the hood.


Ben - Melbourne/Australia

Now: ‘19 VW Golf R, ‘15 Polo GTI
Before: ‘06 RenaultSport Megane 225 Cup, ‘14 VW Polo GTI, ‘12 VW Golf GTI, ‘06 VW Golf GTI, ‘05 VW Golf Sportline, ‘01 Holden Astra SRi, ‘00 Nissan Pulsar SSS, ‘99 Holden Astra CD, ‘98 Nissan Pulsar SLX, ‘91 Nissan Pulsar GL with Q engine swap, ‘80 Subaru Leone
 
Accumulator said:
I`m wondering...does anybody else here insist on meeting/interviewing/*KNOWING* the Techs who work on your vehicles. Paul, Eric-at-Chevy dealer, Dale, Eric-at-Ford dealer...no strangers are getting near my vehicles, much less wrenching on `em.
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I might if I actually believed that person would be the one working on my car. I do almost all of my own work anyway. It`s a blessing and curse at the same time. I have no free time. I`m a slave to my cars.
 
Dan- Heh heh, that is a dilemma...like I can talk about being a Slave to the Cars :o Although I`m much, *MUCH* better about it now, almost done a 180 in fact. Honestly, to me they`re just "tools" now..but I take really good care of tools too ;)

If I didn`t *KNOW* that the approved people would be the only ones touching my vehicles, I`d do whatever`s necessary to fix that. I`d even sell every vehicle and start over! That`s basically what we did when [a certain individual] bought the local Benz/others dealership.

phatrs- Every Tech gets the "how to open/close everything" lecture. And it`s not a quickie few-minute talk either. By the time we get to that part of the interview I know they`re gonna be OK with such stuff.

I mean, gee...my wife and I never touch hoods, or even trunk lids when we close them. If my *wife* can flip a trunk shut in just right way then an Automotive Professional can too.
 
If the techs complain about how anal we are about them touching our cars, well then, that’s just too bad and if they have a real problem with it, I’m sure we will all find another dealer/shop.
 
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