Valet parking woes...

So I’m on a work trip to Nashville, I could have brought a company car and had no worries, but my wife came with me and made a road trip out of it in the new to me Mustang GT.  We are staying at a hotel downtown that only has valet parking and I’m worried about the car.  I checked when I relinquished the keys to the valet that they all know how to drive a manual, but the car is across the street in a public garage with very little security. The Mustang is also a convertible.

Now I realize Nashville is a fairly safe town, and the car is insured, but I don’t think I’ll sleep much tonight...

It will be fine. I know the feeling, bit it will be fine.

I always wondered what they'd say if you insisted on riding shootgun. 

I was a valet  years ago supporting myself through my second degree. One night we were especially busy and I was hustling during the 7 o clock rush. It was an odd parking lot that had an alley though it that sometimes had cars. We were careful to look most of the time. This night I was in an awful hurry and cars were backing up on federal highway. A car came in the wrong way, screwing up my system- so I jumped in and drove it backwards through the parking lot and alley and whipped it into space. As I started to jump out I realized I had just backed up through a parking lot and an alley at 30mph in a brand new rolls. I quit a couple of weeks later. 

Appleseed said:

I always wondered what they'd say if you insisted on riding shootgun. 

If they weren’t busy and you handed them $10 they’d probably let you drive. $20 bucks usually lets you park it yourself. $100 lets it sit in front. Depends on the venue though. 

We valet the boss's '05 1-ton GMC dually crewcab longbox brodozer in downtown Vancouver a couple times a year just for E36 M3s and giggles.

One evening, the valet looked at the truck and said "uhhh.. I'll just leave it here"

Truck was still parked out front of the restaurant when we came out a few hours later.

In reply to Trans_Maro :

Maybe 5 years ago I valet parked my 84 f250 4 speed diesel. I really didn't want to park it as it was so busy at the time.

Valet didn't either. He just rolled it forward on the curb about 7 feet and left it.

grover said:

Appleseed said:

I always wondered what they'd say if you insisted on riding shootgun. 

If they weren’t busy and you handed them $10 they’d probably let you drive. $20 bucks usually lets you park it yourself. $100 lets it sit in front. Depends on the venue though. 

Yes, this.  I spent most of my college years as a valet at a fancy restaurant.  It was in the heart of center city Philadelphia, and the parking lot(s) we used were anywhere from one to four blocks away, so we had to do some driving (and lots of walking/running).  If you were that worried about the car, a little cash helped make sure it stayed right in front of the restaurant...as long as the police allowed...or in the best spot in the lot.  Having said that, in the 3+ years that I did it, I think maybe once we had a car broken into.  I also never damaged any customers car...I did lots of burnouts in rental Town Cars and such, but never abused a privately owned car.

The last time I left a car with valet, it was in Chattanooga and I was in a hurry to meet someone for dinner.  Miata was in the same place when I got back because none of the valets could drive a manual.  A manual is a great anti-theft device nowadays.  I had to drive my GTO from a car wash for the same reason several years ago.  

Yep.  Every so often my GF wants to go to some swanky uppity up restaurant that is has mandatory valet parking only. I always make sure I take the WRX that night with the manual. None of the valets know how to drive them anymore so I get to park it myself. So manuals are not only a great anti-theft device they work equally well as an anti-valet device. 

How the berk does a person get a job parking cars, when he doesn't berking know how to drive? 

Don't worry about it. I've used valet parking in multiple cities in multiple different cars and never had an issue.

Sure occasionally we see you see a story of shenanigans, but that is incredibly low. All those folks know they will be canned if they screw something up and the company running the valet parking doesn't want to deal with angry customer.

Aside from my basic paranoia and abject distrust of humanity, the more mundane annoyance of using a valet is having my seat moved. My 128i has manual sport seats with myriad adjustments that take forever to get in the right spot - I don't need some malproportioned valet forcing me to spend half an hour rediscovering the proper position just to be able to drive home.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off? 

Bueller? Bueller?

^^^^^^^^

You beat me to it!

ebonyandivory said:

Ferris Bueller's Day Off? 

Bueller? Bueller?

Movies are real life. 

