# Valet parking and keyless entry **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valet-parking-and-keyless-entry/747154 "2016-02-26T00:20:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valet-parking-and-keyless-entry/747154/21 "2016-02-27T19:38:53Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I seriously [thought](http://www.toonpool.com/user/6485/files/ballet_parking_1465715.jpg) I was having an [original](http://lowres.jantoo.com/transportation-keys-car_key-valet-valet_parking-ballet-36530135_low.jpg) [idea.](https://painfulpuns.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/ballet-parking-january-8-2013pun.jpg?w=585) It was new to me. I give you FULL CREDIT for it. But I don’t get out much. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valet-parking-and-keyless-entry/747154/22 "2016-02-27T20:19:36Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I don’t let anyone drive my car. Park it yourself. There are places where you effectively can’t park your own car, in large part because all available parking has been roped off as “valet only” ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valet-parking-and-keyless-entry/747154/23 "2016-02-27T22:45:38Z")
Some of these responses aren’t making much sense to me in light of clearly very different configurations than what I’m used to. I understand there’s all kinds of fancy new technologies around now including cars that start without a key in the ignition at all. But on mine, I do have keyless entry but all that means is you use the fob to lock and unlock the doors and that’s it. You still need the mechanical key to start the car, and you can use it to unlock the trunk (but you can also pop the trunk with a lever inside the car if you’ve opened the door, so it isn’t necessary. And the fob does nothing with the trunk at all). > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Do I just give the whole key(less) fob to the attendant? > > I think there’s a key hidden inside the fob. Should I give him the key? There nothing valuable in the trunk. Just shopping bags. Does this mean there’s no lever/button/etc. to pop your trunk inside your car? Are you saying that you need the fob to open the trunk but it cannot be opened with a mechanical key? > [@Lasciel](#): > > You CAN give them the skeleton key inside the fob, but that’s sort of a PITA for them, and (more importantly to me) an indirect slight against the valet/valet service’s professionalism. Basically when you give a skeleton key like that you’re saying you don’t trust them to not fuck with your preferred settings and orientations or with the ancillary access areas like the trunk and the interior compartments. “Settings and orientations”? That must be some hell of a fob. Again, I have no idea what’s being described here and it also sounds like the fob is the only possible way to access the trunk and perhaps even the glovebox - is that correct? (my glovebox has no lock on it at all, and as described the trunk can be popped with a lever on the floor or opened with mechanical key but not the fob) > [@Joey\_P](#): > > The only time I’ve ever thought about doing that (not that I valet my car very often) is when I went to the dealer for something) and had quite a bit of cash in my trunk. But I figured that would tip them off that something might be in there and they’d probably have no problem getting into it. OK this one isn’t a configuration thing but it’s too intriguing a comment not to inquire about - you regularly roll around with “quite a bit of cash” _in the trunk of your car_? Dare I ask why? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valet-parking-and-keyless-entry/747154/24 "2016-02-27T23:36:05Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Does this mean there’s no lever/button/etc. to pop your trunk inside your car? Are you saying that you need the fob to open the trunk but it cannot be opened with a mechanical key? > > … [This](http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/images/g/uFMAAOSwAHZUNBe1/s-l225.jpg)is what my Mazda “key” fob looks like. I put “key” in quotation marks because, although there is a physical key hidden inside the fob, in fact, you do not use the physical key in your everyday interaction with the car. In my everyday interaction with the car, I need to have the fob on my person or in my purse or very nearby (not sure what the distance has to be). When the key is nearby: I walk up to the locked car door, put my hand on the handle, and push the door handle button. There are two audible beeps (which, I discovered yesterday, I cannot hear if I don’t have my hearing aids in – who knew?), and the driver door unlocks. If I push the button again \*immediately \*there are two more audible beeps and the other three doors unlock. -I get in the car and push the start button and the car starts. -I get out of the car and walk away and push the top button on the fob (see picture) and the car honks VERY LOUDLY and all four doors lock. -If I forget to lock the car, I keep an extra fob beside my bed (bedroom is next to my driveway), and I can lock the car before I go to bed. Another reason for keeping the fob beside my bed is that if I hear anything suspicious in the driveway, I can push the bottom button on the fob and set off the alarm. Re unlocking the trunk: I can unlock the trunk by pushing the second-from-bottom button on the fob OR by pushing a button inside the car on the lower left below the dashboard. I don’t know whether or not the trunk can be opened with a mechanical key. For that matter, I don’t know whether the driver door can be unlocked with a mechanical key. I never noticed whether there is a keyhole. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m not sure what I would use the hidden key for – I don’t know how to use it to start the car… _\_ Now I’m confused. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valet-parking-and-keyless-entry/747154/25 "2016-02-27T23:56:36Z")
Just checked: yes, there is a keyhole on the door. Makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valet-parking-and-keyless-entry/747154/26 "2016-02-28T00:18:27Z")
> [@sbunny8](#): > > But the mechanical override key _ **by itself** _ will not start the engine because it lacks a transponder. Not only will it not start the car, on my car it sets the alarm off. Which may be what you want, but it’s a bit irritating for an old guy like me, with decades of key use behind me, because if I’m thinking of something else I sometimes mindlessly unlock the car with the key, they mindlessly try to start the car with key. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valet-parking-and-keyless-entry/747154/27 "2016-02-28T01:42:07Z")
So what is the function of the manual override key? ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valet-parking-and-keyless-entry/747154/28 "2016-02-29T17:30:53Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > So what is the function of the manual override key? It allows you to unlock the door when your car’s battery is dead. Depending on your car, it also might allow you to unlock the steering wheel and put the shifter into neutral so that the car can be moved around in order to reach the engine compartment with jumper cables. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valet-parking-and-keyless-entry/747154/29 "2016-02-29T18:21:18Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > So what is the function of the manual override key? In my car, for example, the manual key is there in case someone were to run the fob through the wash and kill it. All of the memory and RF features of the fob quit working, but the manual key will open the door, and the NFC chip (passive, so sealed up and not affected by water) held to a certain mark on the dash will allow the start button to work. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valet-parking-and-keyless-entry/747154/30 "2016-03-01T04:44:17Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Not only will it not start the car, on my car it sets the alarm off. > > Which may be what you want, but it’s a bit irritating for an old guy like me, with decades of key use behind me, because if I’m thinking of something else I sometimes mindlessly unlock the car with the key, they mindlessly try to start the car with key. :smack: You are not alone. What’s even worse is when I wonder “what is that alarm?” for a not insignificant amount of time while emerging from my reverie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valet-parking-and-keyless-entry/747154.md?page=1)