Valet Parking, etc.

Would any of you let a a restaurant or hotel valet park your Porsche? Jim

yes, why not. any bad experience of it?

I have/do and I grit my teeth everytime! I got a nice crease in my front bumper the first week I had the car after parking in a a fancy hotel garage.

i am really sorry to hear that..... i originally replied: " yes, why not" only for one reason....because in this case, you can claim the money....and in fact they have to give it to you.... p.s. there is no reason to start thinking that you shouldn't have given your carf to them.....it did happend, and i assume thay did repair the damage..... not giving the car to them, means you have 2 other options: 1. leave the car at home, get another one. not good choise, because you do not drive your 996. 2. park your car on the nearest road. not good choise again, because your are then exposed at higher risk of scratching, crashing even stole your car... then, what are your choises?

I usually either park it myself in a lot or in a good spot on street before I resort to valet. If I do valet, I ask the car to be parked in front of the establishment.

there is also one reason that practically you cannot let these people wash your car (valeting and parking in this case are not included). the reason is that some of us are using special 100% natural waxes and stuff on our cour. this means that using a non proper shampoo on the car might take off the nicely applied wax....

No , No.

I just replaced a tire and have some wheel rash; I don't remember doing it and I suspect it was the one and only time I valet parked a week before. Last week my wife valeted her Cayenne S - she discovered after leaving that they took cash from her ash tray, took cash from her Palm Pilot case in the glove box, and rifled through the car. So my answer is, almost no way in hell I will turn my cars loose with these thieving scumbags again. Maybe an exception would be a very high class hotel, where they may have more control over the attendants (a lot of restaurants have outside companies providing the service), and my club, where I have never had a problem and generally you can trust the employees with your money and your life. I think it was Fox that did a special in L.A. a year or two ago. They planted hidden cameras in their cars, and time and time again caught valet parking attendants rifling through the car and stealing any money in sight. It was actually quite humerous to watch, but obviously I didn't learn my lesson.

Valet parkers are careless, I learned this on a couple of occasions, so NO not anymore.

I rather die before a 18-year old valet parking drives my car... even if I have to walk back 2 miles... even if my date gives me the "you are a cheap bastard" look... Just the look in their faces when you come close... "DUDE!, it's like, a Porsche! Schweeeet..." and they start drooling... Besides, the clutch is too expensive to be wasted by a valet parking... NO-WAY

Oh, Harris, don't get me started with the car washes... I rather become a drag queen and be called Brandy before I take my car to a car wash... they are the most careless people in the planet! They get paid by the number of cars they wash, not by the quality of their work...

NO WAY BUDDY!! I saw this one on the news and they had cameras hidden in the car to catch what the valet boys would do. What I saw was very wild, they would ransack the car for cash, drive it like they stole it(sports cars) and just basically tried to trash the cars they were parking. Years ago I had some buddies of mine that was doing valet and the things they did to the cars they parked would scare you into doing the parking yourself.

Not unless there was no other option. Two experiences I have had turned me off to valet parking. A few years ago when I was in college, my friend, Jeff, told me that at the restarant he worked at, the employees would drag race the cars which had been valet parked in the parking lot behind the restaurant. He also told me that if a waiter didn't like a customer they would squit a big load of visine in the customer's drink in hopes of giving the customer diarrhea. Also, when I was a child my family stayed at a hotel in Atlantic City and had our car valet parked. When it was time to check out we were waiting for the car for over an hour. It turned out that the valets had a rocking party the night before and were listening to the car's radio and killed the battery. The hour wait was because they had to jump start the car.

