Greetings. I am wondering what your thoughts are on parking your AM in a parking lot? When you go to a restaurant, do you allow the valet to park, do you park yourself or do you take another vehicle? How about to run an errand to the liquor or grocery store? Do you drive your Aston and park in the lot? Do you leave in a hotel parking garage overnight? Just curious as I've visited with folks who say they drive their's everywhere and others who more or less keep their's as a garage queen. Appreciate your feedback.

 

It all depends....

No valet parking. Take another vehicle.

Usually, this is a known variable. So yea, I am comfortable running a quick errand in the car.

Never. Take another car.

 

Thanks for your feedback. Exactly my thoughts too.

 

Valets no touchie
Quick errands I park for no problem
Restaurants I don't like to park for but I do it
Street parking - Never
Overnight at some hotel or other public lot - never

I have my Cayenne to crap up if I want with dogs and other basic stuff

 

I do not treat my Aston any differently than my Dog's 2007 A4 Avant.

 

No valet stuff for any of my cars (even my Honda). A requirement of living in Chicagoland is a long history of watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and if that movie tells a car enthusiast anything, it's not to trust valets. Or children, but I won't be having those.

Aside from that, I use my AM as a regular car all the time... with only one requirement: that the trip is long enough to actually warm up the engine. I live less than a mile from my grocery store, so if that's the only stop, I usually take the Honda. But if I really want to drive the AM, I'll take a quick trip through my nearby forest preserve before picking up groceries.

Disclaimer: I live in the suburbs, so parking is plentiful. If I can't find an end spot, I'll take a spot between two cars if they are reasonably parked and cared for, but I'm happy to walk a bit otherwise.

P.S. What good is a car that is so fantastic on the highway if you don't take it on road trips (necessitating leaving it in a hotel parking lot)?!

 

I used to feel the same, but when valet after valet stalled it, rode the clutch, left the handbrake on, over and over.... no valet touches it. At one point, I even had a valet swear up and down, "I drive these cars all the time." Uh, he couldn't figure out how to turn the car on.

I park it up front, I keep the keys, and I give them $20 to watch it and make sure nobody touches it.

Even then I rarely trust them. I was at a birthday dinner a few months ago. We had a really nice assortment of cars out front... We caught one of the valets sitting on the hood of one of the Huracans, posing while the other valet took pics.

I hate to sound cynical, but when I've had first-hand experiences time and time again, I'm done!

 

I never valet, but will park it in a normal lot no problem.

I've taken the car on many road trips and so the car has spent a lot of time parking at malls (in the furthest lot), at restaurants, in front of restaurants (usually the valet guy will let me park it), and at hotel lots etc.

 

My main thing is I am anti-valet. Never will I trust them with one of my cars, not even my old FJ40 Landcruiser. I know what can happen. If an establishment is valet only I will go elsewhere or take an Uber there.

I do treat my Aston as one of my vehicles in rotation though, but only for weekend use. I do not drive it to work as it is only a 5 mile commute. If I need something from a store I stop by. Yes, it can look strange sitting out towards the end of a Home Depot parking lot. Here in the metro Phoenix area most lots are large and the parking spaces are wide as long as you stay out of downtown. You would not find me having the same behavior if I lived in a more congested city such as LA or Seattle. Street parking is kind of rare here and most people cannot parallel park at all. Therefore, I avoid those spaces at all costs, unless I am in my FJ40.

 

Yeah I take that back, hotel lots are fine on road trips, but I don't like cramped city hotel parking garages at all, thats what I was thinking of

 

It's my car, it goes everywhere I do, with caveats. No, I won't let anybody else touch it, I don't even want to let the service techs drive it [have no choice there] so no NYC trips yet as I'd have to let a garage attendant park it [Enterprise]. I have no problem in a parking lot, depending on how wide the spaces are depends on how far out I'm parking [I could use the extra steps anyway]. I will admit I have not tried to parallel park it yet, even though there is a little rash on every wheel already, I've just haven't found a situation yet where I've had to. Maybe I should go practice

 

I park in parking lots, run errands but no valet.

If there is valet, I valet myself to a save spot (so far only in front under roofs since they want fancy cars at the most visible spot) and pay the valet.

 

Love that movie!! Although taken to an extreme, a good lesson in that for all of us. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

I'm trying not to be too careful with the car and take it places I normally go, but I don't know that I'll ever drive it downtown to the office. I almost got hit 20 different times one day. There are good valets, but there are also a lot of bad ones. I haven't gone to a place yet with valet service, but I think I'll ask to park the car myself. If they insist on parking it then I will see if they can even figure out how to drive it and watch them park it. Then ask for the ECU when they are done. I'm not really concerned about joy riding since if the car is up front it'll be obvious if it's gone, but the ECU has no key ring to hang it from and I'd be concerned about it getting dropped.

David

 

Don't trust the valet parking. Ok with parking lots, usually park far away from other cars. A few times a year I'll take a two or three day get away trip up or down the coast or into the mountains with my wife but usually stay in small boutique cottages or Inns that have plenty of easy parking.