Check Our Insurance
The BBC broadcast a segment concerning airport meet and greet parking companies in their Rip Off Britain TV programme on the 7th January 2019. It highlighted that one unfortunate couple had parked their car with a parking operator who had caused serious damage to their car and then refused to have it repaired.
This has raised the question about insurance. If they had chosen an Approved Operator at Gatwick Airport, they would have had peace of mind that they had parked their car with a reputable company, which has full comprehensive insurance to drive customer vehicles.
The company mentioned in the programme did not have relevant insurance and claimed that their part time drivers drove on their own personal insurance. It is fact that when parking your car and paying for someone to look after it, this is a business transaction – which will not be covered by third party, personal insurance. So, with over thirty years of expertise in parking at the UK’s second largest airport, here are our words of wisdom to help you when choosing a meet and greet parking operator:
- Always check to see that the parking provider has the Park Mark award - given by police for security and customer service practises
- Approved Operators are listed on Gatwick Airport’s website - checked and approved by Gatwick Airport itself
- Insurance - all Approved Operators hold full comprehensive insurance whilst driving your vehicle. Liability for damage that occurs whilst it is stored will only be considered if negligence has occurred by the company or its employees; otherwise as with any car parks, cars are stored at the owners’ risk
- Check the security measures - CCTV, fencing, gated entry etc should be present in some form and all car parks with Park Mark awards are published on the Park Mark website
- Check Reviews- just because someone writes something on a website does not mean it is true - make sure the operator has genuine reviews on independent websites such e.g. Reevoo, Trustpilot, Google and Facebook
- DO NOT always book the cheapest – running a professional airport parking operation requires skilled labour and regularly maintained infrastructure
- Call to check if you are not sure - ask questions and if you do not get conclusive answers, avoid using this provider
- NOT all meet and greet operators are bad - you just need to check all details before you book