Comments | toyota_prius: question.

of_wonders in toyota_prius

question.

Jul 15, 2008 09:13

i have a bit of a weird/stupid question.

ive had my prius for about two months now & since ive had it, i wash & vacuum it myself when its dirty.

well now im away from home for 13 hours a day & i havent had much time to actually wash it myself. the dirt is building up & i really hate how messy she looks :(

now i want to take it to a HAND CAR ( Read more... )

Comments 12

peace873 July 15 2008, 16:30:48 UTC

My experience is: NO. Absolutely no one knows how to operate a Prius unless they've driven one before, and almost no one has driven one before. My latest thing was at Sears when I bought new tires. The dude sat there for about 10 minutes trying to figure out where to put the emergency door key (the traditional key that pops out of the fob) before he came back in and asked me how to work it.

tamarinne July 15 2008, 16:31:45 UTC

The hand car wash place near me hasn't had any trouble with my Prius. If you're worried about it, though, you can always print out a copy of the "valet card" that tells a valet how to drive the car. There's a pdf with the card in the comments on this page:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-main-forum/16794-2006-prius-valet-cards.html

parrot_lady July 15 2008, 16:38:44 UTC

I second this. My experience is that NO ONE can operate my car without the valet card or the quick start guide.

(sometimes with it they can't operate it either)....

*sigh*

dawntreader90 July 15 2008, 20:03:28 UTC

i wish i'd known about those. i had my car a week and had NO OPTION but to let a valet take my car. i had to train him first.

when i got my car back, ever damn button and setting that could be switched or pressed had been switched or pressed because that kid had fiddled around with every single thing in the car. i was so pissed.

but three days later, how do you even recognize the kid who took the car? :P

at least they turned off the keyfob thing. :P

but as to the OP, as long as you walk them through it and leave a number where they can reach you if they have questions, they should be OK. they gotta learn sometime. maybe they already know!

maestrodog July 15 2008, 16:51:19 UTC

I haven't had a problem with car washes at all. Of course, that might be due to the fact that I see Priuses on the road regularly now, and people out here are used to them.

Still though...I'm sure you may have the problem the first couple of times, but if you're going to be taking your car in regularly, the employees will figure it out quickly.

ar_wahan July 15 2008, 17:20:12 UTC

I have a slightly different take. My daughter (who has only driven my Prius once) finds that drivers who show up at the automatic car wash where she works do not know how to get their Priuses into neutral, when they drive the cars into the track that pulls them through the wash tunnel. She has to show them how to do it (in one case, she actually got into the driver's seat and did it herself).

I can imagine that at hand car washes some employees might well be dumbfounded, though.

airolf July 15 2008, 18:29:22 UTC

I don't let ANYONE drive my car and that includes my family. I have had it for three years and a month and have never allowed it to be valet parked or taken it to a car wash (I'd rather it be dirty than undrivable/broken). I even have a bad feeling when I leave it with Toyota repairmen.

Having said that, you can always give them the valet instructions that came with your car and hope for the best.