If the place is nice enough I don't mind valeting....interestingly enough, a lot of the knuckleheads like to not give me a ticket for the car--they say--"don't worry, you're taken care of" or something along the lines. They always park the car right in front, but it's ridiculous to me that I can go somewhere for 3 hours, then come out and say--"That's my Porsche" and they give me the keys. I am younger than most 911 Drivers, but I find it difficult to believe that the friggen guys would remember me from 3 hours ago. This has happened to me at 3 different places, and knock-on-wood my car has never been stolen, but I think it's ridiculous when people try to treat me differently thinking that I'll "like" the service or something....kind of like when a waiter decides they want to "prove" themselves by memorizing everyone's order at a table of 10, only to bring the completely wrong food b/c they didn't write it down... Needless to say, I always insist on a ticket now to claim my car, as I don't want some knucklehead walking up, asking for the keys to my car, and driving away....oh, and once I did get curb rash and Limestone "juice" from the parking garage all over my black 996 at the Four Seasons--it was the worst hotel and valet experience I had ever had [Stay away from the one in Atlanta--overpriced and lack of quality/customer service]

Harris, actually they never paid/fixed it, had a big fight with them, totally denied it, royal hassle. When I was a resident I use to park my car in an outside lot on the west side(cheap). Once I unexpectedly came to get my car, they had hookers turning tricks in the cars, I called the cops. Now I only park at home and in the doctors parking at the hospital where I handsomely tip the headguy who watches my car like his own, well worth a couple of hundred extra/yr. Ivan, I once took my car to the car wash, trashed a rim, never again.Stupid, stupid! Chris

I usually give the valet a $20 and tell him I would like to park it myself.

NO - Park myself. Most Valets understand

NO! Never will again. Hard and expensive lesson learned. New clutch, new flywheel....the $2000 plus bill is not worth the salt the guy puts on his In and Out burger... I have zero respect for these kids.

No way. They scratched my doorsill once and I didn't notice until a few days later. Had I seen it at the time, they just would have denied it anyhow. I'd rather walk a few blocks.

I take my tt everywhere. At the health club, they've had the same guys for 5 years, and I have them park it. At restaurants, I give them 20 bucks, and ask them to leave it right in front. That way, they put it in place, but don't nail it once they are out of sight. AS

I have to meet clients at various locations and time frame, which doesn't always permit me to park my Black Beauty, Thus far I have not had a problem, 99% of the time, Normally the valet park it right in Front, also I normally turn on the speed limit to 15mph and check it when I return. In all my year I have yet to experince anything negative.

I know how to turn on the beep when a speed is exceeded. Are you saying that you can check to see whether it triggered? If so I would like to know how to do that. Thanks! Barry

At One-Eyed Jack's, I would personally park your car...

No, unless I can tip the valet and park car where I want and take keys.

how do you make it beep at a certain speed?

If you have the computer do-dads installed there is an option called something like 'LIMIT' - set that to the speed you are interested in knowing about and when you to past that it will beep, show a speed limit sign on the dash with the text Speed Limit Exceeded (or something like that). I have mine set at about 78 which I find useful to keep me from attracting too much attention without being aware of it - far to easy to do silly speeds on these and not really be aware of it.

I park mine in two different parking garages in the city, I've been going to them for so long they know me pretty well and take care of my car. If I'm going out in the city I'll park at either one of them and take a cab to wherever I'm going. I wouldn't valet my car just anywhere.

If you don't know them and they don't know you... NO NO NO absolutely not!!! True story from a very good friend of mine: 4 months into the ownership of his brand new 330 BMW, he took his wife to Las Vegas, stayed at The Venetian Hotel, had his car valet parked. And on their way back home (to LA), they waited forever to get his car back. It just so happens that the valet crashed into a wall while retrieving the car. Whole front was crushed. Took him several trips back to Vegas to get this settled with the hotel's insurance and have his car repaired in Vegas. 3 months later he had his car back, but handling never felt as good as new. During his ordeal he found out that this is a common occurence at all types of hotels in Vegas (even the best). The worst incident(at the time 3 years ago) was a classic Shelby Cobra totalled by the valet at The Ceasar's Palace Hotel! Pay some money and figure how to park it yourself upfront and keep the keys! Not worth to chance it.

That's my deal..it's the only way and they understand when they see the car. And they love putting the cash in their pocket! Everyone's happy.

i nearly always valet when i can and i've never had a problem. a while ago a valet at the ritz carlton in o.c. totaled a 360 modena within 5-mins of getting the keys so, you take your chances.