IN SPACE-SQUEEZED Singapore, carparks have long been a battleground for frazzled drivers who have to either drive round repeatedly or wait out to snag a parking lot.

But these days, when you're hard-pressed for a space to park your wheels, there's an alternative: Surrender your keys to a stranger in uniform. Sometimes it's free if you spend money at the establishment providing the service; other times you pay a fee ranging from $5 to $10.

Car valets, once associated with well-heeled folk in fancy cars pulling up at swanky hotels, are now an option for middle-of-the-road types.

Whether you own a Mazda or a Mercedes, you can now get it parked at shopping malls like the Paragon, hospitals like Mount Elizabeth and at restaurants like Pu Tien in Kitchener Road and Muthu's Curry in Race Course Road.

And contrary to what customers may think, most are not run by the establishments they are patronising but by third-party contractors who specialise in parking many cars in the quickest possible time.

They typically charge the hotel, club or restaurant a fee that is based on the number of valets provided and the number of hours worked. Charges range from $6 to $7.50 an hour and can cost from a few hundred dollars a month to a few thousand.

In turn, they supply valets - many of them part-time - to various locations.

Car valet services are proving so popular that there are now about 15 operators, compared to just one, Damu Valet Services, 16 years ago.

Ranging from small 20-man set-ups to larger ones boasting more than 100 valets, their business has been buoyed by Singapore's growing economy which, in turn, has led to the opening of more leisure outlets that require such services.

Valet companies interviewed by LifeStyle - these include big players like Damu and mid- to small-sized ones like Cham Valet Services - said their business has grown by 20 to 70 per cent in recent years.

One of the latest areas to address the carpark crunch has been Dempsey Hill, which has been transformed from a sleepy, weed-overrun spot to a bustling watering hole with hip restaurants, nightspots and a Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlour.

Two months ago, Country City Investments, which manages the tenants there, contracted a car valet service to help alleviate its parking woes.

While general manager Nicholas Ng declined to say whom he had hired as the operator is still 'on trial', he explains that the decision came about "because our existing carpark could not handle the peak hours".

As Mr Maniam Gopalan, 31, operations director for Regency Valet, puts it: "When you have a parking problem, the only solution left these days is to have a valet service."

Regency Valet, founded 10 years ago, supplies valets to hotels like Raffles, InterContinental and Pan Pacific and restaurants like Garibaldi.

With the growing demand for valets, the situation now is a far cry from the early 1990s when Damu Valet Services was the only player in town. It was founded by Mr Kolanthavelu Sivasurian, 47, whom many in the industry call the 'godfather' of car valets.Interestingly, almost everyone in the valet business now earned his stripes working for Mr Sivasurian, a sign that many are eager to carry on the trade he helped to pioneer.

Indeed, many get into the business out of a love for service and perhaps more crucially cars.

Says Mr Solomon Anandhan, 39, managing director of four-year-old Cham Valet Services, which has among others a contract with a group of Les Amis restaurants in Greenwood Avenue: "You can buy a car but you will never have the chance to drive various models of cars. Valets have that."

But this also means that potential valets who are inexperienced drivers or have an appetite for speed are weeded out. Applicants are also put through interviews and driving tests.

Mr Anandhan uses continental cars - favoured by many of his clients - to test their driving skills.

Valets are also trained to drive a variety of cars, with special attention paid to Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other powerful cars. Even so, some prefer not to risk mishandling such cars and instead offer a spot for the owner to park the car himself.

The majority of valets are blue-collar workers moonlighting for extra cash - they can earn at least $6 an hour, excluding tips. A part-timer can earn at least $400 monthly, without tips, and a full-timer double that.

But depending on traffic, there's not money to be made every day. Says Mr Anandhan: "Not every day we eat chicken rice. Some days we eat Maggi mee."

Because there is no accreditation for valets, quality control is largely up to the individual companies. In general, valets are not allowed to take cars out for spins or change any settings inside the vehicle.

Of course, there's no stopping bad eggs from popping up, admit the operators. Theft of cashcards and other valuables from the car does happen.

Says Mr Sunny Gazali, 39, managing director of Aqulis Management, which has contracts with hotels like Marina Mandarin: "This is the real world and such things do happen. But we will tackle individual cases accordingly and, if need be, go to the police."

Also inevitable are scratches and dents, most of which can be covered by insurance.

But Mr Gopalan warns that some companies which claim to be insured may not have wide enough coverage. In the case of serious accidents, which have happened, they may find themselves in dire straits.

Though the industry is small, it is not without its share of bitter rivalry. With everyone jostling for contracts with big-name locations, some players complain of rivals who try to get ahead by 'undercutting' them.

It has become common, they say, for companies to offer their services for free just so they can say an established company is their client. As a result, they can only sustain themselves for a short time.

Laments Mr Anandhan: "I would prefer healthy rivalry. When these companies eventually pull out, the client will expect others to offer the same low prices."

One solution, offer Mr Sunny and Mr Anandhan, is for the industry to set up an association of valets - much like what concierge workers have in the Les Clefs d'Or, a body dedicated to the betterment of the profession - so best practices can be drawn up and implemented.

For old-timers like them, being a valet is still very much about the tradition of hospitality. Says Mr Sunny: "I don't want this industry to go down just because of unscrupulous people who think about money, not about the service."