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Car park damage - challenging "car parked at owner's risk" clauses

by Murdo Maguire — last modified 2007-01-04 13:38

I recently parked my car in a private car park and left it for two weeks. The parking was prepaid but when I returned I found the car damaged and a witness can verify this. I have written to the car park operator concerned who have stated that the car is parked at the owner's risk. Is this correct? What is to stop anyone then going around and smashing cars in the car park?

Most car parks will have a disclaimer clause which often is ineffective.  After all, having paid for the privilege of parking your vehicle on their property they must owe a duty of care and take reasonable precautions to ensure that their customers' property is not damaged.  We have asked one of our panel solicitors and they have frequently succeeded against car parks in such claims following robust correspondence.

This may depend upon how the damage was caused - for example a dent in the door caused by the driver of another vehicle opening his door carelessly will most likely not give rise to any liability.  On the other hand, if serious damage has been caused, then the car park should have been aware of the registration number of the vehicle that caused the damage and might be found negligent if they did not have adequate CCTV facilities for the purpose.

If you have legal expenses insurance, use it! However, they may decline acceptance of the case on the grounds that in their view there are no reasonable prospects of succeeding.

Our sister site has a policy - Crashguard Hindsight which can be taken out following a collision and limits exposure to legal fees by providing legal expenses cover even after an accident has occurred. At £75 it is a bargain as it will also provide you with all the benefits of full crashguard accident scene assistance and full legal cover for a year after the policy has been taken out. It may be appropriate if you wish to take the matter further.

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