Over the weekend I let a neighbor borrow my MINI to use in their booth as a model for their carlashes (I posted a pic in the interior/exterior forum). I figured it would be a nice thing to do to help a neighbor get their business off the ground...

Well, that is the last time that happens... grrr... I am pretty particular about my MINI, as most of us are. When I dropped the car off on Friday at the show site, I parked her where the tent was going to be, hoping they would not have to move her. When the family and I drop by on Saturday (the Buda Weiner Dog races), I notice they had moved the car. Looking inside, I see they have a ton of stuff stored in her (that's fine with me) and the shift **** has been turned (I guess they tried to find reverse by twisting???)... ugh.

Since the fairgrounds were really dry and dusty, I left some detailing spray and microfiber cloths if they wanted to clean her up a bit during the show. I found out afterwards that they just chose to use a dry chamois to rub the dust/dirt off instead. As if she was not spider webbed enough from the previous owner... sheesh.

I was planning on going by after the show on Sunday to pick up my poor baby, but my wife and kiddo got sick over the weekend, so they said they could safely drive my baby to my house. At the end of the day, I got a call saying that my battery was dead and they needed to jump start her, and asking if I have ever had problems with my battery? Uh, no! Never! You killed my battery, so don't try an pin it on me :P

As a "courtesy" to me, on the way home they ran my car through a nearby automatic car wash... hooray. Thanks so much for doing something I avoid at all costs.

So I get my car back and, thankfully, no dents/dings/permanent damage (other than I am sure a few hundred more spider webs). The inside of the car was filthy, so I pulled out my interior spray and vacuum and get to detailing. When I got to the back seat I saw the telltale signs of what happened to my battery... toddler shoe prints. Shoe prints ALL OVER MY BACK SEAT. Since my son is not allowed to walk on my seats, I knew it was not him. As well, I detailed the car the day before the show, so it definitely was not his. I figure they had the car's power turned on over the weekend to let their toddler watch the DVD player I have installed in the rear, and that killed the battery? Or maybe they had the stereo running, and with my sub sucking down extra juice maybe that was the culprit.

While detailing the interior, the dust from the fairgrounds worked as a fingerprint powder, so I could see everywhere people touched. Since I had detailed the interior the day before dropping her off, she was a blank slate. There were fingerprints on the glove box button, glove box door, on the secret compartment door (!), and even on the subwoofer in my trunk. Not just the sub enclosure, but on the speaker itself? WTF would someone be touching the sub itself??? And going through my glove box(es)? No respect...

And nothing against my neighbors, they are very nice, and were extremely appreciative of me and my MINI. It is just that some people treat their vehicles like family and others treat them like tools, as one would a shovel or wheelbarrow. They did offer a free set of carlashes for my wife's SUV and a certificate for a wash/wax/detailing at a local hand wash place, which will be going to my wife as well, lol. The only person I trust to cause more damage to my car's finish is me

Thanks for reading my rant, my poor MINI is resting comfortably on her battery tender. Hopefully the battery will recover from the discharge...

It's a shame that your neighbors are so ignorant about taking care of a car. In hindsight, you should have given them detailed instructions about what they could and could not do with your car. Better yet, you should have stayed with the car.

Dave

Was this your first car show? I've been in plenty, and can tell you from experience, this is what happens. You're just lucky someone didn't scratch the car/poke holes in the sub/etc...

People have zero respect for others' property...esp true at a car show.

Yeah, this is the first car I have had worth showing off, LOL. Definitely a lesson learned for me!

You said it all in your title.

I put my last car (saturn sky redline) in a couple of car shows and even with signs saying "Don't touch" or "Do not sit in car", etc..etc.... people would always poke at it and try to open the doors and sit in it or sometimes just sit on the hood to rest, etc... And that's with me sitting there watching the car from a few feet away. After seeing how people treated it when they didn't think anyone was watching, I never let it out of my sight without asking another car show participant to keep an eye on it.

I would never do what you did and lend my car to someone for use at a car show or at any event where I was not right there watching the car.

On the bright side, looks like nothing was permanently damaged so at least that worked out ok.

You're a very trusting person.

I learned years ago after loaning a portable TV to co-workers going to a football game ... who returned it coated with beer and not thinking a thing of it ... that most people don't give a crap about your property.

Glad no perm damage was done.

http://carlashes.com/

car lashes? WTF LMAO

For starters that is the most STUPID product I have ever seen....... It will never sell with or without your MINI showing them.......... But then people bought pet rocks......

