Can a valet drive your Tesla safely? What Valet Mode does and does not protect

Yes, a valet can drive your Tesla, and Valet Mode is the owner’s main safeguard. It caps speed at 70 mph, reduces drive power, locks the frunk and glovebox, and hides Home and Work, profiles, and the key list. It restricts the car. It does not restrict the person driving it, and it does not stop a key card from working.

So “safely” is partly the mode and partly what you do at the curb: switch the mode on, decide where the key card goes, and make your own record before you walk away.

LAST REVIEWED NOVEMBER 13, 2026

Is it safe to let a valet drive your Tesla?

Safer with Valet Mode on, but never risk-free. Valet Mode caps speed at 70 mph, reduces drive power, locks the frunk and glovebox, and hides Home and Work, profiles, and the key list. It restricts the car, not the person driving it, so it cannot make a careless driver careful. Two documented valet incidents show the range: a 2020 Model S crash at a San Antonio resort where the owner had not enabled Valet Mode, and a Model 3 crash where the owner paid $1,300 for an independent EDR pull to settle what happened.

The two incidents are covered in full in the valet-stand guide. In July 2020 a valet crashed a guest’s Model S while using launch mode (The Drive). In the second case a valet crashed a Model 3 Performance into two parked cars and claimed Autopilot had engaged itself; the owner paid $1,300 for an independent EDR pull (Teslarati).

What Valet Mode protects, and what it leaves open

Speed capped at 70 mph, drive power reduced.
Frunk and glovebox locked.
Home and Work destinations, driver profiles, and the key list hidden.
PIN to Drive is disabled while Valet Mode is on, so the valet is never asked for a PIN.
A key card still unlocks and drives the car. The mode restricts the car, not the credential.

What should you do before handing a valet your Tesla?

Four things. Switch on Valet Mode, at the touchscreen with a four-digit PIN or from the Tesla app while the car is in Park. Decide whether the key card goes with the car, because it is a full credential. Photograph the car and the odometer so you hold your own record. And take valuables out of the cabin rather than relying on the glovebox lock, which an owner-set Glovebox PIN can override.

Step-by-step instructions are in how to turn Valet Mode on and off. If you forget, the app path means you can still switch it on after the car has left.

What can you not control once a valet has your Tesla?

You cannot make the key card stop working remotely, because it cannot be remote-wiped and keeps no usage trail. Valet Mode does not stop a key card from driving the car. And you cannot count on Sentry Mode as a witness, because Tesla publishes no canonical answer on its behavior during Valet Mode. What you can do from your phone is switch Valet Mode on or off, including after the car has left the curb.

A key card that leaves with the car is a full credential until you remove it at the touchscreen.
Valet Mode is yours to switch off, so it is a courtesy setting rather than a lock.
If someone tells you the car is recording during the valet window, ask what that claim rests on; nothing published settles it.

For the key-card side, see using and removing a key card.

What record should you keep when a valet parks your Tesla?

Keep a record that does not depend on the car: dated photos of every panel and the wheels, the odometer reading, and the time you handed the car over and got it back, plus the ticket. The evidence that ends a damage dispute usually comes from the car or the owner rather than the valet company, and an independent EDR download is a paid, after-the-fact step. A record made at the curb costs nothing.