Keep in mind there are thousands of cases when a valet does not crash a car. We only hear about the ones reported here.
I too avoid it if possible, but many places do not have a second option for parking. The worse that's happen to me is one spilled a juice drink between my seat and the door and never cleaned it up. Of course this is something you don't discover until the next day or when you go to clean your car.

 

was it a lease or purchase?

wonder if it's hard to color match. Looks like fender will need to be repainted too.

My smoky granite car is turning 9 years old, had rear bumper repainted because some guy bumped into me.
don't really care about the car anymore since there are other paint problems, like faded roof.

 

It's a 2-year lease, which makes it a bit easier, but I'm still OCD about it. I'm trading it December, so I'm using the body shop recommended by the dealer. I'm hoping the match will be okay.

Oddly enough, my G/F ran into someone's running board with the front of our G37 Vert a few months ago and the paint job is perfect. It will be the only 3-year old G37 traded in with no rock chips in the front. I'm hoping for the same outcome with the S5.

Thanks to everyone for the sympathy.

 

sorry to hear - hope it turns out ok.

only time I ever used valet, they let me park my C6 upfront myself - no issues!

 

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.

I never understood why there shouldn't be another set of eyes when really expensive cars get parked.
If I was the manager/owner, I would have 2 or 3 guys there jusssst to make sure.

2 valet guys is much cheaper than the increase in insurance premium/reputation, no?

A friend who was a valet even said the same thing

 

Thanks, the irony is that it was one of the most expensive cars there (not bragging, just the facts) and the manager was the one that greeted me. I asked him if he could park it up front and he said, "not gonna happen today". Then I waited and asked the valet guy if he could park it up front and he drove it into a bench. The manager had to fill out the paperwork and later said "I wish I had just parked it up front for you. It's a beautiful car". I said, "Yes, it WAS".

What is even more unbelievable is that we left the show at intermission to fill out the paperwork and there was NO ONE around the valet area. The manager had gone to an offsite office and the valet guys were gone. Meanwhile, everyone's keys were hanging on the board for the taking. Anyone could have taken them, pushed the panic button to see which car they belonged to, and drove off.

 

that sux, really sorry to hear your story