Magellan

We never expected this. My wife took our IS250 to a local carwash for the first time yesterday (hand wash only place) and she noticed that the after-wash attendant, who had the fob of course, was taking an unusually long time in finishing up, especially the inside. She walked up to him and noticed he was playing with some of the features, and having a jolly good time at it. Then the manager came up to see what was going on. The attendant apologized, saying he loved cars but never came across one like this before and couldn’t resist checking it out. Well, at least the car was spanking clean as she drove off, but we’re going to have to watch for this sort of thing in the future.

Kermee

iTrader: (1)

Don't forget to disinfect the fob with Lysol(tm) or something similar!

Thanks for the story.

Cheers,
Kermee

al503

I got a nail in the tire repaired a couple of days ago. The guy who put it on the lift had a heck of a time finding to start the car. When he did, he got a big 'ol smile on his face. He also got 'whoa' look when he put it into reverse and saw the back-up camera.

lirandy

iTrader: (2)

So...what mean is having such a nice IS is basically a disadvantage?...lol...

rys

I wish our cars would have a real Valet mode that could limit the power output and shutdown some of the features like the radio and navigation.

In my opinion, the Valet should be able to park the car but shouldn't have any need for navigation, speed/power, etc.

-Brian

Magellan

I agree. As of now we have no choice but to leave the fob with the valet attendant or just leave it in the car.

For valet parking the owner’s manual recommends that we lock the trunk via the button in the glove box, lock the glove box itself with the mechanical key from the fob, and take the mechanical key with us. This prevents the attendant from snooping in the trunk or glove box. Of course it also means that the attendant has the fob, allowing him to play around with other things. I guess it also means we must take the cell phone with us lest the attendant figures out how to make personal calls charged to our bluetooth phone.

Perhaps the best solution is to never valet park your IS.

lirandy

iTrader: (2)

But sometimes there's no choice. As you know, you need to have them valet your car when you eat at some restaurants in Beverly Hills.

I had them valet my car on Monday night at Lawry's. I saw that guy just stepped on my gas hard and then slammed the brake even harder....my heart was broken....

dajwilson

Yeah, I can't take my key out and just give the attendant the fob because I have a lo-jack and the only way to connect the lo-jack fob to the key fob is through the key ring. So I just have to give up the entire thing and make sure I haven't left any valuables in the car.

gsrthomas

iTrader: (1)

Who cares.

I'm the type of guy if I am fortunate enough to have such a nice automobile and others arent and they stare and love our cars. Then I wouldnt mind if he was looking at the car. I would of even showed him some nice features personally that the car has.

Maybe i'm just a nice guy.

My family and I came from literally nothing to having our own business and houses. I'm always kind to the less fortunate.

Magellan

You’re right, sometimes you have no choice. I had to valet park our new IS last week at a Disneyland hotel where we stayed overnight. I gave it a thorough look over when it was delivered back. As for restaurants, I’ll walk a block or two to avoid valet parking.

IS_altezza

Which car wash did u go to?
cause it's hard to find a place that cleans the car good in CA

rys

I don't mind showing off my car to others if they ask, but it seems in this case the car was missing for a bit and when the owner came to see what the hold up was, the service "professional" was busy playing with the car.

I consider that to be highly unprofessional. If that happened to me, I'd probably be pretty upset. I'd expect the vehicle to be delivered back to me first, then I'd show the car off.

I'm in the same boat, I believe I'm the only one in my family that can afford such a nice car, but I have some rather high expectations of professionalism when it comes to service personnel and my car.

-Brian

jlin101

this issue has nothing to do with giving the valet the fob, but is the result of the abundant tech features of the car. If you give the key of any car to someone, he can drive or play with the car, fob or no fob. I would take it as a compliment--I probably feel disappointed if the car wash guy or valet thinks of the car just another Asian compact sedan.

lirandy

iTrader: (2)

Brian, I definitely agree with you

Magellan

It's at Devonshire and Reseda Blvd. in Northridge. They only hand wash and do a pretty good job. But look for a long wait on weekends