Desk sheet - On return
Ninety Seconds Before You Drive Out, in the Right Order
The last sheet, and the one that gathers up the other seven. Everything on this list is something to notice in the lot, where an attendant is standing and a photograph is easy, rather than twenty miles down the road where neither is true.
01Why in the lot
Because the lot is the only place where the three useful things are all available at once: somebody who works there, the exact spot the car stood in, and the option of not driving.
Twenty miles later you have none of them, and anything you find becomes a question of when it happened rather than a fact about where the car was.
That is not an accusation about lots. Most long stays end with nothing at all to report. Ninety seconds is simply the least expensive precaution available and it costs nobody anything.
02The order
- Walk round the outside once. You are looking for new marks and for anything obviously out of place, not for a full inspection. Do it before you unlock, while your attention is fresh.
- Look at the ground where the car stood. Anything on the surface that was not there when you parked. See the engine bay sheet for what this is about.
- Open the hood and look. Thirty seconds. Not mechanical: you are looking for anything that is not part of the car.
- Check the tires by eye. One obviously lower than the other three is a different problem from all four reading a little low, which is usually temperature.
- Get in and look at the dash on start up. New warning lights, and whether the engine turns over normally. If it cranks slowly, see the battery sheet.
- Wet the windshield before the first wipe. The one habit that prevents the one avoidable bit of damage on this whole list. See the dust sheet.
- Then drive out.
03What to do if you find something
Deal with it there, in this order.
- Tell the attendant, and do it before moving the car. The operator's staff are the people whose ground it is.
- Photograph it, with the stall visible in the frame. One picture of the thing and one wider picture showing where the car is standing.
- Telephone this desk on +1 (520) 886-3174 during hours. We placed the reservation, and if a reservation we placed was not honoured we deal with it rather than pointing at the operator.
- Do not drive out and telephone later. That is the one sequence that makes everything harder.
What we can do: take it to the operator, get you an answer, and tell you what they said. What we cannot do: pay for it, adjudicate it or promise an outcome, because this desk holds no insurance covering a vehicle and says so on every page.
04The three most common findings, and none of them is a problem
| What people find | What it usually is | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| All four tires reading low | A temperature change between the two ends of the stay | Add air to the door sticker figure |
| A slight vibration for the first few miles | A temporary flat spot from standing in one position | Keep driving; it goes away as the tires warm |
| A heavy film of dust and rain streaks | Ordinary settling, worse in the windy and monsoon months | Wash it at home, and wet the glass before wiping |
05What this list is not
It is not a mechanical inspection and it is not advice about a vehicle. It is a walk round, written by a desk that arranges reservations, so that the end of a long stay is not a surprise.
Nothing on it involves anybody touching the car except you. That is the refusal that runs through all eight sheets: a parked car is parked, and nothing here is done to it.
06What this means for the reservation you should make
Nothing about the walk round changes the band or the grade. What the length of stay changes is how much of the list is worth doing.
- Under four days: steps one and seven.
- A week to two weeks: steps one, four, six and seven.
- A month and over: all seven, and allow the full ninety seconds.