Park a car without hitting something

[flynscot]

Really, how hard is it to park a car without hitting something. Wife and I went to Atlantic City for the weekend on a free stay for sitting through one of those time share spiels. Valet parking only at the hotel and this is what I find once I get back home to clean the car from the trip.
Can it be that difficult to park a car

[ksa]

Ouch that sucks! Too bad you didn't notice it right away, I would be absolutely livid! Valet's couldn't care less, it's not their car which is why whenever I have an option I always do it myself even if it means more effort.

[TrevorM3]

the valet probably didn't even know he did it. it's so tiny.


we've all seen worse. count your blessings.

[cenix]

Sorry to see that, I'd be in a real bad mood. This is why I don't valet.

[SilberSurfer]

My office is right next to a high end restaurant and I see how the valets park the cars everyday. It doesn't matter if your car is a Yugo or a 300k exotic, park it yourself. I cringe every single time they reverse and back up to the curb and let the tires tell them when to stop. Opening doors quickly and carelessly to tend to the next customer.

[Saandiaago]

Yeah that sucks man. Not exactly a small ding. I'd be upset too. Did you contact the valet company about that?

[MachinesWithSouls]

I'm sorry about that. But, I'd never valet the M3. Hell, they usually can't figure out the shifter in my 328.

[Flying Ace]

shit, sorry

[Helmsman]

Man things like that drives you mad! Agree, how tricky can it be. Doing one thing only which is parking cars all day and still don't learn to make it right..

[gsmooth33]

Damn I would be pissed! I never valet my car

[jaehshim]

tip is never ever valet park at any casino in atlantic city
all the hotels have pretty bad ground clearance in/out...
even if valet only, i'd rather tip em 5 bucks and say i'll park my own car

[kb9uwu]

You let someone else drive your car?!

[burtonsbs5114]

That sucks, I would be F'in pissed!

[Agent-GHQ]

Originally Posted by jaehshim

even if valet only, i'd rather tip em 5 bucks and say i'll park my own car

best response in the house!

I don't even trust a professional car detailer let alone a pimple face valet driver! Yeah kid here's $5 bucks and I'll park it myself 😆

[Beemdog]

Park it yourself may not work. One of the reasons these places have valet only is that they have very cramped and unconventional parking arrangements-- and they might need to move and shuffle cars to get others out. They also may not let you drive it in. Only choice is to go up the street to another (paid) parking garage and start running up a bill. Or travel in a beater car.

[IIAp3x]

Originally Posted by kb9uwu

You let someone else drive your car?!

Ditto!

[dpgfunk]

what the effin eff dood

[danieljs]

Well, here goes a rant the opposite direction .

OP, that sucks and there are some shit valet's out there. I would think he would have noticed that, and should have owned up to it.

I valet'd cars for my 4 years in college to pay my way through it (good $$ for college job!) and honestly.. you guys were our least favorite customer (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). If you own an M3, throw the valet a $10 or $20 and just have them park it right up top and save everyone the headache.

99% of valet's do a really good job. I parked for a hotel/restaurant and our parking garage was AWFUL. Self parking would not, could not, never would, work. We paralleled between cement columns within just inches, metal pipes coming out from walls, weird angles, etc. I damaged two cars in my 4 years, first a decent little scrape, second a barely noticeable line that I probably would have gotten away with, but I immediately went to the owners room and owned up to it. Insurance took care of it.

So with all that said... We all were competent and knew how to park your car much better than you did. Our nightmare customer was a middle high end car (e.g. m3, porsche boxter, S5, etc). The high end car owners (I parked a lot of ferraris/lambos/etc) got it and knew what was up. The typical 50 year old boxster owner was a dick. Didn't want you driving his new baby, wanted it parked here or there specifically, never trusted you, never tipped well. Not fun to deal with.

I'll end this too long post with one ridiculous story. Our garage had some stupid issues, one being a 'drip' from the kitchen above. We all knew how to park around it to get em all in. A sports car club (lotus, cough*) came in and would not let us park their cars, period. took up 25 spots (ate into my $) and never
tipped. Eventually they just decided they could drive into the garage themselves park wherever the hell they wanted to and take their keys with them. One guy does this during a busy time and I go check where he parked his convertible 20 mins later. Right under the drip. He has his keys and won't answer his phone or a knock on his door. Great. So I put together a solution for him and tear up some black garbage back to create a barrier over his car to protect his interior. I close down for the night and... the guy chews me out the next morning for 'putting trash in his car'. When I showed him how it had stopped his interior from being ruined, his response was I shouldn't have done anything without his approval.

All I'm trying to say is don't be that guy. *Most* valet's are good. Of course there are exceptions like anywhere. So park somewhere else if you must. Or tip the kid well ($10+) and make sure it's parked up top. Or let him park it and look over it real quick when you get it back. They all have insurance, it's not like he's gonna have to pay for it. Personally, when I valet the M I just throw em a ten and say keep it safe.

[flynscot]

Not going to quote your rant as it was long, but
$10 a day just to park the car, X3 days
$10 tip to the valet on the way in on the Friday,
$10 tip to the valet on the way out on Sat
$10 tip to the valet on the way in on Sat
$10 tip to the valet on the way out on Sun

so $70 to park the car from 4pm on Friday to 9am on Sun
Don't think I was being cheap!

[danieljs]

Well just to clarify, I meant $10 in, not $10 in and out.

[mreed]

Bummer man, not a good way to end a hopefully fun weekend.

[Amirsm3]

Sorry to hear about that, but if that's the worst part of your day, then you're still in good standings overall. Mistakes happen, you know?