These Are The Worst Valet Experiences Our Readers Have Ever Had

Most of the time, valeting your car is fine. It isn’t that hard to park a car without messing something up, and at worst, you may have to readjust your seat when you get your car back. Even if you pull up in a brand new Ferrari, we’re still talking about a car with an automatic transmission, parking sensors, cameras and power steering. They’ll figure it out. Your car will be perfectly fine. You have nothing to worry about. At least in theory. 

Every now and then, handing over your keys to the valet isn’t the easy, hassle-free experience you’re promised on paper. And since it had been a while since we talked about valet horror stories, on Tuesday, we asked you to share your worst valet experience. The good news is, most of your answers weren’t quite as bad as they could have been, but none of them sound fun. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular answers.

It was probably their worst experience, but I found it hilarious.

Rolled up to a Crowne Plaza hotel (not sure what they’ve changed to now, but a fairly nice chain) in my 1998 Cavalier with ~230k miles.

There was nothing wrong with the car other than the fact it was what it was.

Thankfully, I can’t say I’ve ever had bad experiences, though I also tend to try an avoid it if I can.

Suggested by: MP81

That one time a customer came in with a ~1960s Porsche and when I went to unlock it, the key snapped off in the door lock cylinder. He laughed and said it happens frequently and had a stash of key copies on hand!

Suggested by: Stephen.

Not me but a client of a friend. Valeted his E90 M3 one evening. When it was time to get it – “Sir, your car won’t start.” Towed it to the dealer. “Sorry, warranty doesn’t apply, this thing was revved to nearly 10,000rpm.”

One of the valets had money-shifted it.

I have no idea how it worked out in the end.

Suggested by: MikeF

Here’s one from a different perspective. I worked as a valet one summer during college, and as the new guy got the worst shifts. While the “veterans” got to work the night clubs and make $300-$400 in tips alone per night, I was stuck working the Saturday morning shift at the mall some weeks. I worked 3 Saturday shifts, from like 8am-1pm, and parked a total of 2 (yes, two) cars. The $15 (total, not per hour) shift pay didn’t quite make up for the lack of tips. Not to mention the Raleigh, NC summer heat/humidity standing in a concrete parking lot with only a tiny umbrella for shade.

Suggested by: iwasthevalet

Back in the mid-oughts I took the wife out for an anniversary dinner. Had a 2nd gen Nissan Xterra 6MT at the time. Pull up to the restaurant just to realize it was valet only. I normally never valet if I can avoid it, this time I could not avoid it. Wife walked into the restaurant to secure our reservation, and I spoke politely with the valet and indicated it was a manual transmission and that I’d prefer to drive with him to the parking spot and walk back, and that his tip would not be in jeopardy. He brought the valet manager over who indicated “Sir, our staff is all experience with manual transmissions, and we do not allow customers to ride along. A liability, you see.” I asked if there was some public street parking within a couple of blocks. There was not. Resigned, I handed over my keys and said “ok, well I appreciate your patience with my request” the response: “absolutely understood sir, have a wonderful dinner”. We did indeed have a wonderful dinner. After leaving I handed over my ticket and within 2 minutes I heard the distinctive “whoosh” of the cooling fan on that 4.0L V6 operating at a particularly high RPM. I’m talking at least 3k RPMs if not higher. It kept getting louder and spinning faster. My truck comes around the corner creeping along at maybe 4 MPH but with the revs bouncing between 2k and 4k RPMs. It finally pulls up in a literal cloud of clutch smoke. I very visibly pocketed the cash tip and took the keys with some serious side eye.

Suggested by: Mike McDermott

Went for a weekend getaway in the Poconos with my girlfriend in the 2010s. Pulled up with my 2001 Aurora. Young guy comes over to grab the keys, walks around (trunk was open) and actually asks “okay, I give up, what is it?” “2001 Oldsmobile Aurora” “Can you spell that?” Needless to say, I was worried a bit all weekend, but nothing was damaged. Still though, it had only been 10ish years since Oldsmobile had ended.

Suggested by: Drg84

Years ago, I went into Boston to park the car for a concert. Went into where there was a P sign, but it was just a loop in and out, with an elevator door. Nobody around. I got out, pressed the button, elevator doors opened. Took the elevator up a couple floors. I was driving around amazed at how many cars were blocking other cars in. Parked the car. Went back into the elevator on foot, came out where I entered. Suddenly it’s full of people, some guy in a uniform stops me “hey, what are you doing in the elevator?”. Turns out it was valet parking only, and they are supposed to be the ones to take the elevator! And somehow just nobody was around when I went in. Had to give them the keys on the way back so they could get the car because they didn’t want me going back in.

Suggested by: StalePhish

In my college days back in the 1990s, I used to valet cars. Made decent cash, but it always felt weird going into the bank with envelopes of $1 bills to deposit. I like to think that we took good care of people’s cars. I became a supervisor so I had to handle the rare dings and scratches that sometimes happened when trying to cram cars into tight parking garages.

However, if you showed up in a nice, new sports car, there was a chance that your car was going on the burger run. We had a few ways to tell who wasn’t going to really check on mileage and if the car was driven. Normally, if a single guy showed up to a real estate event, or some other black tie event with an obvious date while driving a Porsche, BMW, Corvette, or Viper, he’s jumping out of the car to get the door for his date and didn’t record the mileage. We also knew the length of the event. We NEVER did this with weddings and receptions because people tended to leave receptions at random times. So, yes, guilty as charged…I did take a Viper, an Esprit, a few M5s, and some 911s on some food runs at very high speeds. Always made sure the windows stayed down to keep the fries smell from building up, and always loved blowing by traffic on I-75 in a Viper that wasn’t mine.

So, for obvious reasons, I rarely use valet. And down the street from my home is a rather fancy restaurant with Ferraris and Bentleys showing up on a regular basis. And I guarantee those valets go Ferris Bueller’s Day Off on them!!!

Suggested by: Xavier96

I run executive conferences for my firm and have a vintage Rolls-Royce that I like to bring out (because it’s more fun than ferrying them around in my Jeep).

The car is old and finicky and the proper starting procedure has about 10 steps to avoid hurting the engine. As such, there was a tag on the mirror and another on the key which both said “This vehicle is only to be started or driven by its owner” along with my name and contact information.

The last day of a conference, I was getting the room prepared when the EVP came in and said, “Oh, you’re here already? Then who was driving your car?”

Turns out a valet knew we were checking out that day and decided to be “helpful” and bring it up for me. 9 hours before I was actually going to leave. Also, the VP saw it from a breakfast spot several blocks from the hotel in downtown rush hour traffic.

On the plus side, as the principle signatory for their largest account, every stay after that found my room busy so I would get moved to a suite.

Suggested by: TRath

Back in 2000, I had to wait 30 minutes for my 99 VW GTI GLX VR6 while I was at Caesar’s Palace in Atlantic City. It’s not because they were busy but it was because the valet retrieving my car, never had driven a manual transmission so he ended up learning (badly) with my car. While no damage was done, I have made it a point since then to always ask a valet if they can drive a manual and this was also my first depressing realization that the manual was a dying breed.

Suggested by: My Bobby Valentine