Handing over your Bugatti keys to a valet is tough. Crashing your Bugatti yourself? That’s tougher. Here’s how the story went down—straight from Alex Farrington, owner of Prestige Valet Services.
“A guy pulled in at lunch time in a Bugatti Veyron,” Alex said. “The valet was so excited—‘oh my God, I’m gonna get to park this car.’” But the owner stepped out and shut that down fast. “‘No, you’re not going to park this car. I’m gonna park it myself.’”
Fair enough—until it wasn’t.
The owner started pulling in, slow and steady. Then came the crunch. “He curbs his wheel completely,” Alex said. The valet winced. The ride-along passenger froze.
And the Bugatti driver? He stepped out, looked at the damage, and said, “‘Oh my God, I probably just did about $25,000 worth of damage to my wheel and the body.’”
To his credit, he didn’t get mad. In fact, he handled the situation with grace and humor. He tossed over the keys and told the valet, “‘You can’t do any worse. Have fun.’”
The hidden price of a Bugatti valet parking fail
Let’s pause and do some math. The Bugatti Veyron doesn’t just cost 2.5 million dollars to own—it charges rent.
Its custom Michelin Pilot Sport PAX tires are 42,000 dollars a set. They’re also glued to the rims and need re-gluing every 18 months—even if the car doesn’t move. After three tire changes, you’ll need new wheels.
And those wheels? They cost 69,000 dollars for a set. Worse, you can’t fix them at the local tire shop. You have to ship them back to Bugatti’s factory in Molsheim, France for service. That’s thousands more, plus downtime.
So, the curbed wheel? That 25,000 dollar estimate was probably optimistic. It’s more like 50,000 to 100,000 dollars, depending on whether the rims need replacing. And that’s just for one corner of the car.
Valets are used to egos the size of a Bugatti price tag
The Bugatti owner wasn’t the first entitled customer this valet service had faced.
One Bentley driver threw a fit after getting a parking fee, telling staff, “‘You’re in the wrong industry if you don’t know not to ticket Bentleys.’” Then he slapped a one-dollar tip in their hands and left.
Another Lamborghini Murcielago owner refused to believe Alex actually owned the same car. “I told him, ‘sir, no problem—I’ll definitely take care of it. I actually have one myself,’” Alex said. “He thought that was pretty funny. He asked how to take off the brake, and I showed him. Then he finally trusted me.”
But the Bugatti driver? At least he had a sense of humor about his blunder.
He tossed over the keys, shrugged off the damage, and let the valet take over. Maybe he realized that when your car’s wheels are glued together and cost more than most sedans, it’s better to let the professionals drive.
See more of Alex’s wild stories in the video interview embedded below:
