Valet Parking: Selecting A Merchant
How do you go about choosing the right company to provide valet parking for your event? How do you know a great company from a so-so one? Are there ways you can tell? The phone book certainly isn’t much help. The ads in the business section in the back may give you the phone number and possibly the address, and maybe even a picture, but that’s about it. That’s not much information to go on. And most valet parking companies have a website these days, but that’s also hit and miss. Some are very informative, while others are bare bones. You’ll need to contact the companies directly, and ask them some questions before choosing one.
By talking to them directly, yourself, you don’t have to rely on their advertising. You can cut right to the chase and ask them anything you want to ask them. Write down a bunch of questions before you start calling. If you don’t know what questions to ask, keep reading! It’s very important that you have the list of questions written out ahead of time to make sure you cover each one. And it’s probably easier if you set aside a block of a few hours to call all the companies, instead of calling one today, another one tomorrow, etc. It will make it a lot easier to compare companies, and you won’t have to remember where you left your notes.
How old is your company?
About how many weddings and other events has your company done the valet parking for over the years?
Are your employees bonded? Are they all insured?
What kinds of insurance do you have?
What’s the amount of coverage on each policy?
What standards do you set for driving records of people you hire?
How about criminal background checks?
How about references? Do you have a list of customers I can contact about their experience with your firm?
How much do you charge?
You can probably think of a few other questions yourself that might apply to your specific situation. But these are the basic questions you should ask of any valet parking company before you hire them. Don’t take any chances.
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