Luton meet and greet valet parking crashed my car

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Thu 4 Sep 2014 22:08
Luton meet and greet valet parking crashed my car - J123
We used a Luton meet and greet valet parking at Luton airport recently. They took nearly an hour to return our car on what's promised as a 10 minute service. It was late at night and with 3 small kids in tow we got in and drove home immediately. I noticed new bad damage to my front bumper and light a couple of days later.

My insurance company phoned me a couple of days after that to tell me that the valet driver had crashed my car into another on the way to dropping my car back and the driver was looking to claim on my insurance as the valet parking company. When I described the new damage to my car, it matched completely to the report of the accident contact between the cars. Luton meet and greet haven't apologised at all and have been rude and unhelpful. They've drawn my attention to their (very long list) of t's &c's which state that they will only pay £100 max towards any accidents that they cause. Looks like my damage will cost aporox £1,500. Surely they must have insurance in place to pay for such an accident? What if they'd wriiten my car off, surely they need to cover damage costs.

I'm struggling to know what to do next, other than watchdog, small claims & internet reviews warning other drivers. Any legal advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks
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Thu 4 Sep 2014 22:48
Luton meet and greet valet parking crashed my car - brighteyes
First off read the T&C's on the booking document you should have received from the parking company. Then contact the company and request information relating to their third party and public liability insurance company and last but by no means least try to find out if they are members of a federation covering parking companies, it's usually advertised on their web site. Now time to sit down and work out your course of action based on the information you have gathered. I find it hard to believe they are only liable for the first £100 of any damage. I use APH and my car is fully insured when it is in their care, and their "meet and greet" drivers are fully insured. Good luck and don't take no for an answer.
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Thu 11 Sep 2014 12:26
Luton meet and greet valet parking crashed my car - J123
thanks very much for your advice - will let you know how I get on!
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Fri 5 Sep 2014 11:49
Luton meet and greet valet parking crashed my car - Brit_in_Germany

I would doubt that such an exclusion would be liable - the courts are generally willing to draw a line through unfair contract terms for consumer contracts. As they say on their web site, "Our insurances cover our legal liabilities."

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Fri 5 Sep 2014 17:10
Luton meet and greet valet parking crashed my car - Brit_in_Germany

Coincidentally, I came across this sentence in a court decision I was reading:

Under "section 2(2) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, liability for negligence cannot be excluded or restricted by reference to a contract term except insofar as that term satisfies the requirement of reasonableness set out in section 11 of the Act."

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Fri 5 Sep 2014 18:01
Luton meet and greet valet parking crashed my car - RobJP

I'd tell them to pay up, and if they don't, I'll see them in court.

And I'd be absolutely serious. They are liable, absolutely. It's called 'duty of care'.

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Thu 11 Sep 2014 12:27
Luton meet and greet valet parking crashed my car - J123
Thanks very much to you all for your advice - I'll let you know how I get on!

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