You never saw the movie "Catch me if you can" and the purpose of the Yankees having pinstripes on their uniforms?

I would definitely be out of luck at that company.

Many years ago at either the GM or Ford plant in Atlanta (not sure which as I had friends that worked at the GM plant & FIL worked at the Ford plant for a while), they would not allow an employee to park a non-GM or Ford vehicle in the lot.



Tim

That must have been a while ago... I spent five months covering at a GM plant, in 2009-2010, and in that entire time I only saw two non-GM cars in the parking lot.
My '81 factory turbo BMW, and someone's Mustang. No one gave me any grief about it. Maybe because I was a temp

I may be reaching here but what I noticed at my old job was how your overall image played into promotions you got and cars were a part of it.

Of course no one would admit to it, but it was pretty obvious. In the case of cars, all of the stores were small, so they had small parking lots putting your vehicle front and center whether you wanted it to be or not. There was no way to park 'out back' because in most cases, there wasn't one.

In my case, each time a major promotion happened, I wasn't driving one of my old hoopties. I started at my old job thru a temp agency when I was daily driving my wagon. After about 6 months working there thru the agency, I went out and bought a 2002 RAM 1500 which was only 3 yrs old at the time. Soon after, I was offered a position to work directly for the company. Much later, when I got the final bump into management, I was driving my Wife's old (but didn't look old) Pontiac Vibe as I had gotten rid of my mini van and had not bought my Dakota yet. Coincidence? I doubt it because I saw a similar pattern with other workers at other locations.

Oh, yeah, my replacement after I got fired was someone with a new motorcycle.

Bitter? No, just part of the game called life.

Funny, I was used to hearing the opposite. I once worked for the largest ladder and scaffold manufacturer in the world and at the time the factory had a couple hundred union employees. Negotiating raises seemed bring up how many new cars were in the parking lot and the company felt maybe we didn't need raises.

I've met a few demented HR bimbys that would actually be dumb enough to send a letter like this. My faves were the ones that were trying to stamp out cursing in a blue collar production environment. As in: [censored]? As for legality of it, I think it basically comes down to it's their parking lot, they make the rules. A lot of companies will extend their "right to inspect" policy past your locker and backpack and in to your car trunk. I really doubt that last one would hold up in court but doesn't mean they don't try it.

Back in the 80s I lived in Bethlehem when the Bethlehem Steel was getting beaten down my asian companies dumping steel in the US. They came out without a policy of no foreign cars, especially japanese ones, in any of their parking lots. Ford and GM plants doing the same sorta thing wouldn't surprise me in the least.

In the late 90s I was driving a 20 yr old Chrysler with rotted out quarters and fading paint but at least all one color. I had a white collar gig doing high end telecom work at customer locations. Most didn't care what I drove, some kinda dug it, others got real uptight about it. The evil Vanguard Investment Group was the worst about it. They never actually said anything the car itself but every now and then one of the clowns would come hassle me about where it was parked. I kept asking ok, where should I park it. They kept saying all I can tell ya is ya can't park it where it is. From time to time I would intentionally put it in the visitor parking right in front of the main entrance just to be a dick about it. Now that I think about it, kinda surprised they didn't tow it.

Me too.

Kinda along those lines, I've had to explain to customers that price increases had nothing to do with the manager's shiny new car sitting in front of the store. Said manager had gone from a beat to death Taurus, to a second hand Mercedes, to a new Jaguar in less than two years. He was promoted quickly after buying the Jag, so I didn't have to deal with it very long. Oh! There's that car thing again...........

I can understand the parking lot thing with only Fords at a Ford plant and GMs at a GM plant only because I'm pretty sure Coke reps can't be drinking Pepsi products at work.

I think if they catch you with coke in your car at any employer your going to get fired.

A couple of "true life" stories. I belong to a very "preppy" rowing club. Once I showed up in my '64 Plymouth "resto rod". I was asked to move it down the street. Basically, come back with your Volvo.

The GF is the daughter of divorced parents. Her mother "got the house" in a nice section of Long Island, and had trouble supporting it. They had an older car. Neighbors would knock on the door telling the mother to get a newer car. It was an "embarrassment to the neighborhood".

Our Union hall used to have a sign that said no foreign vehicles parking allowed.

HAHAHAHA ! i believe there ARE ones out there that are PLENTY big !

I hope your mother replied that the neighbor was embarrassing herself, and if she'd like to purchase a new car for her, that'd be great

A friend of mine works at the Ford truck plant here in Louisville and said non Ford vehicles have to park in a lot farther away. He said other brands parked at the plant have also been known to get keyed.

In the 70's and early 80's if you drove a stock Vega or Pinto you were going to take some ribbing - it was inevitable LOL. Particularly the Pinto following their flammability concerns when rear-ended.

Regarding the letter - think its bogus

If there wasn't a posted official company policy covering what type or age of vehicle was allowed for employees to use, I would have tossed the paper in the trash.

If a company was that concerned about the vehicle I drive, it must be time for them to provide a vehicle for me.

If the company really wanted to follow through with the issue, they would have to be stupid enough to call me into the office to discuss the matter. It could get ugly real quickly.

There was more then one reason I was self employed by my early 30s.

I worked in a shop once that a few of the guys working there gave me a bunch of crap because of the old beater I was driving. One winter day, the weather turned real cold through the course of the day and was well below 0 at the end of the shift. My old beater was the only vehicle that started that night without some kind of assistance. They never gave me any crap about my beater after that day. Gene

I used to occasionally drive my LRE to my last retirement gig. Went through a period where random coworkers would track me down on the floor (forklift jockey) and try to buy it. One guy about my age asked, so I asked if his daughter was hot. He got the joke, as in: would you trade your first born for it. Used the same line on some young kid that caught me off guard and he went straight up nuts on me. As in: took me way too seriously and his kid was clearly pretty young. Tracked him down later, apologized for the confusion, asked if his mother was hot.

Never heard from HR.

Since I drove a hearse for a while as my personal car, I didn't take it personally when a client didn't want me parking in front of their restaurant

In my previous gig with the NHRA I had a few great cars that the company paid for: think loaded Taurus SHOs. New one every year. Great perk.
At a job before that in the newspaper industry I actually had an HR person advise me against riding my Yamaha FJ1100 to work. I asked to see that in writing. Conversation never went any further.

At the Mopar Centerline office where I worked 2005 - 2008, the closest parking spaces were marked
for Chrysler products only.

At that time I was daily driving my (quite presentable but not perfect) 1972 Dodge Polara.

I got warning tickets stuck to the windshield about a half dozen times.