Holiday Tipping. $25? $100? Your car is probably your second most valuable asset after your home, so under-tipping could be a bad choice. To find out the trends for monthly parkers, we called the major garage operators, surveyed 15 random garages, and asked our fellow parkers how much they tip.

But we found out there just isn’t any formula, there aren’t really any trends, the garage guys don’t want to talk, and tipping might remain one of the great NYC secrets!

So we persevered and got you some answers:
$100 per employee is considered ‘extremely generous’ in midtown, the E60s, and around Union Square, but is ‘average’ in the more affluent areas like E80s near 5th Ave
$25 - $50 per employee is ‘kind of cheap’ in those more affluent residential areas and ‘normal’ around much of the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side.

Want to find out the largest, smallest, and most unusual tips?

Other things to consider:
Garage Size – a small 60 car garage and medium 250 car garage can both be splitting tips evenly among the same 3 employees, but the larger garage is going to have a larger tip kitty.

Your Activity – if you use your car often and tip throughout the year, or don’t really use your car much at all, then you can probably go a bit lighter. But if you’re not tipping each time you use your car, then aim a little higher.

How to Tip – give a lump sum for the Manager to divide evenly or as he wishes, or give individual envelopes to each employee. If you park in a large garage, just ask the Manager for a total head count. Many of the larger garages will pool all the tips.