Car damaged by Airport Valet Parking

[cbmotorsport]

My Wife parked at Luton airport recently while going on a weekend away. She used a valet parking company and dropped the car off at the airport. Photos of the car's (immaculate) condition were taken, and forms signed etc.

Upon collection the car was parked hard up against a wall, and unfortunately she didn't look around the whole car. 2 mins down the road when stopping for fuel, she noticed a badly scraped bumper and badly kerbed alloy. She immediately contacted the company, who gave her an email for customer services. They have quoted their terms and conditions (which are ridiculously biased towards their interests) and have refused to accept any liability or entertain any conversation.

Retrospectively looking at Trust Pilot and Google reviews shows 69% of their reviews to be 1 star/awful, with so many people complaining of damage, and theft from the vehicles.

Initial quotes are for around £600 to refurb the wheel and repair the bumper.

I'm annoyed that she didn't do a bit of research before booking, but it was a last minute thing...anyhow...is there anything that I can do? Is it worth a small claims? or am I wasting my time.

[parabolica]

Not surprising that their T&Cs are biased towards them - that's the whole point of T&Cs. That aside, given photos were taken and forms signed (assuming the forms said the company promised to return the car in the same condition as it came in) then I would be pushing them - otherwise what was the point in the photos and forms?

[p4cks]

Most likely they’ll not entertain any sort of recompense.

I’d start legal proceedings even at this early stage of it were me

[cbmotorsport]

parabolica said:

Not surprising that their T&Cs are biased towards them - that's the whole point of T&Cs. That aside, given photos were taken and forms signed (assuming the forms said the company promised to return the car in the same condition as it came in) then I would be pushing them - otherwise what was the point in the photos and forms?

Their Ts and Cs say they refuse to be held responsible for any damage under the value of £750, and they cannot be liable for minor scratches and dents that become apparent after rainfall, even if not noted on the original report. I appreciate that Ts and Cs are there to protect the company, but bearing in mind what they do, I think this is disgusting. Especially as these clauses are not brought to the attention of the customer at the time. They basically absolve themselves of all responsibility when it comes to returning your car in the condition you left it. This must make their drivers not give a flying fk about how they drive the car, because it really doesn't matter.

4. Liabilities and other Terms

4.1 Our insurance covers our legal liabilities.

4.2 Vehicles and moveable items which are left unattended are left at the owner’s risk whilst the vehicle is in our Possession.

4.3 No claim for damage can be made unless that damage was brought to the attention of our representative upon collection of your vehicle on your return and written notification is given to you at the time.

4.4 We accept no liability for mechanical, structural and electrical failure of any part of your vehicle including windscreens, glass chips, clutches, tyres and alloy wheels. This list is not exhaustive.

4.5 We accept no liability for any loss or damage whatsoever caused unless proved to be caused by the negligence of our employees.

4.6 Your vehicle must be taxed and comply with the Road Traffic Act 1988. This is deemed by us to be the case for the whole duration while the vehicle is in our possession.

4.7 We accept no liability for any faulty keys, alarm fobs, house or other keys left on the key ring. In the event of vehicles not starting, we reserve the right to charge for our time. We therefore advise that only the car key should be given.

4.8 In the event that the car acquires a puncture whilst in our possession (including slow punctures) we reserve the right to charge either to inflate the tyre or for the changing of the tyre. We do not accept liability for punctures whilst in our custody.

4.9 In the event that the vehicle does not start due to a flat battery, we reserve the right to charge for our time in attempting to start the vehicle. Please note that we cannot be held responsible for any consequences that may result as a direct result of us having to jump-start your vehicle.

4.10 We advise that the customers either leave a spare key with us, or keep a spare key for their vehicle on there person.

4.11 During busy periods your car may be stored in any one of our secondary compounds, (within a 15-mile radius of our main car park). Please note that security levels may vary.

