How are you about someone else driving or working on your car?
 

How are you about someone else driving or working on your car? This is prompted by me recently getting my car smogged. The monkey doing the test chipped the paint at the bottom of the driver's door and I did not notice it until later. I was recently in Oregon, where they don't let you pump your own gas, $10000 fine.

I hate it myself, drives me nuts having someone driving my car, but I was wondering if anyone else was a bit compulsive about this.

You talking about the Porsche, or cars in general? Driving and working on are 2 different things, too.

In general, depends on whether or not they know what they're doing. The daily driver Honda, I don't care. The 911, they need to know how to drive an older 911. Smogging is a bit painful for me to watch, as you've noted above. The car doesn't get valet parked. The motorbike, no.

I'm real bad about letting others drive my cars. P car, DD, beater, does not matter.

There is a lot of potential fuchage that comes along with it.

I got into a Larry David-esque confrontation with a valet parker at a local restaurant a few years ago because I skipped the valet stand and just parked my 993 myself. That idiot kid walked with and nagged me all the way up the restaurant entrance about how they put Bugattis and Ferraris up front and know how to handle exotics. I assured him I didn't care about being seen. I didn't tell him my real reason was that I had two guns in the car. But sheesh. He had no idea if I was a part owner of the restaurant or what and he just nagged and nagged. I was dressed for a business lunch and was really tempted to go complain to his boss, but didn't. No, I never ever valet the 993 and I don't like anyone working on it. I don't mind letting Porsche buddies drive it though.

My wife drives my 911 all the time. I encourage her to drive it. She claims to have no interest in mechanical things, but I can tell she likes heading out for a hair appointment or lunch date with friends in it.

Valets are fine. I'm insured. Its a car, not the holy grail. Now get drinking.

The Bugatti and F-car owner that kid is talking about are likely guys who 1) have the cash to burn (or aren't mechanically-sensitive enough) that they don't care about mechanical wear/tear, or 2) are getting the flavor of the year and will be selling the car shortly anyway, so will be passing along any of that wear/tear trouble onto the next owner anyway.

But considering that I'm intending to keep my 911 for as long as I can drive (and then pass it on to my kids or someone else like-minded), if that ham-fisted valet burns 100 miles off the clutch or grinds a bit off reverse gear by not waiting that one-one thousand between putting in the clutch and engaging the shift lever, that's MY problem that I'll eventually have to deal with. That's the difference.

I see it all the time at the local cars and coffee type gatherings. You rarely ever see the guys with old cars burning out or screaming away from the meet after the car's been sitting there (with cold motor) for the past hour. It's always the guys with the late-model stuff who do that.

I know you guys have way better cars than I do...

But at the end of the day it is just a car... yes I let people drive the Porsche (when it was running) and my Korean DD.

I don't have the time or patients to work on my cars.

I do hate valet parking, but only because I'm cheap and I can park my own car thank you very much.

Sue drives it sometimes, she seems to think it's an "event" when she gets to, but I'd let her drive it to work if she asked more...

Otherwise, it gets driven for 5 minutes, once a year for smog.

Strangely enough, I have heart issues for 5 minutes, once a year...

The wife drives my car if she needs or wants to (which isn't often). Otherwise, I'm not real excited about anyone driving or working on my cars or my family's cars.

I've seen the results of the common hack too many times, and ridden with too many folks that can barely drive a stick, but think that can.

And the Oregon pump your gas thing freaks me out (being born and raised in Lost Angeles).

I instinctively jump out of the car and head for the pump (actually wife grabs my arm before I can open the door).

Then I asked her if I should tip the guy... they also look at your weird if you get out to wipe your windshield.

Not that big of a deal but it can be annoying if the attendant is talking on the cell phone or shooting the breeze with the locals while you sit there waiting for gas.

just a car..
maybe so..
but it's mine..
I delivered & picked up cars for a dealership at 18..
I know what WE DID..
my apologies to all those vette & camaro owners...

