ATLANTA — A date for an Atlanta man turned into a disaster after he heard his dream car, a Cadillac CT5V, was damaged in a wreck when his valet driver took his car for a joy ride.
Joe Luck said he watched his valet driver park his car right in front of the West Midtown restaurant last week and thought it was safe.
He has been waiting years to get the Cadillac as what he describes his "perfect car" only to find it was involved in an accident he didn't cause.
“'Your vehicle’s been sideswiped.' What do you mean? It was parked out front. He told me he had to move my vehicle, and unfortunately while moving it – it got sideswiped,” Luck said the moment he found out about the damage to his car.
Luck saw that his car was T-boned just two blocks down the road in an accident that he believes could have been avoided. He said there was space in the parking lot when he left and feels the car didn't need to be driven off the lot.
When Luck found his car, he saw the airbags deployed, the rear quarter panels destroyed and the rear axles off of the car. The only thing Luck said he could feel was anger toward the valet service.
“Just anger... I know I’ll never valet a vehicle ever again. I’ll figure out something, even if I have to pay extra to park my own vehicle. I won’t trust them with the keys to my car ever again," the car owner said.
Luck said he's considering his next steps as he finds another way to get around town.
"It’s in pretty bad shape. I can’t even drive it. I have to figure out what I do from here,” he said.
Luck added that he was never offered a rental vehicle and has not been able to get the insurance information from the valet's claims team.
He feels that going through his own insurance company could force him to lose money leaving him to think the worse.
“I’m going to be stuck with this vehicle that’s had a major accident when I had nothing to do with the accident,” he added.
11Alive spoke with an insurance expert who said that the valet company should be responsible.
John Miller with Sterling Seacrest Pritchard said since valets are hired by the facility someone is going to, it should require the valet company to have appropriate insurance.
“If the valet company will not respond or their insurer will not respond, I think it’s appropriate to go to the facility to which you were attending and ask them to address the issue,” Miller said.
The insurance expert added that if Luck or anyone in this situation has to go through their personal insurance and does not receive the amount they were expecting, they could hire an attorney.
"Hire an attorney and file suit against the person that was the proximate cause of the damage to the vehicle," he said.
In Luck's case, that would be the valet driver, the valet company, and likely the institution that hired the valet company to make sure he is paid the value of his car.
“Whether you lend the vehicle to a friend or give it to a valet, or anybody, the general term we use is 'permitted user,' someone that had authority by you to drive the vehicle. Typically, insurance will extend for the physical damage done to the vehicle," Miller said.
Miller said in order to protect yourself look for proof that damage has been done. He recommended the following measures:
- It's best to do a walkaround of the car before and after the valet service.
- Car owners should take pictures of their vehicles because they have timestamps which is evidence.
- People should also note the mileage on their cars to make sure a joyride did not happen.
- Residents should also identify what personal belongings they had in their car. "Some people will lock that in the glove compartment or another component of the vehicle and only give the valet key so they can’t get into those locked items," Miller said.
- Experts also said that car owners should address the damage immediately and not wait until the next day or two weeks later.
- He also added that if the third-party or service damages an owner's car, then they are right to expect compensation to fix the car or to be provided with transportation.
Luck hopes the valet company will be held accountable by helping pay for the value of his car or helping him get another car. Luck believes that just firing the employee is not enough.
“You should be responsible for this negligence, but they’re putting it all on me," Luck said.