Both of my sons have had extensive experience working as valet parkers while they were going to school.They worked at many different sites in Southern Calif, and parked scores of high end cars. Based on their stories I would *never* even consider using a valet. Period.
I am surprised that people even entertain the thought. Young blokes, cool cars that are not their own...... one does not need to be a board certified adolescent psychologist to get the picture. I would not even let them park a rental.
I avoid any establishment where I have to valet my car. I feel it's a lousy value anyway, so I will park three blocks away and walk. Paying someone to park my car is asinine. RMX
I checked into a hotel in Spokane named Lusso with a bar called Cavalino, nice place and had my Boxter S valet parked. I noted the milage and wrote it down, the next day when retrieving my car it had 3.2 miles on it. I called the manager and told him of my discovery, he said when questioned that the parking lot was two blocks away and that the valet must have got stuck in traffic. Lets see getting stuck in traffic must accumulate extra miles. Oh I understand now. Some little nugget had a great time ripping up the streets of Spokane at my expence. They are not to be trusted period and never will again, the temptation is just to great and the management has no power to prevent it or simply does not care.
Never letting valet park my Ferrari yet... Sure, they can drive and park but the thought of letting your baby out with some other guys in the dark conner out of your sight....and you know how sexy your baby is and how deperate those guys are.......... put the two together???... how can you do it.?
DEpending on who is the valet and who is parking...not driving (around town in) the car.. Years ago i worked as a valet in new hope, Pa. Great place to observe all types of cars. There are places there that have to drive your car around the block to park it. Ours just pulled up and we drove it into the small lot next to the place. One night i watched in awe as another valet ripped around in a 360. I couldnt believe it. With the respect that i had for even 87 toyota tercels (somebody worked for that car too right?) i was astonished that someone could have such disrespect for such a car. Its like painting over the mona lisa because you thought you could do a better job. Needless to say he was "misteriously" fired the next weekend and thankfully the silver piece of artwork did come back.
I think that having your car out in another persons hands is a scary thing. Personal, I try and avoid driving my car anywhere that I didnt have to... -Jon
There was an incident at the hotel xedra in Rome where we stayed when we finsihed the cannonball last week. http://www.boscolohotels.com/hotel.cfm?SectionId=578&adwgoo=exedraen Me and a few of the guys, including the owner of the car, watched a barchetta shoot past reception at four in the morning being driven by the valets, who were being persued by the police. The wing mirror was hanging off too!. The hotel are trying to wash their hands of it, saying the parking was contracted out and take it up with them, who incidentally have no insurance.
There was a well publicized incident in Southern California a couple of years ago. A valet parker at a fancy resort decides to take a Ferrari (360 or 355, I forget which) out for a joy ride, wraps it around a tree before reaching the driveway. Also, let's not forget what happened on Ferris Bueller's day off!
Never trust a valet with your car, give them $20 park it out front, tell them to come and get you if they need to move the car. If you were 18 years old and had the chance to drive an Fcar for the first time as opposed to the chance of getting fired from your minimum wage job, what would you choose?
well Rowdy, I AM 18 and if someone gives me a fcar or pcar or whatever, i park it in the damn spot. There is just too much legal risk to drive it around. Some people have told me to drive their cars around the building to get a feeling for it. Maybe I am just an exception to the rule. My best friends dad (who owns the club I work at) has a score of high end cars (vanquish, phantom, dozens of antiques, z8s) and he lets us drive his cars around the city in a little convoy. I think it is all based on whether you know the valets or not. I know some drivers with nice cars will valet but wait to get their key back from the valet then give it back to them when they leave the restaurant, which I think is actually a good idea. The closest I have gotten to driving a car for a "joy ride" was with a dodge ram 3500 with a 1 foot lift kit and a tuned turbo diesel, I just parked it and revved the engine up a little bit to listen to the sound.
Dadseed, when I was 18(too long ago) I would have taken the chance to drive a Ferrari. I never in a million years thought that I would have enough good fortune to own one. And you are of course right, you can't generalize about all people, but for me and I suspect many of my fellow car owners it's not worth the risk of finding out. By the way, insurance , law suits etc can have little impact as you can find elsewhere on these boards
I believe that if you own a F you would have to Valet with or without giving them the keys... I would even rather give them the keys than to take my chances in the parking lot... not everyone admire nice cars... some jeolous idiot can cut your top, key it, or have a careless driver back into it. Soultion would be to park it up front, whatever the cost...if they require you to leave the keys, inquire as to why they need them and respond accordingly. I personally would rather them keep the keys, that way I can inspect the car and hold them liable if there is any damage... Honestly how many valets would actually take the car joyriding... chances of having it stolen by a stranger and go joyridind is probably greater.
sorry I joined in on this so late. the answer is simple.....................NO! If I cna't parkit myself and hold the keys I would leave the car home.
Heh... you should see what we do to the cars that wouldn't valet park!!! Actually growing up I worked for a valet company that split our time between country clubs and restaurants. I can say that I rarely saw any abuse of the cars. Like someone said before, the majority of my friends are huge car enthusiast and were more excited to sit in the cars then anything. Luckily our team developed a great reputation and with a private country club, they would know if something happened to their cars. On the flip side, (atleast were we came from) $10 or $20 bucks was well more then any person who actually valet's will give, so flipping $10 bucks to park in the front spot was a welcomed thing. A few guys were able to pitch 20-50 on a more packed night. It helps the Valet's credabilty to have a few F-cars and exotics up front for when the guys in the S55 or Cayenne Turbo roll in.
I learned my lesson re: valets last year at a Christmas party held downtown at an office that offered valet parking. Thinking "It's just a car," and figuring the valets had all driven more expensive cars, I pulled up in my Diablo (on a hill) put the gear in neutral, set the brake, got out, and handed the keys over with $20 and told the valet how the parking brake worked. Turns out he did not speak English. I heard a racket and a lot of revving, turned around, and by the time I'd gotten back to the car he'd killed it twice and was panicked. The manager was embarrassed and had a valet move his own car (which was parked up front) so I could park. I felt like an absolute idiot and couldn't calm down for about an hour thinking of how that could have cost me a clutch or worse.
Hmmmmmmm do you think he had a valid drivers licence, OR was even here legally? I'll bet $20 bucks that says he wasn't. NEVER EVER valet the Ferrari, or in this case the Lamborghini. NEVER!!!
Let's clarify something... Is Puting the car in the Valet area, giving the Valet 20 bucks and taking the keys Valeting? Because it sound like most would do that at the Valet... And to those that are against valeting... Isn't a bigger risk to get dinged up by the honda or pick up that parks next to you in the BFE section of the parking lot...?
Lets think this out: your going to pay some faceless halfwit to abuse your car because your too lazy to walk a half a block, after spending time on a treadmill earlier that day. I dont get it.
No, I am going to pay the Valet, take a space up front and take my keys...you drive a 100k-200K car and 10-20 bucks is a big deal to you...??? I don't get it... one ding and that would pay for 100 trips to the valet. Besides teh best part is coming out and listening to people on how beautiful "That car is".... makes the $$$ worth while.
