Airport Parking

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I know that it's more expensive to take a taxi to the airport rather than parking there but my concern is that i prefer to have the car on the driveway as it looks like someone is home and also not get back to the airport car park and someone has dinked your car door.
I know there are also some cons to leaving the car at home as well as it could be broken into or worse stolen.
What do you prefer?

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I leave mine in the driveway, for the reason you mention. I don’t trust airport car parks after my brother’s car was moved and damaged slightly in the process. Company denied it but his car was fitted with 360° cameras and it alerted him to the unexpected motion. Footage made them cough up, in more ways than one.

Taxi to the airport for me is £25 so it’s worth it. How much is your taxi?

 

[figbat]

We have always used airport parking in one form or another. If we have an early flight we stay overnight in a hotel near the airport, many of which offer a "stay and park" service where you leave your car in their parking and get a shuttle to the airport in the morning. We have also used valet parking, but after seeing some footage from our dashcam afterwards I won't be doing that again! I now only use self-park options, so take the key with me.

Door dinking can happen anywhere - if you treasure the car that much then it will stay on the drive. I've never had a door dink at an airport car park, despite them typically being really small spaces.

 

[nickb]

As with all things in life, there are good and bad airport parking companies. I always prefer to do my research and pay for a decent service rather than go for the cheapest, which will invariably result in your car being driven around for a lark and parked in an unsupervised field.

When I'm away, I get a neighbour to park on the drive every now and again and have a time switch turn a light on every now and again.

 

[wiggydiggy]

I have driven in the past, I booked the official car parks and had no issues.

I'm not sure I'd do it again based on parking cost, I just checked one of the airports I flew from and they want £80 for the length of stay I had last time. For that money I could just book a taxi to/from the airport, or I'd look to fly from somewhere else with cheaper parking.

 

[MichaelW2]

Councils can charge £150 for retrieval of a vehicle siezed for illegal parking. Is it worth letting the council look after your car?

 

[Roseland triker]

Don't use the airport solves the problem.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I leave mine in the driveway, for the reason you mention. I don’t trust airport car parks after my brother’s car was moved and damaged slightly in the process. Company denied it but his car was fitted with 360° cameras and it alerted him to the unexpected motion. Footage made them cough up, in more ways than one.

Taxi to the airport for me is £25 so it’s worth it. How much is your taxi?

Cheapest taxi return to Stansted is £130.Car parking plus fuel to get there and back is £100

 

[Brandane]

I don't have a driveway.....

And I prefer to park at the airport for the convenience of getting there, and home again. No stressing about no show taxis at 4am either.

 

[vickster]

I took public transport to Gatwick on Monday, under £10 vs £43 for taxi (used to be under £30 but airport now charges for drop off!) or about £150 a week to park!!!
I’ll likely get a cab home as I don’t land until 9.30pm

 

[stephec]

Taxi, you can have one last session on the way home then. 😊🍻

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Train and hotel near airport night before. Start the holiday a day early.

 

[wiggydiggy]

For fun I just quoted myself a taxi to my local airport and they want £100 That's with the official taxi partner so not sure if a local firm for me is cheaper.

If I was on a longer break that might be worth it but for a few days holiday it's cheaper to drive.

 

[steverob]

For us it depends on a number of factors - cost of all options, length of holiday, which airport we're going to and what time we're flying out (or arriving home). Sometimes a taxi (or a lift from a family member if you're really lucky) works out to be the best option, other times parking up at the airport suits us better - almost always we use the airport's "official" parking provider however.

For our last big pre-Covid holiday we booked a taxi to Gatwick the night before, as we were staying in a hotel cause our flight was really early the next morning and that worked out quite well, although on the return leg they sent a really small car to pick us up and we had to play suitcase Tetris in the pickup area to get everything in!

However for our most recent trip (that we only came back from last week), we parked at Heathrow using their Meet & Greet service as the website quoted it at only £10 dearer than their long stay option - not having to wait around ages for a bus to shuttle us out to a car park that is seemingly 10 miles drive away by road even though it's still on the airport perimeter, was quite nice when you're tired and jet-lagged from an overnight flight.

 

[Electric_Andy]

My parents always used to use private parking firms who offered free transfers to the airport. One near Bristol was £25 for the week IIRC. I've also heard horror stories of friends and on forums about one that used the customers car to ferry people back and forth! The person had reset their odometer when they parked up, and when they got back it had 12 miles on it.

Regards the driveway, yes it looks like someone is home and you're probably in a better position insurance-wise if it's parked on your driveway when stolen (assuming you have stated that's where it's normally parked overnight). If the airport is close enough i.e. Exeter or even Bristol then we'd give relatives a lift, but it is much easier to just drive sometimes. Not sure if train would work out any cheaper, and you've got the hassle of carrying all your luggage and finding a safe place for it on the train, I'd not do it myself.