One really cool part time car-eer : Auto Talk

If a career’s success is based on parameters like coolness and diversity and not just about how much you earn, I have a really cool career option which one can consider just to make a few extra bucks while graduation.

So what is this awesome job you could take up? You might spit on your screen once I reveal it, but suspense control is what I suck at. So here goes — Valet Parking driver.

The objective is simple — Park the customer’s vehicle without making any (visible) damage and get it back once that person checks out of the hotel.

Five star hotels and resorts would love to have you work with them. Why exactly? Because you are a student. You can communicate much better than their existing drivers. They get much more from you than what they pay you for. A great name among their competitors. Imagine one customer goes to his friend and says “ Guess what. The XYZ hotel actually has trained the valet parking drivers to speak English! That’s so awesome”. This triggers a chain reaction and slowly quite a significant number of the population would come under the impression that the XYZ hotel takes so much of effort for a perfect customer experience.

So why is a Valet parking driver a really cool career? The answer is simple. If you are to an extent, an automotive enthusiast and have an urge to drive some of the fanciest cars in town, the answer is simple. You could do what you love and you could earn the same way. Every car is different. If you are someone who could communicate mentally to machines, every day is an awesome day.

What more? When you park those high end vehicles priced north of the Rs. 20 lakh margin, you are going to be quite rich. The tips you get are going to be heavy no matter what. What are the chances of you getting the high enders? It gets higher when the manager gets a tip off or a recommendation from the guest. This way, it will be made sure that the high enders come only to you. Because to be honest, it is only the elite class that a five star hotel wants to attract. They don’t really care too much if you land up in a Tata.

Here are some tips that I feel could help you getting those extra bucks:

1. Greet the customer.

You have seen it in English movies. The moment you enter a shop, you get a “Hi. How are you? Welcome” and that triggers a customer response. Applying the same concept here, “Hello sir. Have a great time here.” with the traditional door opening and closing acts. If the customer is just a rich kid in his teens, you can go with “Nice ride there!” and make him look cool in front of his girl(s). And bam! You have got yourself a 100 Rupee tip.

2. Assure the customer.

Quite often you see customers coming to exotic hotels to celebrate the purchase of a new car. When these customers are self drivers, they are quite reluctant to give it to a valet parking driver. Sometimes, it is not possible to park the vehicles around the building compound leaving no choice for it to be parked by the valet parking driver elsewhere. In such a situation, coming up with a “don’t worry sir. Your car is in safe hands” in a very convincing and confident tone definitely helps.

3. Do not change arrangements

You’ll be pushed and pressed for time. There might be a long queue of cars behind you waiting to drop/pick up people. But don’t let that get to you. Once you get into the car, take a quick scan of how the customer has positioned his seat, steering wheel and in which gear he has parked the vehicle (some people shift to neutral) and make a mental note of all these things. When you return the vehicle, return it to your customer in the very same way it was given to you. Why all this? Because most customers won’t be knowing how to get those back to the way it was set earlier.

4. Do not speed up in front of the customer

Let me add in another point when we are talking about queues of cars. Never speed up in front of the customer. This gives them a sense of insecurity and sometimes even gets them irritated and rise complaints.

Same comes into play when you’re returning the vehicle. Some hotels or resorts have marble flooring in the portico to welcome guests with shines. Now, what does that mean to a driver? Low friction. So, there are higher chances of wheel locks. So, watch it. Drive slow. Show them how much you care about their ride. Get tipped. Go home.

I guess with the above 4-point procedure or “4 tips for a successful valet parking driver” you should be through if they are followed meticulously. And if you do get heavily tipped after reading this, I need my 20%. Just kidding!

Take care, drive safe!