Valet - Do you?

[nugent]

Originally Posted by mwlmd

Nugent and I valet parked our M5s at the Omni in SF. $53ea not including tip. Both were kept out front next to each other. No regrets.

But in general I only valet if there are no self parking spots. I.e. any big city.

the simultaneous cold startups of our erace exhausts in the enclosed area right in front of the hotel was pure awesome.

[GotE46M]

I went to downtown LA and hated the valet's there and downtown LA in general.

Went to eat at a restaurant and the plaza where parking is available is valet (cheap) only so I told the guy I would give him $20 to park the car myself and he turned around and walked away. Another guy came and asked me whats up and I told him the same thing and he said.. "We'll usually we park all the cars ourselves...." So I just drove away and parked on the street at a meter parking.

[mattkim85]

In LA, it is way safer taking the risk of valeting than street parking. At least its under some wort of "watch"

But in some cases, the valets park your car in the streets lol

[JMD]

I don't have an M5 yet,...but I would allow a Valet behind the wheel even if i had to walk 5 miles to wherever the heck I was going!

[M6-Coupe]

Looks like I am too late here LOL...
but my answer is NO ... as Vic55 said a curbed wheel is not just a curbed wheel... the same as a scratched seat leather and many thing else including damaged bumper. Oh BTW last year I had a damaged front bumper in dealer car wash or service department... just saying

[Bimmer6]

Hell no I park myself, and I will pay them well. No one cares about your care like you do, and I don't want to hear it's just a car(: If that's the case you wouldn't be on this board because we all have OCD(:

[Vic55]

Thread revival!!! There are times where I just must valet: no self parking, too far for self parking, safer up close, etc. I usually judge the venue and the type of cars parked along with where the said cars are parked (far away, garage, up front). Sometimes that extra 20 goes a long way and they park it right in front.

[PEHM5]

No. Too many horror stories!

[GarbageMan]

Originally Posted by stealth.pilot

I never valet. Although sometimes if the valet has a space up front, I may pay $20-40 to park in front and keep the key.

Ditto-not on a boat, not with a goat, not on a plane, not on a train... Never. If I know that only valet is offered where I am going, and I can't employ the above detailed ("greasing the valet") to keep away from my vehicle method, I'll just drive another car. I'm not interested in spending my dinner worried about whether the valet knew how to operate the trans, or whether he/she parked it in a way that would make it impossible for a ding or curbing incident to happen. No. No. No.

[///PDDS]

I pay the extra $20 to park myself in the front, and I keep the keys

[TrevorM3]

i've never used it, but if you want to leave it up front at an establishment.. wat do you do? pull up and give them some money and you park it yourself in the front? i wouldn't trust any of those morons even moving it 6 feet.

[///Mpower///]

Ever see Ferris Bueller?

Not just no, but F**K NO!!!

[SCM513]

easy question....NOPE!

[E90potentialbuyer]

Never. My wife gets annoyed when I go round and round to find self parking garage. I used to drive to work on weekends at my old place where they was a self park. Now that there is no self park garage nearby at the new place, I just valet.

Makes me want to have a crap car for times like these when I don't have to worry about valet

[Scott@Radar-Mirror.com]

Only when I absolutely have to. How do you put this thing in park?

[lemetier]

I gave up on the Valet Paranoia a long time ago. The first time a Valet crashed a car, I wouldn't do it for years. Second time I just accepted that it's a car and remembered the saying "life isn't as sweet without the sour". Most of the time now Valets like the car, will keep it up front, or just tell me to park in a reserved spot and I keep the key. On the occasions it's driven off, I leave a Calling Card sticking out of the cup holder and wait a few minutes to listen for the horn to blare. My car will roll away apparently as it took the valet over an hour to explain why it took so long...As long as one doesn't figure out my cars Launch Control works all the time by simply holding the gear selector forward, business as usual

[F90M5C]

[shellbmb]

No, unless it's the only option. I usually take the wife's car.

Had two experiences to support this. First, I'm watching as the guy is parking my car. He gets out and it starts rolling. Thankfully it was on a gentle incline and he was able to save it. Second, was at a nice private golf course and they parked my car. Had to run back out and grab something and noticed they didn't even turn the car off. They had managed to put the parking brake on, but it was still in neutral. At this place, no need to lock your car. In fact they just leave the keys in the car. But that would have been a nice dead battery situation. Not sure if the car would have eventually turned off.

[cassidysdad]

Originally Posted by shellbmb

No, unless it's the only option. I usually take the wife's car.

Had two experiences to support this. First, I'm watching as the guy is parking my car. He gets out and it starts rolling. Thankfully it was on a gentle incline and he was able to save it. Second, was at a nice private golf course and they parked my car. Had to run back out and grab something and noticed they didn't even turn the car off. They had managed to put the parking brake on, but it was still in neutral. At this place, no need to lock your car. In fact they just leave the keys in the car. But that would have been a nice dead battery situation. Not sure if the car would have eventually turned off.

i rarely do
but we usually take my wife's car too