Rika

Valet?
No way, not in the 911, rarely in the Lexus (stupid expensive in LA anyway + I'm supposed to tip? BS)

Mechanic?
OK, not a prob but it's still nerve wracking leaving the cars with anyone else.

Family/Inlaws? Prob OK with Lexus (necessary evil when traveling to family - car-less and need to "get out"? Better chance of them lending us their car if we have extended the keys to them previously). Porsche? Not happening in the 911, not b/c it's irreplaceable or a holy relic - it's just that few know how to properly shift/drive older 911s and fewer can relate to my freakish love for these cars and my intolerance to the ignorant is well known among my family...

For me, my 911 isn't just another car (I understand that position) it's the object of my affection that I have spent countless hours and dollars developing to my liking, not going to turn that over to someone with out the required skill and who can't appreciate or relate to that...

ymmv

For me it's less about the car and more about the liability risk.

In the 16 years I have owned my 911 only one valet has touched it. That was at a San Fransisco hotel and the ONLY way to get the car parked there was for the valet to do it. I tipped him 20 bucks to be careful and park it in next to a pillar in the corner of the garage where it was protected from the people walking around. I could hear the engine and he never got above 3,000 RPM.

I do most of my own work but the two different professional mechanics I have worked with know more about air cooled 911s than I do. I did let my brother who drives a 54 VW bug as a daily driver, drive my 911. It was funny, he would shift at 4,000 RPM until I reminded him he was just starting to get to the power band. After that he was OK to run it to 6,000 RPM. We got on the interstate and he never shifted out of third until I suggested we use one of the other two higher gears. I think he was more nervous than I was.

Thanks for the laugh, Rikao.

For me, I just let USAA know. Denis (Speeder) just dropped off my 356 to my Dad in Fairfield, California yesterday.

USAA now knows an 82 year-old is at the helm.

When the car gets home, the family gets to drive it. Everybody. I am long past the day when I cherish metal over the experiences my kids will have going fast, slow.

It is a car. Can you imagine being 17/18 driving a 356 solo after a few hours with Dad?

I'm fussy about my 944 but I just bought a used 03 VW Passat and it is just a car. It came pre door dent dinged and has a few scratches. I don't abuse cars but driving in the city, one expects and few dents, scratches and chips parking and sitting overnight on the street.

I'm mainly scared of people grinding the gears in my 915.
If i had a newer 911 with a more user friendly gearbox, I would probably let more people drive it.

I'm very anal about anybody driving my car, consider it to be bad luck. My mechanic is 7 hours away,so only I work on the car,if I cannot fix it.... it goes on the trailer to Austin,where my mechanic's shop is !

$10,000 fine??? where did you hear that?

I have not heard of that and have been in Orygun a good long while.

IIRC, the term "dispense" is used in the ORS. You might be able to put the nozzle in and have the pump jockey turn on the pump; when it clicks you take it out and hand it to him. I often do that on the 911.

Agree with those that say, "it's just a car". Both my sons learned to drive standard transmissions on my 911, both took her to the prom. Both brought it back in perfect condition. Sheet metal can be straightened, engines fixed...driving a Porsche to prom....priceless!

There it is...but there were two "her's" correct?

Not that...

My wife's Mazda 5 was dented by a valet in Nashville last summer and we WILL NOT do that again. When I get my next Porsche, family and friends will be welcome to drive it.

Thanks, I thought that sounded a bit off... but I am not familial with your strange Pacific Northwesterly ways... :D

My wifes car is nothing special and it makes her happy to watch me squirm and rap my fingers on the steering wheel while I wait for someone to pump my gas... she says it builds character... as if I'm not enough of a character already... :p

I don't think I ever had anyone fill my motorcycle tank for me while I was living in OR. They just handed me the pump and let me do it myself.

The question is too general.

The general answer is that nobody drives my 993 but my wife.

Exceptions:
- Top notch shop may drive it.
- Smog, tire and car wash may move it around but I will stand next to it.