4.12 In the event that your vehicle needs to be repaired as a result of our negligence, it must be carried out by our own approved organisation. It will be your responsibility to deliver and collect the car from the garage at your own cost. We cannot authorise or agree for any works to be carried out by dealerships that have not been approved, even in the event of the vehicle forgoing its warranty. The company reserves the right to undertake repairs to your vehicle on your behalf in a manner which restores it to the condition in which it arrived at the car park.

4.13 Our drivers do not consent to being filmed. Therefore, in some cases dashcams may be disconnected.



5. Exclusion and limits of our responsibility

5.1 Any vehicles parked by the customer personally at a Car park/Hotel do so entirely at their own risk.

5.2 Loss or damage covered by your own insurance. No vehicles will be covered for Theft/Fire/Flood/Malicious damage or any other intervening act of nature whilst the vehicle is parked in our custody.

5.3 Any indirect/direct loss as a result of damage or loss to the vehicle (such as loss of earnings/missed flights etc.).

5.4 We cannot pay more than £20,000 for loss of or damage to the vehicle.

5.5 We endeavour to deliver your vehicle back to you within 45 mins depending on traffic, weather conditions.

5.6 We will not be held liable for any delayed or missed flights/car hire charges as a direct or indirect result of our service.

5.7 We will not be responsible for any discolour of paintwork or dents or scratches that may become visible after a Car wash/rainfall. This is regardless if the dents or scratches are mentioned in this document or not.

5.8 We are unable to accept vehicles that are fitted with a roof luggage box that do not fall under the height restrictions within the airport car parks. In the event of a customer booking the service with a vehicle fitted with a roof luggage box the Company cannot accept liability for any damage.

5.9 It is not always possible to check the internal condition of the car and therefore we may not accept responsibility for the interior condition.

5.10 Unless proved otherwise, minor claims, (those below £750) may not be accepted.

[zedx19]

parabolica said:

Not surprising that their T&Cs are biased towards them - that's the whole point of T&Cs. That aside, given photos were taken and forms signed (assuming the forms said the company promised to return the car in the same condition as it came in) then I would be pushing them - otherwise what was the point in the photos and forms?

But playing Devils Advocate, she drove off without checking the car so the Valet Parking will claim she damaged the vehicle after leaving the site.

Small claims court would be the likely only realistic route, even then though, your wife drove off before reporting the damage, so the court will likely say the above.

[cbmotorsport]

zedx19 said:

parabolica said:

Not surprising that their T&Cs are biased towards them - that's the whole point of T&Cs. That aside, given photos were taken and forms signed (assuming the forms said the company promised to return the car in the same condition as it came in) then I would be pushing them - otherwise what was the point in the photos and forms?

But playing Devils Advocate, she drove off without checking the car so the Valet Parking will claim she damaged the vehicle after leaving the site.

Small claims court would be the likely only realistic route, even then though, your wife drove off before reporting the damage, so the court will likely say the above.

Yes, I did point that out to her, and I suspect that that would be the outcome. I just don't like injustice and shysters, and have difficulty letting stuff like this go. :-(

[pavarotti1980]

cbmotorsport said:

Their Ts and Cs say they refuse to be held responsible for any damage under the value of £750, and they cannot be liable for minor scratches and dents that become apparent after rainfall, even if not noted on the original report. I appreciate that Ts and Cs are there to protect the company, but bearing in mind what they do, I think this is disgusting. Especially as these clauses are not brought to the attention of the customer at the time. They basically absolve themselves of all responsibility when it comes to returning your car in the condition you left it. This must make their drivers not give a flying fk about how they drive the car, because it really doesn't matter.

Find somewhere to quote over £750!

Although you might be hard pushed to prove it otherwise since driving off (unless there is something like dashcam footage of the journey from pick up until noticing the damage to prove no kerbs are walls were damaged in the making of the video)

You have the starting point of no damage upon drop off so that can give a decent timeline.

Letter Before Action might be sufficient to nudge them towards paying or contributing

[lyonspride]

Luton? lol

It probably got used as a minicab all weekend, look for sucker marks on the windscreen.....

