Corvette Forum Member Catches Detailer Joyriding in His Z06

Smile! You’re on valet camera.

We work hard for our Corvettes, and it’s frustrating when other people take advantage of our trust. That’s why many C7 Corvette owners use the Performance Data Recorder’s valet mode. It’s a great way to keep an eye on our cars.

Corvette Forum member Joshua Hopson decided to leave his 2017 Z06 in the care of a detailer while he was at Spring Mountain Motorsports. He was at the new Corvette driving course for a week while his detailer applied a ceramic coating to his Corvette’s paint.

What Joshua saw on his valet cam horrified him: videos of his once-trusted detailer ripping around in his Corvette. Not only that, but the detailer used the Corvette to jump-start other cars. Joshua thinks this has since caused an issue with his OnStar system.

The rotten cherry on top of this crap sundae is that the detailer picked up a nail in one of the tires and returned the car to Joshua with a flat. This was all after he had warned the detailer that the valet camera was on and recording.

ALSO SEE: Mid-Engine Corvette: Even More Spy Shots

Understandably upset, Joshua initially entertained the thought of filing theft charges, Better Business Bureau complaints, and insurance claims. Several forum members chimed in to offer advice and tried to calm Joshua down.

Some of the responses were humorous. LoganExplosion piped up with the following: “You left your Z06 in the hands of a guy with a man bun? For a week?” Kraz8s also had a few quips up his sleeve, but his advice was pretty sensible for all of us:

“I think we need to stop with these, ‘What should I do?’ threads,” he said. “We learn nothing from them except that everyone here is internet smart. I say next time anyone here runs into a situation and thinks to themselves, “Hmm, I’ll go ask the forum,” just do what your gut tells you to do, then post the results. Way more information will be gleaned from doing so for fellow members. The ‘Car Forum Outrage Thread’ is as old as the internet itself. I think we’d all do well to handle the issues on our own, and post about it after a resolution has been reached.”

From there, the thread became a joy ride of its own. Eventually, many of the posters became skeptical of the details of the story, with some even turning against Joshua. It’s an entertaining read — one of those legendary forum threads that only comes along once or twice a year.