Another former valet here. Just like any other industry, there is a spectrum of quality. Hotels generally staff the bottom rung of valets, unless its a really nice hotel. Fancy downtown restaurants have the best valets, and you have to work your way up those jobs or have an in. My first valet gig was a mediocre downtown hotel, and I started with another newbie. He totaled a Mercedes into a rental Dodge by trying to drift through the parking deck. Instantly fired. The hotels contact with larger valet companies that have good insurance, so everything was covered, but still...

I also had experiences similar to grover's. Eventually I was parking for a high-end restaurant with a smaller valet company, where one of my co-workers accidentally damaged a nice car, and that's how I found out the valets could be held liable for what the company's insurance did not cover or a high deductible, can't remember which. But he had to start making payments on every paycheck. I was more careful after that and grateful to leave that world once I finally did.

It had its highs though. It was pretty cool driving one of the first Ferrari 458s off lot, still with temp tags. I have never and will probably never again experience an interior as decadent and splendid as a $400,000 Rolls Phantom. The restaurant owner's 575 with that old-school Ferrari gated shifter...yes. And of course the regulars, my favorite of which had an 80's manual 300TD in flawless shape. I loved parking that thing. Coming home late from a long Saturday night shift with almost 300 in 5's and 1's in your pocket also felt amazing as a college kid.

And for $20 up front, we will do or let you do whatever you want to your car.

I was forced to use a valet for the first time at a fancy hotel in downtown Montreal because...well, because it was downtown Montreal and there is no parking in downtown Montreal. And somehow the parking professional managed to get the back of the car hit by the gate in the garage as it closed. In a Miata, of course. Not a big car. How the hell? The best part was that he had the nerve to put his hand out for a tip when he dropped off the mangled car. Took nearly a year to get the hotel to pony up for the repair bill.

Stayed in a hotel in downtown Denver and for one reason and another I needed to use their valet parking - arriving late, leaving early, no time to scout the area. I watched the professional drive my Jeep across the street and into a $10 lot. Hotel charged me $20. You can guess what we did the next night.

That is the extent of my valet experience. The way I see it, if you want to drive my car,  you should be paying me and not the other way around. If a hotel doesn't have self-parking, I don't go there.

We get requests for valet mode on our modified cars. My suggestion is that if you don't trust someone, don't give them the keys.

I often drive vintage cars on cross country trips.  I showed up at a hotel that hadn't advertised valet parking and they insisted that they park the car, a right hand drive oddball.  I had to threaten to cancel my reservation at the desk before they let me park the car. Idiots!

The high end cars that have a valet mode know what they are doing!

If I'm in anything but my Minivan, I'll park myself.  A short walk is worth the piece of mind that some kid isn't screwing with my car---- or worse, grinding the gears mercilessly without any mechanical sympathy.  People are stupid, and if something stupid is going to be done to my car--- I want to be the one doing it dammit! 

Also, although my cars may not be worth that much on the open market----- they are worth a lot TO ME.  Some kid may see my BMW as just another E36 M3 with 180K miles--- maybe worth $10K.   I see it as the nicest car my father had ever owned, and a car I'd lusted after since he brought it home.  I've also had many great memories since----- a valet doesn't know or care about that--- he's just in a hurry working, and may bump a fender, grind a gear, or jump over a speedbump.  No thanks.  

They are usually cool with you self-parking.  I'll just say--- "it's modified and does odd things....I should really drive it"   I'll still pay and tip them......I'd just rather park myself. 

I don't valet park my cars

I once valeted a $50 Honda Civic in New York City. The valet parking cost more than the car. When I picked it up, the info sheet showing any existing damage just had an X over each side of the car. Fair enough.

I occasionally have to use valet parking, and it doesn't help with stress levels when you have to check over the rental car before and after. Fortunately I haven't had to try and get damage sorted out by the hotel.

The last time I had my personal car valet'd, the valet broke off half the adjustment switch covers on my RX8 and denied any knowledge of it (of course). Despite the seat having been adjusted to someone 4-5 inches shorter than me and the switch covers sitting right there on the berkeleying floor.

Concerned we haven't heard back from octavious yet.

Hope it's not because he hasn't posted bail yet .