[RB Will]

Had similar, to a lesser extent at Heathrow.
Came back from holiday on a late flight so it was dark, the car was parked nose in. I checked it over quickly looking for anything major but saw nothing.
At home the next day seeing the whole car in the light on my drive I noticed the front number plate (metal one) was bent slightly. Took it off to have a look and there was a slight crack and dent in the number plate recess on the front bumper.
Best guess is the tow bar of another car had been used as a front parking sensor by their guy in their compound.


I emailed the parking co and was just told that the car isn't where they last left it so nothing to prove it was them.


Luckily with the plate being metal I could just straighten that out and it all looked fine.

[Jimmy No Hands]

I worked for one of these companies for 4 years, we would always take any claim seriously (using our high quality pre-park images, as this company did) in the instance it gets brought to our attention before you drive off.

Otherwise we wouldn't entertain it. We had maybe two or three "fraudulent" cases a month of people trying to claim for new alloys, car park damage, new windscreens on vehicles with pre existing (sometimes very blatant) damage. Not to say we didn't have accidents, because we did, but it worked both ways. They were a very honest company but sadly some are not.

[PF62]

cbmotorsport said:

My Wife parked at Luton airport recently while going on a weekend away. She used a valet parking company and dropped the car off at the airport.

Looking at their website you were brave, very brave, especially there is virtually no information about where your car will actually be parked.

However since their contact address is a residential house in Hitchin if you got nowhere with your claim you could always go and knock on their front door.

[Alucidnation]

I think you would have done well to get the car back undamaged anyway.

[Jeremy-75qq8]

I use valet parking at Gatwick every week.

Same. Photos etc. When I collect I have to sign a slip saying the condition of the car is ok. Once I have signed that is pretty much end of.

I did have a cracked windscreen at Heathrow. They asked me to claim on my policy and gave me £100 credit.

On the basis she accepted it and probably signed a bit of paper I can’t see you are going to get very far to be honest.

[anonymous-user]

Worth a small claims, there were in bailment of your car, whatever there terms stated, they have a duty of care.

[BertBert]

Thesprucegoose said:

Worth a small claims, there were in bailment of your car, whatever there terms stated, they have a duty of care.

But as others have said, how will you prove it was them?

[anonymous-user]

BertBert said:

But as others have said, how will you prove it was them?

Balance of probabilities is required, you don't have to prove it was them 100%. Just provide all the evidence the op has.

[Turfy]

Jeremy-75qq8 said:

I use valet parking at Gatwick every week.

Same. Photos etc. When I collect I have to sign a slip saying the condition of the car is ok. Once I have signed that is pretty much end of.

Be sure to email the photos to a trusted 3rd party/person (I send mine to a friendly Police Officer). This way they are timestamped!

[Byker28i]

Jeremy-75qq8 said:

I use valet parking at Gatwick every week.

Same. Photos etc. When I collect I have to sign a slip saying the condition of the car is ok. Once I have signed that is pretty much end of.

I did have a cracked windscreen at Heathrow. They asked me to claim on my policy and gave me £100 credit.

On the basis she accepted it and probably signed a bit of paper I can’t see you are going to get very far to be honest.

My daughters just got back from honeymoon having used the valet parking at Gatwick. 88 miles extra on the mileage, fuel tank almost empty and it was half full,1.4 corsa so thrashed, one kerbed alloy, filthy paintwork, mud splattered on one side, probably done to hide the scrapemark on the rear offside bumper...
They spotted before they left - basically the state of it and then everything else unraveled... On site rep didn't want to know, pointed them at customer services who denied everything

[KungFuPanda]

99% of airport valet parking companies are dodgy. They’ll take your car and dump it in the nearest housing estate.

It think secretly people know this but still use their services because they’re cheap.

[hotchy]

Have they not been on watch dog before. Basically charge you for secure parking but park it down a pub/street/field until your return and drop it off, used and abused.