How do you feel about valet parking?

Literal not a thing in most countries I have ever been too. Is it purely an American thing ? Do other countries have this ?

If I had a car I'd rather not let a stranger in. I would avoid it at all.

It’s an added cost that has no reason to exist. Yes, let me larp as a noble. Fucking dumbassery.

I don’t like some random person driving my car

Same. Especially post-pandemic. On the rare occasion I'm forced to use valet, I have to keep wiping down the steering wheel and shifter. I also hate it when they mess with my settings (seat position, AC, etc.).

I once pulled into a city carpark with an attendant at the boom gate. He gestured to a spot and, as he handed me a ticket, told me not to forget to leave my keys with him, so he could "move cars around as required to fit more in".

I made three people behind me reverse out so I could leave. Fuck that.

Useless. I'd rather park myself. Saves a few dollars in tips and saves time.

I'll do it if I have to, but I don't like it. I drive a manual transmission and valets (at least the college-aged ones you see at a lot of restaurants and country clubs near me) often don't really know what they're doing with them.

I've also had a valet damage my car in the past.

I sit enough as it is, I’ll park on my own and walk my ass to the front door

So far the only places I've gone with valet parking are using it to charge $30 an hour as extra profit, just because it's valet. Totally normal parking garage otherwise, no increased density or double parking. Very much not a fan.

No thanks.

I was in either a bad fancy hotel or an upscale motel last week. Valet parking only, $40/day.

My room had an excellent view of the parking lot which was outside and ground floor. It also wasn’t very full.

But since it was valet only, there were workers there 24x7. It was an odd money grab.

Total money grab.

It doesn't bother me much. I think the only slightly annoying part is waiting for them to retrieve your car when you want to leave.

American absurdity. I don't think it exists at all in the UK, except for Meet & Greet airport parking.

Hell fucken no.

For the most part, I really don't like it. But I think it has one important use case...at large medical facilities/hospitals it's very useful for an old person to be able to just walk up to the door as opposed to first being confused at where to go and next walking 3 miles from the garage to where they need to be. Everyone here pooh-poohing on valet needs to understand that cases like this are incredibly important and helpful.

Necessary evil more than anything, but it does at least allow the valet to double/triple park and get more parking in a smaller area (at the cost of longer retrieval times at the end of the night), so at least it helps make parking space denser.

I don't currently drive since I live in NYC, but I feel that unless the facility is rather cramped or has some other oddity that most people wouldn't be accustomed to, I think valet parking is unnecessary. Usually it takes longer and incurs an extra fee in the form of a tip and I always feel a little uneasy about letting someone else drive my car. Last year I went to a KBBQ restaurant in Los Angeles that required valet parking. It was by no means a fancy restaurant and just had a slightly smaller parking lot. It felt so silly to have a valet park my friend's car in a spot that any rather average driver could manage.

I usually ride my bike whenever possible, but when I do have to drive, I prefer to park my own car barring a really compelling reason to use a valet.

Wow, I’m the outsider. I don’t mind valet at all. It’s particularly nice when parking isn’t super convenient and I have luggage in the trunk.

As a European I can say this is a thing that only happens on TV.

I hate it. It's pointless, it slows me down, its a risk of theft, and it costs me money.

Better than having random jackasses jockeying for position in street parking or regular surface lots; still a symptom of our subsidization of personal automotives.