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Valet Parking

Unless I am in a rental I do not valet park. I will park it off-site and walk. I have heard and seen too many valet parkers treat property poorly.
 
I used to valet park back in the day and with that being said i will not have my cars parked valet. 90% of the time its not a big deal I never did any joy riding or anything. Most of the valets i worked with would not beat on privately owned vehicles but when you get to drive a CTS-V you don't baby it but at the same time I wouldn't be doing burn outs, dropping the clutch, and redlining although a few valets would do such things. In summary of my experiences of when i use to valet is that normal everyday cars don't get beat on usually, sports cars yes but usually not tire shredding doughnuts people tend to think, and rentals which u can tell by the bar codes in the window well those got most the abuse from valets. I wouldn't take the risk of getting one of the few people that work there that would abuse it
 
The worse abuse i seen while working valet was one of the punk kids taking a Cooper S and doing a burnout to the point that the new black top in the parking lot ripped up, he was fired. Didn't see any joyriding. I did see a guy tip us 20 dollars so we wouldn't drive his CTS-V and we let him park it up front just to watch him abuse it worse then we would when he left by leaving black marks across the front of our hotel. It was kinda funny because when he left he just looked at us and said "watch this.."
 
I used to valet and I there were a few that did take cars out for joy rides. However, when I used to valet at events where you had to drive the car to an offsite location, it got a little insane. I remember parking cars at the grand re-opening of the Apollo theatre in Harlem and having to drive the cars to a parking lot six blocks away. Well lemme tell ya something: Not only did we run every red light, but every car got driven like we stole it. If we didn't, we most likely would have gotten carjacked.

The only really bad joy riding story I have to tell is when two guys I was working with took a new 328 GTS out for a ride and never came back. They totalled the car, one guy was paralayzed, and the other one was seriously messed up. After that I never even fvcked around doing a burnout in a parking lot.

The moral of the story. Don't ever valet a car if you are going to be away for more than one hour. Valet parking at a wedding is a sure thing that your nice car will get abused because we knew that you would be occupied for at least four hours. A lot of time to go get pizza! :D If you really want to avoid any problems, just give the valet a 10 or 20 and tell them you used to valet when you were younger and they will respect your car.
 
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I was a valet for years while in college and I also will not valet my cars... I will agree with the statements above from other valets but I have my own stories.

this however is a different situation. Not for or against whatever "valets" have done while parking it. This guy kept the car and did way than "could" be excused.
 
I am surprised more of these high end vehicles don't have video recorders to go with a GPS system.Car starts and moves you see it all and know where it went then its up to you whether to tell them you have the system before or after.Not only for this circumstance but say a accident clearly not your fault but with no witnesses(insurance basically goes 50/50 blame).Take my advice and look into it.If it shows anything you don't want it to its your property and if it covers your ass so much the better.
 
I dont valet anymore after seeing/hearing my valeted NSX at redline from a balcony and could do nothing about it.

and then called a liar by the manager of the Valet service

dont do it guys.

trust me.
 
Wow


Never knew of such things.


Man, the things I've read on this thread gave me the shivers.
 
Grimeas said:
I used to valet park back in the day and with that being said i will not have my cars parked valet. 90% of the time its not a big deal I never did any joy riding or anything. Most of the valets i worked with would not beat on privately owned vehicles but when you get to drive a CTS-V you don't baby it but at the same time I wouldn't be doing burn outs, dropping the clutch, and redlining although a few valets would do such things. In summary of my experiences of when i use to valet is that normal everyday cars don't get beat on usually, sports cars yes but usually not tire shredding doughnuts people tend to think, and rentals which u can tell by the bar codes in the window well those got most the abuse from valets. I wouldn't take the risk of getting one of the few people that work there that would abuse it
Click to expand...

Well stated, I used to valet when I turned 18 (at the Irvine spectrum). Could tell you plenty of stories but I'll just recommend not valeting OR paying the extra $20 to have it parked up front, those tend to never get abused.
 
