Tom Toye III resurrects Park 'N Jet valet service

PHOTo / Tim greenway Entrepreneur Tom Toye III is back in the valet parking game. His Park 'N Jet business offers parking, washing and detailing services for air travelers' vehicles.

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By James McCarthy

Fifteen years after getting out of the parking business at the Portland International Jetport, Tom Toye III is back in the game with his newly opened Park 'N Jet valet parking service. The business revives a service he started at the jetport more than 40 years ago — when getting up at 4 a.m. was a little easier.

Toye's first venture into valet parking at the jetport occurred in 1970, when he offered the specialty service as a sideline to a car rental franchise he opened there. Both enterprises did well, he says, but in 1998 he decided to lease the car rental and valet parking facility to Alamo Rent-A-Car in order to pursue other business ventures.

Now he's come full circle. Park 'N Jet, located at 1000 Westbrook St. near the Embassy Suites Hotel, opened Nov. 4 and charges $10 per day, $2 less than the jetport's public parking facility. Open seven days a week, from 5 a.m. until the last flight, its customers are shuttled to and from the jetport; for extra fees they can have the car washed and detailed while they're away.

Toye recently spoke with Mainebiz about why he decided to come out of retirement to reopen the valet parking service at the jetport. An edited transcript follows.

Mainebiz: What prompted your return?

Tom Toye: After I leased the property to Alamo Rent-a-Car in 1998, they later merged with National Car Rental and National moved into the facility. They tried to keep the parking business going, but now with the two car rental companies it was getting congested. Then, to further hurt the [valet] parking business, Enterprise bought Alamo and National and they moved their airport operations into this facility. They were three of the largest car rental companies at the jetport and they had 'Lot Full' signs quite often — and that would alienate the valet parking customers.

Ultimately, I didn't want them to discontinue the valet parking business [but] they wanted to drop it. So Enterprise bought a new piece of land and built a new facility farther down the street, just for their car-rental operation. Then its lease [at 1000 Westbrook St.] terminated at the end of October this year.

MB: So there goes your retirement?

TT: [Laughing] Yes, that's what kind of brought me out of retirement. The odds of finding another car rental company [to replace Enterprise] these days seemed slim.

MB: How do your services and prices differ from 40 years ago?

TT: The parking service used to be $1 a day when we started. We also used to give the customers a dime to make the phone call when they returned. On the claim check we Scotch-taped a dime. And that was a nice little touch. Now those days are gone, I guess.

We also offer washes, detailing and oil changes. Hopefully, in January we'll have our state-inspection license and we'll offer that service as well … which is a big convenience for the busy traveler. They really like that. That was a big key to our success back in the '70s when I was first doing this.

MB: Even though you've done this before, is this a fresh challenge?

TT: Well, getting up at 4 a.m. is a bit of a challenge. Obviously, I'm excited to see the business grow again and get back to where it was. I guess the frustration I've had is mostly in my lack of understanding about social media marketing. I see so much of that being done, and I'm still learning.

Every day we grow a little bit more. I've got old statistics I can look back at from when I was here before and I can see how far we still have to go. So it makes me work harder, I guess, every day.

MB: Invigorating, in a way?

TT: I would say it takes me back to my 20s and 30s. I don't feel any older than that. It's just reliving the beginning of starting a new business. That's the way it is.