Wwyd - am I just being precious about parking?

[EssentialHummus]

I'm going to sound like a nutter for caring about this, but here goes.

We're going on holiday and DH wants the car to stay at Gatwick (weird arrival/dept. times). All fine, but the cheapest parking available, by £30, is valeted. My car is a (worthless) 20 year old Merc. It doesn't have a normal handbrake - instead it has an extra pedal on the floor that you depress with your foot to apply the handbrake, and then a separate lever that you twist with your right hand to release it.

It's not rocket science, but if you've not driven it before it takes getting used to.

The last time some random drove it (car wash) he didn't know what he was doing and we gained a big old dent in the boot as a result.

So - pay less and hope the Gatwick parking folk know what they're doing/try to explain (but then what about the way back?)? Or spend the equivalent of a nice holiday meal out to park myself, further away?

park yourself in the park&ride

Always park and ride myself. Too many horror stories of what they do to your car once they pick it up!

My 4 year old Volvo had a similar handbreak so not too uncommon really so you should be fine.

I'd pay less. They park cars for a living, they would have come across this type of hand brake before. My car has the same (its not a merc)

Thos are quite common, I've had a car like that before. Just leave a note taped to the dashboard explaining it in case they haven't come across it before.

Those*

Is it official Gatwick valet parking or a third party?
There are lots of horror stories online about the third party cheap ones ie leaving your car in a field while you're away. So I would avoid those types for that; let alone risking damage to your car nevermind how old it is.
Saying that, if you do a key handover with the driver you'll be able to explain to them how it works but it probably won't come back with the same driver so you never know, it is their job though so they've probably seen it all!

I always pay the extra for short stay at Gatwick (you walk straight into the terminal) to remove any stress but you do pay a lot more for it which adds up for longer trips.

How much would it cost to get a taxi?

I'm shocked to hear there are modern cars with this - everyone who sees it looks at me in horror.

cat - short stay is prohibitive for two weeks. It's an official Gatwick one, hopefully no parking down random alleys.

trills taxis there and back are more expensive than the most expensive parking.

I'm now starting to wonder about train there + taxi back (middle of the night).

I think it will be fine. Go with the valet parking. If you're really worried leave a note on the steering wheel/passenger seat. Claim/complain about any damage.

The last time we parked at Gatwick (Jan) we booked the long stay, a massive car park where we parked ourselves and got the bus to the terminal.
We booked it about a couple of months in advance but still only paid around £60 for a fortnight, which I thought was very reasonable.

I've used Maple Manor for a good few years now and never had any problems. If you're really worried, I'd do park and ride - the buses operate all night long

Hotel & onsite parking. Park your car in their hotel car park yourself. Cost efficient & safer.

I'd just use the cheaper valet parking and assume they know what they are doing, or stick a note on the window to tell them? It'll be way more convenient for you as well as cheaper. Take photos of the car as you hand it over if you are worried they will damage it, and make sure you check round it when you take it back?

I always use the valet parking at Gatwick and have never had a problem, other than a flat battery on collection which they sort out for me!

I know the one. I can't imagine it's that hard if you just leave a note. Dh used to have a merc with this system. It did take getting used to on a hill start as it was an automatic and it bloody rolled backwards if you weren't careful as there was no usable handbrake or bite on the clutch. Design flaw to say the least!

Funkin. The modern ones are very different and don't have the issues of rolling back on a hill. My dh has a relatively new Volvo with a foot pedal.

If you'll spend your whole holiday worrying about it, then for the sake of £30 do the park and ride one

Just checking that you had considered taxis - I didn't for years then discovered it was cheaper than parking (for some trips). :)

Is it with purple parking?

We used those a couple of weeks ago and they were great. Huge car park, with thousands of cars in. Not a muddy field in sight! You do a key handover so can explain then.

I'm shocked to hear there are modern cars with this - everyone who sees it looks at me in horror.

99% of American cars use this setup, so Merc and others decided we could live with it too.

Seconding the hotel + free onsite parking option. Win-win for weird departure/arrival times.

Look at the airport hotel (Hilton for one terminal and I think Sofitel for the other?)
They will often do a deal for 1 night in the hotel plus 2 weeks of parking for not much more than the cost of just the parking, and it saves a crazy early start to get to the airport

We have this handbrake, and our Volvo is 7 years old AND I've used the short stay valet parking at Gatwick a number of times and it never occurred to me they'd have a problem with it, and they haven't. It'll be fine OP.

Thanks for the reminder though...the car needs a service.

The Premier Inn near Gatwick will allow on-site parking.

Right, am now checking hotels to see if that helps us.

susannah I think the main lesson from all of this is to book in advance. I'm normally a bit more organised, but the combination of holiday, pregnancy and a house renovation means that I'm incredibly scatty at the moment. Hopefully someone reading will crack on with theirs in advance, anyway.