Absolutely no valet on any of my vehicles, including any beaters.

George

i used to take my 911 to a firestone shop to get it inspected. the first time i was there, the guy insisted on driving it into the garage and onto his lift. i was parked with the rear of the car into the parking spot because i backed in. there was a cement divider about 1 foot from the rear of my back bumper. i watched the guy keep stalling the car and going backwards until he was about an inch from the cement, just about to scrape the hard line behind the engine. i begged him to let me do it, so i ended up driving it in.

since then, i take it my local porsche independent shop where there are ferrari and vintage 911 and i dont think twice about leaving it with them

nobody but my brother has driven my 911 simply because the 915 is way too hard to shift..otherwise i wouldnt mind letting any of my friends drive it so long as i am in the car. my car is very far from perfect but i just dont have the cash to fix anything major on it so i just say no

I'm taking the 993 in tomorrow to have the rear tires flipped. I hope they let me drive it in and know how to jack it up.

I have no problem letting quality shops work on my cars. You know, people who do it as well or better than I do. Screw up, and that's it though.

Let someone drive it? Sure - if it's someone I know. No valets, ever. I don't trust them. Far too easy to get it back with a few door dings and they hide behind "oh it was like that when I got it, you can't prove it was us and there's automatic bailment created anyway". F that.

Shops/mechanics? Never. I do all my own work. All of it. I definitely don't trust shops at all - they want to just give it to cheapest-hourly-rate schlockER they have on duty right then, slam it out as quickly as possible regardless of quality and charge $100+ an hour for it. No Fin way. I don't even let those guys mount wheels - I cut the old tires off, buy the new tires myself and take the bare rims and tires down to be mounted and balanced while I stand there and watch to make sure the idiot doesn't tweak the bead on the fuchs. I only do that because I dont have a spin balancer (yet). Other than that I think the last time a shop touched my car was to pull a vacuum on the a/c system again because I didn't have a pump. I charged it and did everything else myself. Shops are a great way to get ripped off and have your car fked up when you ge it back. Limit their scope and the potential damage they can/will do at all times, as much as possible. Tight, tight leash if I use them at all, which I try to avoid in the first place.

Nobody works on my cars, even my AMG which is still under warranty, I hate taking it to the dealership as the Techs are known to beat the cars to death when no one is looking. Valet nope either...

If someone else is even touching my car, I pace like an expecting first time dad.

I worked too hard to have someone else disrespect my property.

Case closed.
Yasin

I don't really care in fact I encourage my mechanic to drive my cars, I usually let the valet park my cars because it's just easier. With three kids driving age I just have bigger things to worry about other than steel and rubber. It's just a car, let's keep it in context.

For some of us a car is a rather large expenditure. If I recall, don't you have a personal mechanic that works for you full time? I am pretty sure the rest of us can't say the same. I am pretty sure your kids aren't driving your Cobra, Ferrari or Dino around right now or recently. Perhaps you should see things in context.

+1.... I parked cars at a swanky restaurant in college for a couple months.... Once around the building and in the back of the lot, any car even remotely sporty got a small dose of autocross type testing. :D


To answer the question, I do not let anyone work on my cars (presently they mount balance the loose wheels I bring them, but that will likely end the next time they put a scratch in a wheel which will push me to the point of buying my own mount/balance equipment). I have let friends/family drive my cars, but not very often.

Exactly. It's only a car yes, but its another hassle to deal with when some a55hat dings up your doors. Best avoided.

I'm with this guy. Getting the 911 was a lot of work.

Whilst I like to use it as it was intended, I do consider where I'm going to leave it when I get there. I never let anyone else work on it and I'd certainly not let an unknown person drive or park it. They wont do it as well as me anyway!