Don't think this doesn't happen at dealerships. My Mercedes dealer took my CL600 for a 310 mile "test drive".

My Acura service rep told me "hey the mechanic said thats the fastest NSX he's driven" during his test drive after a HEADLAMP REPLACEMENT. After I specifically asked: no test drives.

Where can I get one of these tracking devices?
 
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Ouch, I forgot how much you guys hate valet attendants especially seeing how half of you use to be valets at one point or another in your lifetime.

Is it because you guys use to abuse cars as a valet? :biggrin:

I will tell you this, if I find ANY of my valet attendants have removed a car from the parking lot without authorization, they will terminate them immediately.

Most of my parking lots are under video surveillance so that makes it harder to abuse/take advantage of a vehicle. I know many people are protective of your cars but on two occasions in the last two years, we have parked Bugutti Veyron at two different restaurant locations. In fact last night I got word that the new Mclaren MP4-12C just came in with 40 miles on it.

If you do not trust the valet, request to keep your key (tipping at least $10) but if you have to turn over your keys, just make a note of your mileage and watch them park your car.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XVACbEHkV2Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Here are the Bugatti Veyron the owners trust to our valet attendants.

2-3.jpg


228650_902275899927_22602332_41776841_4601250_n.jpg


221663_902278564587_22602332_41776860_2558375_n.jpg
 
arfnsx said:
Here are the Bugatti Veyron the owners trust to our valet attendants.
Click to expand...

No valet would be stooooopid enough to joy ride in a Veyron. However a Corvette, 911, NSX, Mustang, etc.... the chances are likely as these cars don't stick out as much.
 
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I honestly don't understand the whole 'tip them $10 or $20' mentality that some of you guys are pushing around. To me, that seems ridiculous to have to tip someone that much just to park your car. It seems more like extortion - tip us a large sum or we will do terrible things to your car.
 
I just don't understand that there aren't protection laws in place to prevent dealerships and valets from joyriding. I recall a time when my car was at the dealership for work and someone saw it at hampton beach with my IASCA competitive audio system cranked where it could be heard coming from blocks away. (the audio system got a kill switch installed after that). But its BS that a dealership can claim 'we needed to take it for a test drive' then put hundreds of miles on a car.
 
robr said:
I just don't understand that there aren't protection laws in place to prevent dealerships and valets from joyriding.
Click to expand...

Don't really need laws -- years ago I took my CRX in for work at a dealer I trusted. When I came to pick up my car, there was Taco Bell garbage on the floor. I confronted the manager about it, and at first he denied it, but the evidence was overwhelming, so he apologized. I told him to save it, as that was the last business he'd ever get from me.

A couple years later, they were out of business. I wept not.

No more laws, please -- our society has already drifted too close to authoritarianism for me. If something of significance does happen to your car, there are always civil remedies.
 
TURBO2GO said:
Where can I get one of these tracking devices?
Click to expand...

Any reputable spy shop has GPS tracking devices that attach to your car with strong magnets. The magnets are strong enough to mount externally under the car, but I mount it underneath the seat -- anywhere it can obtain a GPS signal.

If you don't need realtime updates, you can get the cheaper ones that just log everything and you can download the data afterwards through USB. It will not only plot out exactly where the car was driven on Google Earth, but everything is timestamped so you know where it was taken, how long it sat in each location, etc. They typically also dump top speed. VERY HELPFUL and highly recommended. I always have it in the NSX anytime it's taken to any shop for any kind of work.

I figure it may also be helpful if you ever run into a dirty cop who's trying to trump up speeding/racing charges against you. I've had that happen in the past too.
 
I wonder if some obvious proactivity would limit the joyriding? For example, just before you hand over the keys, say "Just a sec, I want to note the mileage." Pull out your phone and take a pic of the odometer. Then pass the keys to the valet with a cheery "Thanks!"
 

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