Valet Fail - And I Can't Prove It...

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by N55

I also once paid a homeless guy sitting on the street $10 to watch my car during a midnight sandwich run to Pirmantis Downtown.

Interesting idea!

[997usa]

Originally Posted by KIS

Not trying to start an argument, but I've found that valeting is safer. I pay generously upfront to have my car left in the front. Valets are happy, and I'm happy. Get my car first and never had a problem with a valet, and I valet several times a week. Now when I've parked myself I've had door dings, and idiots back into me, destroying my rear bumper. Not mention assholes leaving shit on my car.

What is paying generous? $20? $50?

[Mako]

Originally Posted by Lups

Lol, here you don't want to go to the minivan section. Nobody gives a shit and you'll just cry anyway.

My wife has TONS of scratches/dents on her X3 while my 335i has almost 0 (except from damn geese in my work parking lot, scratched the top of my trunk), I told her I don't understand how that's possible. First she says its when picking up the kids, but we trade off doing that so that's not it, then she says its because she does all the shopping! I think that is 100% the reason, and told her to stay away from the minivans and other SUVs because kids swing doors wide open and their parents don't give a damn. Her bumper has also been hit 3 times in the last year while she was parked! of course no one admitted damage.

When my M3 comes next month, I will never valet it, don't trust them.

[sgroer]

I give them a $10 or $20 on the way in and tell them to keep it up front. It works fine. I've valeted (is that a word) my 991 GT3 5-10 times this way as well. I have never had a problem. If they can't park it out front or if there is no space left, I won't let them bury it somewhere. I park it myself.

The M4 gets more attention than my GT3 at the valet stand.. I don't know why. I mean, the m4 is an incredibly awesome car (my favorite car ever, btw), but... it's a frickin GT3 for cryin out loud.

[KIS]

Originally Posted by 997usa

What is paying generous? $20? $50?

In Houston, no more than $20.

[JKAlltheWay]

Originally Posted by sgroer

I give them a $10 or $20 on the way in and tell them to keep it up front. It works fine. I've valeted (is that a word) my 991 GT3 5-10 times this way as well. I have never had a problem. If they can't park it out front or if there is no space left, I won't let them bury it somewhere. I park it myself.

The M4 gets more attention than my GT3 at the valet stand.. I don't know why. I mean, the m4 is an incredibly awesome car (my favorite car ever, btw), but... it's a frickin GT3 for cryin out loud.

Ha ha, understandable. It's a GT3 but depending on where you live, they can be common. I've seen more GT3's than new M3/4's.

[Alpine300zhp]

Originally Posted by sgroer

I give them a $10 or $20 on the way in and tell them to keep it up front. It works fine. I've valeted (is that a word) my 991 GT3 5-10 times this way as well. I have never had a problem. If they can't park it out front or if there is no space left, I won't let them bury it somewhere. I park it myself.

The M4 gets more attention than my GT3 at the valet stand.. I don't know why. I mean, the m4 is an incredibly awesome car (my favorite car ever, btw), but... it's a frickin GT3 for cryin out loud.

I think the M4 gets more attention because it is newer to the market and many people have not seen one yet. Give it a year or two and then the novelty of the M4 will wear off and no one will give it a second look.

[Alpine300zhp]

Originally Posted by JKAlltheWay

Ha ha, understandable. It's a GT3 but depending on where you live, they can be common. I've seen more GT3's than new M3/4's.

I can see this being the case. However, I have only seen a couple GT3's on the road and about 7 M4/M3's on the road. In South Florida, neither are too popular yet.

[mshab356]

That is just awful man. Happened with my E92 M3 CS. Valet curbed my rear wheel, after I called him out he kept saying it wasn't him or his valet boys and that they never curb wheels or cause damage to customer cars. As he is saying that, one of his valet boys curbs someone's wheel right in front of us...he still denied it. Left with a curved wheel. Extremely irritating

[YolkyPalky]

Originally Posted by KIS

Not trying to start an argument, but I've found that valeting is safer. I pay generously upfront to have my car left in the front. Valets are happy, and I'm happy. Get my car first and never had a problem with a valet, and I valet several times a week. Now when I've parked myself I've had door dings, and idiots back into me, destroying my rear bumper. Not mention assholes leaving shit on my car.

