A4QuatErik

its difficult to let other people drive your car...much less people you dont know--and the horror stories of dings and stuff. Maybe I am just being paranoid.--but its our audi's!!!

kenny (dremel)

bleh. mine's the stock clutch, i'm very comfortable with it, but it's very different than say, gf's kia or dad's ford truck.

A4QuatErik

Thanks for the advice..maybe I am just surrounded by people who have had many bad experiences with valeting their cars. I dont mean any offense to valets, and the advice surely helps.

RKA

It's likely that a large majority of valets would do a good job, but a few idiots is all it takes to turn people off.

For me, my concerns are as follows:
1. They'll clip a curb and damage a rim. Low profile tires offer no room for error.
2. They'll scuff the painted rocker panel getting in or out of the car, or the inside of the door.
3. They'll stomp on the engine when it's cold, or rev the engine a bit as they are shutting it down. In the case of the later, oil starvation for the turbos...not good.
4. They'll scrape the chin on inclined pavement. The car is lowered, so it's easy to do if you're not paying attention. A night of parking cars with OEM suspensions, and it's easy to forget even if the owner has previously warned you.

It's simple...nobody will take care of my car the way I do, and 10 seconds of forgetfulness can result in $500 or more in damage. Most likely, an owner will never discover the damage until the next time they was their car. At that point, it's too late to do anything about it...besides the fact that it's a HUGE hassle, even if you catch the damage on site when the car is returned.

Oh, and the Ferris Bueller thing...ROCKCENTER took a cross country trip in his modded S. He valeted the car at the Ritz in Atlanta, and I believe the car was returned to him the next morning with significantly more miles than he turned it in with. He happened to be recording mileage along his cross country trip...so ordinarily it would have gone unnoticed, however when the odometer numbers were off from the previous day, he knew someone had been out joyriding. Granted, this is a most rare incident, but still, it happens.

2tuŽbos1mission

No, I wouldn't. 99% of valet's can't drive a manual and they normally do some kind of damage.

odelay12v

hehe.....

RKA

but guess how they learned! :-P

RKA

How do you feel about your nail clippers?

[ej257]

The first time he barely moved the car a foot, once he got moving he approached the entrance the parking garage and promptly stalled again. This was within maybe 20 feet from where he started off.

nospek3

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