dfiorito

I have been dreading leaving my car with a Valet Parker. Most are freaking nuts who drive the car to the limit within a 2 block radius.

I have a wedding to go to in December and I am paranoid about leaving the car with a parking lot attendent. I am sure they are going to touch everything. I have been thinking of borrowing my son's car for the ocassion.

So far, I have been driving an extra block or so, or leaving it in the furthest part of lots etc to keep it away from other cars.

I know it will get dinged and pinged, but I want it to last longer.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Just tell them you want to park it yourself. They will almost always let you.

luxury1

Never leave it with a valet. I used to live in the city in a building with one of the nicest restaurants in Pittsburgh. The valets would beat the cars all night long. I saw them put the noses of two SUV's together and push at each other, I saw them back into a fence and leave the car, I saw them drive a porsche down the street, disappear and return in 5 minutes, etc., etc., etc.

If I do valet I always take my wife's RX. You have to realize that those are just jack *** kids that have no appreciation for your extrodinary investment.

Maximus91

I really depends on the valet staff. I can say that I worked as a valet for two summers and everyone on the staff really appreciated cars and took care of them as if they were ours. I never pushed a car hard and also babied it everywhere and made sure to give it enough space so that nothing would touch it. I thought of the cars as mine, but I understand that other valets probably could care less. It all depends on the place you go, I guess just luck. So all I wanted to say was that not all valet people don't respect your cars.

P.S. On my first day on the job I got to bring back this guys Maybach 62. That was pretty amazing for my first day. He was really nice and tipped me a 20. I was like wow, thanx amazing car. lol everyone else hated me for the whole day since they all got one or two dollars per car. It was a good day :-)

GSsnarl

Are you being paranoid? NO! I know EXACTLY how you feel! No one wants their brand new and expensive car to be mistreated, ESPECIALLY when it's a car you LOVE soo much.
Just like Luxury1 said; most valet parkers "have no appreciation for your extrodinary investment". So no thank you Mr. Valet Parker I would rather park my car my self and walk a distance then have you break or scratch God knows what in my car.
I live in a rather crowded city with many buildings and not enough on-the-spot parking lots. So most restaurants (including Burger King) have valet parking services. The things I've seen Valet people do to cars (Aston Martins, Porsches, Cadillacs and Jaguars).... Oh my ... if only those car owners who just went into some of the most luxurious and expensive restaurants knew what was happening to their cars! I have a relative who a bit over a year ago had purchased the new facelifted BMW 7 series; a few weeks later he went to a wedding in the most prestigious wedding hall and gave the car to a valet. After the wedding was over my relative went out to ask for his car, a Valet person comes towards him and tells him "There's been a slight inconvinience, we slightly hit your car, nothing that can't be fixed". So my relative was like okay, a scratch, it happens. Then the a guy pulls up with the 7 series and IT'S COMPLETLY SMASHED from the front passenger side and frontwards. My relative goes CRAZY BALISTIC! BRAND NEW $120k+ car rewined because some IDIOT decided "him" having fun for 10 minutes was worth more than SOMEONE ELSE's $120k.

I'm really not trying to exagerate things and I'm not trying to scare you, however you should be aware (I'm sure you are). I realize accidents dont happen everytime but I suggest you park it yourself and walk a little. You would feel relieved all through out the wedding and the next couple of days.

Enjoy your LS and the wedding.

gs400jon

Give yourself plenty of time to find your own parking space on the street somewhere. Last resort, rent a car if you can't borrow one.

Mccattack

I used to hang out with a bunch of guys that were valets. Not to worry you even further, but they were jackasses with the cars they parked. All the horor stories you hear are true.

Their biggest recommendation was to always make sure to tip them well before hand. Any time they got a nice tip they made sure to take care of the car, otherwise they didn't care.

encore888

One time at the Ritz-Carlton we even got to 'valet park' the car outselves instead of trust the attendants there, using smart key as an excuse.

wdlugitch

Two rules to live by when you own a LEXUS: NEVER let a valet drive your car, and NEVER take you car to a carwash; drive it and wash it yourself.

Nas

You can bet someone will want to try the Auto-Park option.

Don't valet it.

Max707

When I bought my SC430 the sales manager at the Lexus dealer told me never to valet park my car at the Ruth Chris steak house on the Plaza in KC. I guess they have had several cars stolen and a few were Lexus owners.

encore888

Well we've found a very excellent hand wash place, and they do it in full view of customers, and the owner himself drives a Lexus...

...so it's them or the dealer that washes the Lexus for us.

Gojirra99

I have never used valet anywhere with the 2 cars I have now until last Thursday, when we went to a LS460 launch party at the Lexus dealer where I bought my SC430 from.
I didn't even know they would valet for their guests that evening. Basically, they want all their guests' cars at their back lot at assigned spaces.
I let them do it since whenever I bring my car in for maintainence, I have to let them drive/park it anyway. I don't think I will let the valet park my car anywhere else under any other circumstances.

Eritsuke

Just like what LexArazzo said, the only time I let my car get valet parking was when I went to the LS460 launch party, I usually don't let people touch my car either when it comes to driving, but I thought that we're at the dealership so it should be okay, besides, it was the service guys that were parking it, so I'm pretty sure they know how to take care of that. If it would be any other place, park it yourself. I would!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

sounds like a good resaon for me to get a new car i never let people valet my car, and ritz carlton was the first..... didn't really want to do it again though, i love my car too much