+1. Couple years ago when I was staying at Rio Las Vegas for WSOP I parked in the self-parking Masquerade Tower parking structure rather than valet at main entrance. Parked in a good spot I thought, came back couple days later and someone had backed into the front of it causing severe but cosmetic only damage. Rio wouldn't cover chit, and there was no security camera footage in that area of the lot either to try to determine who did it. So, self-parking isn't exactly fool-proof either.

Also, ffs it's just a mid-priced sports car that is constantly depreciating with each day that passes. I always chuckle at people that are afraid to drive, valet, etc. and end up with garage queens out of fear of chips or scratches.

I consider chips & scratches a badge of honor for an M3/M4 well-driven! I'll fix them when it's time to sell, but ffs I'm not going to park 3 blocks away for fear of valeting my M3, it's not like it's a $1,000,000 Bugati or something lol.

[dclowd9901]

Originally Posted by Padfan9

Man, this happened to me once and I tried everything, unfortunately there's not much you can do. You can threaten to sue them and hope for the best OR use your insurance and hope they use your comprehensive. Mine has a $0 deductible, not sure what yours would be.

I gotta know how much your premium is for a $0 deductible.

My .02: I wouldn't expect anyone to understand my car's space or available clearances the first time they sat in it. I don't care if they're Michael Fucking Schumacher the God of Valets. You simply can't know where a car's going to scrape or how it's going to cut a turn if you've never sat in it. So I don't even chance it. I didn't even let my fiance drive it without sitting alongside her to explain how to cut into parking lots (she has a Fiesta, and is not used to even thinking about ground clearance).

[04RC51]

Originally Posted by dclowd9901

I gotta know how much your premium is for a $0 deductible.

My .02: I wouldn't expect anyone to understand my car's space or available clearances the first time they sat in it. I don't care if they're Michael Fucking Schumacher the God of Valets. You simply can't know where a car's going to scrape or how it's going to cut a turn if you've never sat in it. So I don't even chance it. I didn't even let my fiance drive it without sitting alongside her to explain how to cut into parking lots (she has a Fiesta, and is not used to even thinking about ground clearance).

That valet has parked cars 10x's nicer than ours so while he may not know YOUR car's clearance, he surely knows the clearance of cars costing 3-4x's as much. I don't understand why everyone acts like our cars are F1 cars and no one knows how to drive them. Most valets drive nicer cars than ours all day long and many have lower clearances. Hell, some own nicer cars than ours. OK, the OP got a bad apple but the vocal minority on here is always going to seem like there's an epidemic. I'm not going to come on here and be like "Had a great park job today by the valet" but as soon as someone's car gets scraped the World stops spinning and all valets are morons. I can't even count how many times I've dropped my car with the valet and never thought twice about it. It's just a fukn car and I don't have the time to obsess about it when I need to eat.

Yes, it sucks for the OP! We all know that. But the whackadoodles who think all valets are bad and parking on the street is always the answer really need to get a better grip on reality.

[dclowd9901]

Originally Posted by 04RC51

That valet has parked cars 10x's nicer than ours so while he may not know YOUR car's clearance, he surely knows the clearance of cars costing 3-4x's as much. I don't understand why everyone acts like our cars are F1 cars and no one knows how to drive them. Most valets drive nicer cars than ours all day long and many have lower clearances. Hell, some own nicer cars than ours. OK, the OP got a bad apple but the vocal minority on here is always going to seem like there's an epidemic. I'm not going to come on here and be like "Had a great park job today by the valet" but as soon as someone's car gets scraped the World stops spinning and all valets are morons. I can't even count how many times I've dropped my car with the valet and never thought twice about it. It's just a fukn car and I don't have the time to obsess about it when I need to eat.

Yes, it sucks for the OP! We all know that. But the whackadoodles who think all valets are bad and parking on the street is always the answer really need to get a better grip on reality.

I don't think valets are bad. I just don't think they can understand a car's space constraints immediately. I wouldn't expect anyone to. Last time I left my car with a valet was my old WRX, and they scraped the shit out of the rear driver side bumper and you could take that damn thing off road (not to mention it's a damn sight shorter than the f80)

Congratulations on your experiences and your whimsical approach to car ownership. I'm a meticulous person and this car, for me, is a symbol of what I've achieved in life, so I'm a bit less care free when it comes to who I hand it over to.