I don't really see your point. But just for the record, my three kids took off for the Vineyard yesterday in three of my cars, My son 21 drove the Cobra w/girlfriend, Son 17 drove the 60 MGA- V8 with the Brooklands installed and a proper motoring helmet his girlfriend was the passenger also with the proper helmet and my daughter 22 drove my 1962 356B Roadster along with her boyfriend. The only reason they don't drive the Dino and it's always sitting is because it belongs to my wife and she is the only one in the house who can fit in it. All my kids and I are over 6'2". My Mechanic and nephew was raised in my house around most of these cars all his life, he likes most of them more than me. They really are just cars and that's why they sell insurance, right?

All of my cars/planes/motorcycles/snowmobiles/ATVs/Jetskis/tractors have lots of my time invested in them. Most were bought used with mechanical issues or as projects. Right or wrong, I treasure them. Right or wrong, the thought of paying someone else to care for them does not even enter my mind anymore. "Maybe" if I made money by the boatloads, I might pay others to work on some of my toys, but I doubt it. Like MarkKoBrow, I have let my daughters drive all of my cars and motorcycles, but my kids know that if they ding the cars up, dad will be the one that will fix them and he may not be real happy about it. ;) My oldest daughter is now married and has bought her own daily driver car.... She takes excellant care of it and does not like letting her husband who can barely drive a stick shift drive it. ;) While not a mechanic, she knows quite a bit about the basics of how cars work and she is much less likely to get screwed by the local car repair shop or used car dealer than most men/women her age or even older. ;) She has thanked me on several occasions for the car knowledge I drilled into her as a younger teen and she now has co-workers in her office ask her for opinions on cars. :eek:

I used to take all my stuff to one particular tire shop, until I got the 944 back with giant greasy arm and hand prints all over the console and door panel. Now I am more picky with the 944. I will take it to the independent Porsche shop with 100% faith. I will let my family that is competent with a stick drive it, and the same with friends.

If it is a trusted friend or family member, I toss them the keys without a thought, which what I believe Markobrow is getting at.

I have never valet parked it, I did that valet thing myself and was not abusive, but am certain I was the exception in this respect. I have taken my car to the dealership for repairs and had it come back with obvious signs of abuse, powdered tire behind the drive wheels, dings, lines knocked loose while they were doing work I don't have the facilities to do. Tires I take wheels in loose to be mounted. From now on when I have to do that smog nonsense, I will be standing right next to the monkey doing it.

It is just a thing, but it is my thing and I would just as soon not spend my time fixing damage done by someone I paid to provide some other service. This is what my point was.

I used to have a 1966 Fairlane GT with a 390 that would spin tires in 3rd gear.
The clutch required major muscles to get it to work. I drove it to a swanky hotel for a Christmas party.

Imagine a polished concrete driveway, DEW from the coast, rons of torque and a valet?

They tried three or four times to move it. it went sideways as much as forward.

They had me park it next to the girlfriend's bosses 308 at the time.

The Corvette has been driven by 2 of my 4 sons ( They learned to drive a stick on it) My niece, my nephew,my cousin, my aunt, my dad, the neighbor kid got to drift it a little in a parking lot, I would say 50 customers. ( 2 REALLY drove it) a few instructors from the Alfa Club of Southern California drove it on some good laps with me in the car.

The most surreal thing tha I ever did with my '67 fastback was taking my dad to Streets of Willow Springs for a DE weekend. Strapping your Father into your race care for the first time is nerve racking. You're thinking of everything that could go wrong. Will he kill the car/will the car kill him? Other than hitting 2nd instead of 4th and spinning the car he did fine.

Milt Miltner flogged the sHiZnet out of the car. He asked all the q's a pro would ask "what rpm rnage do you shift" how quickly will you let me rev the engine? Do you want gradual rpm or quick?

I told him to shift around 6,400rpm, before we left the pits the tire where smoking as the rpm limiter bounced off 7,200 rpm He had that car sideways on the straighs and straigh on the curves.


The scarriest ride in my own car was the first time Joanna my wife got her hands on the '67 fastback mustang. I had to let her drive me 45 miles in Los Angeles traffic. She got very power hungry with the car and was making some brave moves with out knowing the car well.