Okay, I have waited on the sidelines on this one until now...but I feel that I should share with you some of my Valet experiences.
I worked in the gaming business in Las Vegas for many years and the Valet Dept was one of the departments that I oversaw at prominient Las Vegas Strip Hotels (that shall remain unnamed). All I can tell you is that based on my experiences, I only park my car in Valet as a last resort. On many occasions I have sat with the owners of exotic cars and employees to discuss cars that were crashed, dinged, scraped and even totalled. Ultimately, to reduce the about of abuses, we had to install radar detectors with cameras throughout the very large valet garages that we had. If the valets exceeded 35 miles per hour in one of the tunnels we took their pictures and issued suspensions and terminations. I have witnessed Valets driving over very aggresive speed bumps at 45-50 mph. We finally decided to install cameras at the entrances and exits of the valet parking garages to photograph a 360 view of each car as the gate opened, to assist us in either disputing or acknowledging damage claims made by the patrons. In addition, there were a significant number of claims involving articles taken from cars including sunglasses, phones, blackberry's, laptops, etc.
I have to admit that I am somewhat biased against valets because at one hotel that I worked at several years ago, a valet that I knew and worked with, parked my car one day and took my drivers license number (which in those days was my social security number). He went to a local Toyota dealer, said he was me, and purchased a car under my name using my credit. Had he made his payments he would probably not have been caught for sometime.
To be fair, there are many honorable people out there who park cars in small operations that do a great job and treat the cars like there own. But there are also the others that powerslide through the garage at break-neck speeds to show off.
My advice.... if you can park it yourself where it will be safe, do yourself a favor.....
I apologize in advance for being such a buzz killer!