How We Vet 98 Valet Drivers
Every 98 Valet driver's licence is verified against the official Traffic Police record before they're allowed to take a job. That's the foundation everything else is built on — a driver whose licence hasn't been confirmed as genuine and current doesn't touch a customer's car, full stop.
We'd rather tell you plainly what we check and how, than reach for reassuring words that sound good but don't actually mean much. Here's what goes into approving a driver.
Licence verification, against the actual record
Before a driver ever gets near a booking, we confirm their driving licence against the official Traffic Police record — not a photo they send us, not a claim they make, the actual record. This confirms the licence is real, current, and belongs to the person holding it.
Licence class and manual capability
Singapore's driving licence classes distinguish automatic-only (Class 3A) from full manual-and-automatic (Class 3) driving. We track which class each driver holds, and separately track manual capability, because a driver who's only comfortable with automatic transmissions shouldn't be assigned to a manual car. When you book, telling us your car's make, model, and transmission type lets us match you to a driver who's actually equipped to drive it.
Experience, tracked per driver
We track how many years each driver has been actively driving, not just how long they've held a licence — the two aren't always the same thing. This factors into which jobs a driver is approved for as they build a track record with us.
Ops approval before the first job
No driver takes a booking straight after signing up. Every new driver goes through an approval step with our operations team before their first job — the licence check above, a review of their driving experience, and a conversation about how we expect a handover to actually go, before they're released into the job queue.
The two-person system
Every trip runs with two people, not one: your driver, who takes the wheel of your car, and a recovery rider, who follows the whole way on a separate vehicle. The rider's job is to be there the moment your driver drops you and your car home, so your driver isn't left stranded at your door — he gets picked up and moves straight to his next job. It also means there are two people who know exactly where your car and your driver are for the entire trip, not one person operating alone and unaccounted for. Full detail on how a trip runs end to end is on our how it works page.
Courtesy with your car, before he even starts driving
Before your driver takes the wheel, the small things are meant to matter: your seat, mirrors, and radio settings are left exactly as you had them unless you ask otherwise, and your keys stay in your hands until you hand them over yourself, not before. It's a small ritual, but it's a deliberate one — the point is that it's your car for the entire trip, with someone else doing the driving, not a car that briefly stops being yours.
Matched to your car, not just any driver
Because we track licence class, manual capability, and experience per driver rather than treating every driver as interchangeable, the person we send is meant to actually suit your car — a compact hatchback, a family SUV, or something higher-end with a manual gearbox, all need someone genuinely comfortable behind that specific wheel, not just someone who happens to be free. This is part of why we ask for your car's make and model when you book: it's not a formality, it's how the match actually gets made.
Why we tell you this plainly
None of the above is unusual for a service that puts someone else in your car — it's the baseline, and we think it's worth spelling out rather than assuming it's obvious. A licence check, a tracked skill set, an approval step, and a second person along for the whole trip are the things we can actually stand behind and explain, one by one, rather than a single vague promise that everything's "handled." If something in this list doesn't match what happened on your trip, that's worth telling us directly over WhatsApp — it's how the vetting standard actually stays a standard rather than a claim on a page.
What we don't claim
We're not going to tell you our drivers pass a "full background check" or that every trip is "fully insured" by us as the company, because those are the kind of phrases that sound reassuring without us being able to stand fully behind the specifics. What we can tell you plainly: under most Singapore comprehensive motor policies, your car remains covered while a licensed driver drives it with your permission — though some policies are named-drivers-only or carry an unnamed-driver excess, so it's worth checking your policy wording (and telling us before the trip if yours is restricted). If you want the specifics on insurance, licensing, or what happens with manual cars, our FAQ covers the questions we get asked most before a first ride, in the same plain terms as here.
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