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by 04RC51

That valet has parked cars 10x's nicer than ours

Which to me means that valet has hooned cars 10x nicer than ours

I used to work at an upscale hotel valet stand in college, and completely agree with the others that "floating" a car up front is the least worst way to valet a car.

Cars that needed to go to the parking garage that was out of sight sure got to their parking spots in a hurry....

[YolkyPalky]

Originally Posted by dclowd9901

.....and this car, for me, is a symbol of what I've achieved in life......

Pretty low bar don't you think?

[dclowd9901]

Originally Posted by YolkyPalky

Pretty low bar don't you think?

That's pretty harsh; not sure what I did to warrant that.

I had graduated college with a useless degree and had been laid off twice by the time I was 27. So I taught myself some new skills and gained some financial security and bought an $80k car and took a 2 week driving trip around Europe. What have you done?

[YolkyPalky]

Originally Posted by dclowd9901

That's pretty harsh; not sure what I did to warrant that.

I had graduated college with a useless degree and had been laid off twice by the time I was 27. So I taught myself some new skills and gained some financial security and bought an $80k car and took a 2 week driving trip around Europe. What have you done?

Wow if you find that comment "harsh" then I recommend you stay away from the internet lol .

I just thought it was a slightly amusing sentence that a BMW 3-Series car (albeit an M3) is a symbol of what someone's achieved in life. But congrats man, enjoy in good health. I just hope you aren't like some here who put almost every last dollar into their M3 car payment while living in an efficiency studio apartment.

[Duder]

Originally Posted by dclowd9901

That's pretty harsh; not sure what I did to warrant that.

I had graduated college with a useless degree and had been laid off twice by the time I was 27. So I taught myself some new skills and gained some financial security and bought an $80k car and took a 2 week driving trip around Europe. What have you done?

I'm with you. I think it's a good thing to get to the point in life to afford an $80,000 car. that's not cheap at all! an average car is like $18,000-$25,000. and that's as much as most people feel comfortable paying for. this car being about 4 times more than that.... I'd say it's a pretty good achievement in life. so good for you! I'm 33 and just got mine. I don't know anyone else my age that can do that. so it was a proud moment for me to say, man.... I can't believe I actually was able to make this work. it's easy for someone with lots of money that doesn't have to work hard to act like this isn't much, but for a majority of people it's a lot of money. so good for you. and just cuz it's the internet doesn't mean people should shit all over others. that's a pretty poor excuse for justifying behavior. just my two cents.

[dclowd9901]

Originally Posted by Duder

I'm with you. I think it's a good thing to get to the point in life to afford an $80,000 car. that's not cheap at all! an average car is like $18,000-$25,000. and that's as much as most people feel comfortable paying for. this car being about 4 times more than that.... I'd say it's a pretty good achievement in life. so good for you! I'm 33 and just got mine. I don't know anyone else my age that can do that. so it was a proud moment for me to say, man.... I can't believe I actually was able to make this work. it's easy for someone with lots of money that doesn't have to work hard to act like this isn't much, but for a majority of people it's a lot of money. so good for you. and just cuz it's the internet doesn't mean people should shit all over others. that's a pretty poor excuse for justifying behavior. just my two cents.

Right? I didn't think it was a crazy thought. I've got a nice house, a nice car, no kids, and plenty left over for spending as well as crazy job security, coming from making 1/4 what I do now and fearing for my job (and and a shrinking profession) every day.

[///F80M3]

Originally Posted by YolkyPalky

Wow if you find that comment "harsh" then I recommend you stay away from the internet lol .

I just thought it was a slightly amusing sentence that a BMW 3-Series car (albeit an M3) is a symbol of what someone's achieved in life. But congrats man, enjoy in good health. I just hope you aren't like some here who put almost every last dollar into their M3 car payment while living in an efficiency studio apartment.

That's his decision, not yours. Have fun with your OLD 3 series

[04RC51]

Originally Posted by Duder

an average car is like $18,000-$25,000.

I believe it's closer to $32k nowadays.

[georgere]

I once was selling a moto helmet that my wife didn't want to use anymore and the guy who came to pick it up drove a car being parked. He was working as a valet and drove to me in a car he was parking. We both laughed but I was also thinking how pissed the customer should be. I usually try to avoid these places and park myself.