I'm taking my wife to a restaurant that has Valet only. I never cared about it with any other vehicle, but the thought of a 20 something playing Ferris Bueller is making me want to take the family van. There is a limited amount of space up front, what is the usual amount I should expect to pay, if its available, and do I do if the front is already taken?

How do you handle it?

Thanks
Scott

 

Find street parking or take the minivan!

 

Give the guy 10 bucks and ask him to be extra careful with your car and watch out for door dings.

 

Use the family van.

Or, if they're willing and it won't cause them any difficulty with getting other cars moved, ask for the key back once they park it in front (be sure to wait there while they park it). That's a bit awkward though, since it makes it seem like they're not trustworthy. Imagine that...

No biggie though, since trust (or the lack thereof) is essentially the basis of this thread anyway...

 

I hate taking a nice car to valet. It enrages me that a lot of places force it upon you.

Luckily, the times that I have, they made room for me up front. The norm, though, is we just take one of the crap cars.

 

To trust is good, not to trust is better....imo.

 

I like that. A lot.

 

Take the van..you'll never regret it....if you take the car...you might...

 

Hah, I have to explain why we take the bruiser to so many places (Bruiser is an 2010 Honda pilot). Either parallel parkers in the city will get you or the drunks will backing out at our favorite tex-mex place.

 

Yup...and the fat old people (sorry if you are one) that lean back and kick their door open with their fat stubby legs and could give 2 sh*ts if their door bounces off the side of your car...

 

Take the van. I never take my cars anywhere that I have to use a valet. I take my Toyota truck instead.

 

I hate valets. If you have to, give him $20 and ask him to keep it up front. Or, make a noticable gesture of logging the mileage....

I'd take the van. Forget the restaurant - go straight down by the river.

 

I go to a club in DC and a different one in Baltimore once in a while, usually have no problem parking up front. Sometimes, I'll tip the guy up front $20-40 dependent on whether he moved cars for me or just put me in a good spot. I take the keys with me when I parked it out front of the club, but then again, I know the owner's of both those clubs, so that helps. Honestly, Peace of Mind. TAKE A LIMO. She'll be more impressed with that then you probably taking her out in the Pcar.

 

Read this first...

http://www.edmunds.com/driving-tips/...ing-valet.html

As a former Valet parker in my college days I'd recommend you NOT Valet your beauty.

It wasn't me, it was the other guys who:

1) Took a pair of Dr. J's sneakers out of his trunk
2) totalled a car in downtown Philly
3) smashed a fender on a nice ride
4) ate dinner in a few cars

It took me forever to find the damn key in the first Saab I parked - lol

 

Which clubs are you talking about? I'm out in DC and Bmore as well....and this is exactly the same thing I do... trick is as mentioned know the owners, GM, or valet head at the venue...they will let YOU park your own car up front and let you keep your keys or if they park it for you, they'll give you the keys...either way the car will be up front and you're all good!