NOBLEGT3

BJ's brewhouse in san fran...priceless name......BJ!!

Joe2000C4Cab

Actually, it's a chain from (I believe) SoCal. To tell the truth, the beer's not so hot. I'd rather do the Faultline or Tied House any day.

Cheers.

Nicolaasdb

depending on where you go....just hand them the keys....but then again mine is a 99 and a TIP...so anybody can drive it...If I had a stick....I would not give it to them, because most of them do not know how to drive stick..and that can be very expensive in the longrun.

Tip the guys well and they will take care of it, because most of them love Porsches as much as we do!

b_creative3

I would think no matter how well you tip them, they will torture your car depending on their mood. I have seen many valet drive like Fomula 1 driver here in CA. But of course it doesn't apply to all of them, some of them are easy and cool. And, remember to take with you all your valuables (or lock them) before handing your key to someone you don't know.

P-Car fanatic

Same here, after I saw a Ruth's Chris valet bump park and M3 convertible I vowed never to valet

RussellNYC

I found the best one on 42nd street between 9th and 10th. Totally self-park, and you can park a day in Manhattan for about $18. If I park in the garage under my office building on 45th street, it will cost $55.

Back when I lived in apartments and rented garage spaces for my manual transmission cars (Audi, BMW, etc), I was always irritated by the problems that resulted. Thankfully, I now have my own house with my own garage, so I don't have these problems daily, more like monthly. The problem was, since I was seeing these parking lot attendants (where I lived, they were all from Ecuador), I became friendly with them, and tipped them regularly ($1-5 each time I saw them, which was at least twice a day). This was on top of the $250-350 I was paying monthly to garage the car each month. I speak spanish, so I would often stop and chat with the guys. When damage to the car resulted the first time (see curb rash, below), I compained to the manager, and one of the guys got fired. After that, I kept my mouth shut and figured car damage was the cost of doing business in NYC. I pleaded with them to be careful, and they usually were, but you can see why this sucks.

Here are my favorites:

1. Curb rash. Rash was fresh on my new wheels, valet denied it. Next day, new rash, next day, new rash. Finally, I ran below deck and took photos of the car parked next to an inside curb with fresh powdered aluminum on the curb, my tires, and my wheels. I got a $200 discount, and my beautiful wheels were never the same.

2. Shoe-print on the passenger seat. It seems that when they get the car into really tight spaces, they have to crawl through the car to get to the driver's door.

3. Shoe-scuff on driver and passenger window sill, dashboard, and console.

4. Hand over the keys, valet starts car, revs engine, then stalls followed by restart and immediate second stall, followed by lots of throttle and gratuitous clutch slipping.

5. Gratuitous engine revving. My car has a turbo boost gauge, and everyone, from the valets at restaurants to the guy at the Audi dealer, blips the throttle over and over again to try to get the gauge to show boost (which it won't do in neutral with no load on the engine).

6. Suspicious decrease in fuel level with no increase in mileage. When I parked at an outdoor lot one winter (no monthly spaces available in the indoor lots, yes it's that hard to find one), it took me several weeks to finally discover that the attendants were using my car in winter as a place to warm up. After I'd give them the keys, they would wait for me to leave, then sit in the car for hours with the heater on and the engine running. Great.

7. Car not ready when you're in a hurry. Doesn't matter if you live there or if you are a tourist on your way to see Phantom of the Opera, if you try to get your car out of the garage at a rush time, you will be standing there for a while. I used to call ahead 30 mins to have my car waiting for me, but sometimes they either forgot, or the lot was too crowded/busy to get the car out fast. I have been late to many important appointments because of this. Paradoxically, when you really have to be on time in NYC (before midnight), you need to take the subway.

Enjoy!

gravedgr

Russel - good points, and welcome to the board. However, as everyone else will demand - INTRO and PICS!

stresser

A little extra dough to have your car parked up front is usually worth it to keep the valets from joyriding and to avoid door dings, etc. I just say "I'd like it close"... they know what that means and they'll let you know how much. Usually, it's 10-20, but sometimes they just grin knowingly and park it there. If I'm going out to have fun I'm not going to embarass my wife by "valet" parking the car myself or wasting my night worrying about it. Yes, it's a very fine machine, but I try to keep it in perspective.

Gretch

You find the head guy working that shift, and ask him if the car can be left in the spot you want...if he says yes, you put it there, give him the keys and pay him at least 60% of the amount the valet parking is gonna cost anyway, discretely.....when you return, you give him the rest, again descretely, upon retrieving your keys. If you frequent the same place often enough.....the guy comes to recognize the car and you pretty quickly. This approach has never failed me......

bobporsche996

i think the whole joyride situation is a little overblown from ferris buelers day off.. <g> how many have actually encountered a valet driver that "joyrided" their car? i've seen and heard about mistakes happening when parking or driving around a lot.. but plain old taking the car out for a drive.. never heard of it really happening..

RaceCarDriver

I agree. I tip the valet guy and park it myself.

Temple

I avoid valets -- too many friends were valets and the stories are horrific -- but if a place is valet only I insist on parking it myself with the valet in the passenger seat. If they look offended, or confused, I normally inform them that my insurance policy forbids anyone but me from driving the car. While completely untrue, it has never been challenged and they always accept it as sensible. (I then give a decent tip as well).

Ryan996

I never Valet it. I've known a few valet guys. They take joy rides. I park as far as everyone as possible and try to find a spot that close to a wall or curb, so I can park as close to it as possible.
Its very unfortunate they people can be so careless they we have to be almost paranoid about door dings.

nycebo

Bob, are you kidding me? Why do you think that you have already had TWO catastrophic engine failures? Porsche design flaw, my ****. Stop valeting your car already. You're killing me.

bobporsche996

i never drove the porsche to the valets.. the sl55/bmw yes, but not the porsche... i had enough problems with the car blowing up on me as it is.. bmw has 145,000 miles on the engine and still running like new.. gotta love it