OMG, I broke out in a sweat and had an anxiety attack after reading the original post!!

I rarely even let my HUSBAND drive Giggles

Glad it ended ok, with nothing permanent...lesson learned!!

Heehee, yup, that's my girl. It is hard to tell in the pic, but she had pink rhinestone "eyeliner" above the lashes.

MGM, Saturn Sky Redline, eh? I always wanted to give one a whirl, looks like tons of fun.

Thanks, I am glad it ended ok as well, too. Maybe took a little off the lifetime of the OEM battery, but hopefully not much.

My wife actually tries to avoid driving my car since she knows how much it worries me, LOL. Oddly enough, I never had a problem letting her borrow my old Kia, which was a stick too. Hmmm...

i see your problem... it was letting them put thosed damned eyelashes on it the in the first place. leave the lashes for the bugs and the twisties for us.

Yea, never felt this way about a car before....what is it about the MINI?

I open the door to the garage at night to wish her "sweet dreams" Oh, yes I do!

Yeah, the sky was a blast. Owned it for about 4 years. Bone stock it had 260 hp and would leave any Mini, even an S or JCW in the dust. A couple of minor mods and it could do 0-60 in well under 5 seconds. I'm surprised I didn't kill myself in it but man it was fun!!!

Very impractical though. The gas tank took up 90% of the trunk and all you could carry was a couple of small duffel bags. No back seat so the car's entire cargo space if you had a passenger was about two duffel bags worth of stuff. And even less if you had the top down since it stowed in the "trunk".

I gave up almost 200hp when I traded it for the Mini but I gained a lot of practicality, cargo space, gas mileage, lower insurance, etc.. and I love the automatic drop top on the Mini. The Sky's was manual and although it took all of 5 seconds to put it down and about 30 to put it up, it required getting out of the car so you couldn't do it in traffic sitting at a light.

I do miss it though and in all honesty it was probably the most fun car I've ever owned but I'm loving the Mini too.

And my friends wonder why none of them ever borrow or drive any of the cars I have owned in the last 5 years.

Everyone in my family knows not to touch my cars. Yes Im **** about them but then again I do lease them and spend many hours on the weekends detailing them.

Wow your a good person cuz nobody gets the key to my MCS or any other car I ever had. I never valet park, I even did my own inspection at the mechanic shop once cuz I didnt want him gettin his greasy a$$ in my car and reving it and stuff. That was my last car, the mini however is guna be babied much more lol.

OP - I love that you're so **** about your car yet would consciously allow it to be publicly humiliated with those Carlashes things. OMG. This is like putting one of those plastic cones of shame on a dog that doesn't need it for medical reasons.

your 'good' neighbor took advantage of your generosity. they should not allow anyone to touch or go inside your mini. it was the eyebrows they were trying to display, which was an exterior mod; therefore, i can see no reason to have the interior shown.

Bingo, that was the exact reason why I thought it would be ok. I figured my girl would just have to sit there and look pretty, and not be subjected to the equivalent of a two day proctology exam!



THAT IS AWESOME!

Very funny turn of phrase...

The borrower might deserve a gift certificate for a cerebral rectectomy IMHO.

Oh we are odd ducks, us passionate Mini owners...

Cheers,

Charlie

I had a Sky Redline also. BSR tune gave it over 300HP.

Yep!

Not to derail the thread but why'd you sell yours? I traded mine in because the warranty was almost up and I had had a lot of problems with it. Rear diff replaced twice, water pump and thermostat twice, radiator fan, high pressure fuel pump, and I had a body panel damaged by improper lifting and because saturn was already out of business, it was impossible to find a replacement so I had to get it patched instead of replaced. Also the AC was making strange noises and the back glass was delaminating from the top, which had already been replaced once and was already out of warranty.

I think if saturn was still in business and was still making the Sky I might have traded mine in for another sky.

I wanted to replace it with a convertible and the Mini fit the bill pretty much perfectly. Thought about getting an S but wanted to save a little money and wanted to make sure I got something pretty reliable which the turbo doesn't add to. Not to mention at 170hp I would still have been giving up 100+ hp so I decided on the non-turbo.

Yep - I realized long ago that no one - not the dealer, mechanic, or the rare few that I've loaned my car to will care about its appearance the way I do. Hell, I've even seen brand-new cars where I swear part of the pre-delivery prep involved washing it with a rock.

Lesson learned, I guess, and I'm glad no permanent damage was done to your car.