Personally, I avoid valets like the plague. They have not been trained in the handling of unusual automobiles, and generally do not care what they damage. S2000's may have special problems, and I wonder if any of my fellow forum members have suffered at the hands of valets. Possible errors:
- Duh, I turned the key and the engine won't start. Or, duh, I turned the key very hard because it was sticking, and it broke in half.
- Duh, can't find reverse, or keep putting it in 6th and stalling.
- Duh, clutch smell; many possibilities for this one, including non release of parking brake.

 

I work for a private club in Los Angeles that has valet parking....never,repeat never have your car valet parked at any time.If you saw how these guys treat cars you'd cry

 

i always leave my car upfront and tip them nicley (taking my keys with me)

 

When I was a guest at a very swank country club I had to valet my car. Luckily they did exactly as I asked and parked my car away from everyone else. I even made sure they knew how to start it. Ironically severl Honda dealers are member at this club and they are familiar with the car.

Now the car wash is a different story. I always have to find the manager who speaks english to move my car. For some reason the suds boys can figure out you need to press the bright red engine start button to drive the car.

 

Back in 1989/1990 my parents bought one of the very first Lexus LS400's. Beautiful car and it was a real accomplishment for them. We took the car that night to a very nice Italian restaurant to celebrate. Of course, the restaurant had a valet service and since this was the first really nice car that my family ever owned, nobody thought anything of it.

Well, dinner was great. We get the car and drive it the 20 minutes home. We pull into the garage and everyone piles out. The old man goes back out to the car about 15 minutes later to get the owners manual and he notices a huge cut in the drivers seat. Now keep in mind that we've only had this car a total of about three hours now.

The old man and I get back into the car and immediately head back to the restaurant. My pops is not a happy camper. He calmly and respectfully asks to see the valet manager. Of course, nobody is around. He gets the restaurant manager involved. The restaurant manager is sympathetic but explains that he contracts the valet service and the issue is between the valet and us. Of course the valet maintains that the tear in the leather must have been there before hand and even if it wasn't points to the bogus crap on the ticket that says that they bear no responsibility.

To the old man's credit he maintains his cool until the next morning when he's able to reach the owner of the valet service. It ends up becoming nearly a screaming match until the old man basically says "fine, I'll see you in court".

Thankfully, we took the car back to the dealership later that next day and they are so cool. The owner and general manager of the dealership even come out to see what happened. The owner and general manager feel really bad and they offer to replace the seat free of charge. That's customer service folks. It wasn't even remotely an issue of Lexus or the dealership and to be frank a lot of it had to do with the fact that Lexus was just starting out and this was one of the very first LS400's sold in CA. Doesn't really matter though, Lexus restores the car to good as new. (Side note, my parents have since bought three more LS400's, an RX300 and an SC430. Each Lexus was as good as new when traded in with between 80 - 100,000 mile on them. My parents are Lexus customers for life because of the quality of the products and their dealership experiences. I should also note that their experiences had a lot to do with me buying a Lexus for my fiance'. I was tired of the scholky service that she was getting with her Honda. (Honda I hope you're listening here)).

Anyway to make a short story long, nobody in my family has ever used a valet service again. They're a racket. They're staffed by highschool kids that have no respect for anyone else's property and are more headache than they're worth. (Before I get flamed, I'm sure there are exceptions).

I offer to tip the guy when I pull up anyway if he'll let me park. If I get static from this (almost never) I go on to explain that I have a starter kill switch in my car and that: (A) he won't be able to move my car without using it and (B) there's no way in hell I'm teaching him how to disable it.

Never been a problem since.

 

been reading this board for a while and finally had to post...i work as a valet at a five star hotel. i dont actually park the cars, im the one who greets all the guests and works on the ramp. i can honestly say that i personally have never done anything to someones car that i could not do with them watching me. that being said, i am in the minority. i have seen some terrible things done to cars. the rule where i work is that myself or the managers are the only ones allowed to touch cars over $100,000, about 10% of our business believe it or not. after driving dozens of ferraris and rolls and such, i want to tell you that your best bet is to pay the money to keep your car up front. its usually about $20 weekdays or $50 weekends to get me to agree but it's well worth it. if the hotel is slow and the car is clean, i'll often do it for less. none of this is said because it's a shady practice. i've seen guys buffing scratches out of cars and it makes me sick. just my $.02

 

I valet my car at a few particular places, but I always watch the guy park it, and I anticipate the usual start-button and reverse questions.

 

the only experience that I have had with valet is this:


I drive up. there is a Z3 in front of me topless. both of us are greeted at the same time on the driver and passenger side. (these guys had their act together) and both drivers were greeted with "good evening".

they placed both of our cars dead in line with the front door and next to each other.

i left before the Z3 did and when he went to get my car I was greeted with an opened door and a handshake. I tipped him well and drove off and went home.


I was pleased and could only wish every experience could be that nice.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by KeithD
[B]When I was a guest at a very swank country club I had to valet my car.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Da Hapa
[B]I offer to tip the guy when I pull up anyway if he'll let me park.