Woul you leave your Car at an Airport?

[Brenbo]

Bit of a random thread, but with holiday season almost upon us I thought I would ask the question whether you would leave your pride and joy (Car not Wife...) at an airport car park or not?  I know our cars are to put it simple, our most treasured possessions, so the though of ever leaving my car in a airport car park for a week while in another country would give me a feeling of uneasiness as to the state I might find my car in, on return from a holiday.  As a side note I do not have any holidays planned and neither will I disclose such a thing on a forum in case of unwanted attention but I though I would ask the question theoretically If you do not leave your car at the air port how would you get to and from the airport as an alternative to leaving your car there for a week. 

I thought I would just see if others feel the same as I do about this subject. 

[LRWmotorsport]

I won't even leave the Transit at an airport.

  Taxi!

[Brenbo]

What about if you live about 50 miles+ from the nearest airport or at least 2hrs away from the nearest large airport would you still get an airport shuttle or taxi, or would you brave taking your car or transit to the airport? 

[Black oil]

I do it almost everytime I fly.
The ones I use are park your own and are pretty secure and you take your keys with you.
Probably better than most public car parks.Loads of cameras and doubt if anyone is there to do any mischief,just to drop and pick up cars.
I've seen very high end stuff left there unmolested.

[davewilliams000]

I do it almost everytime I fly.
The ones I use are park your own and are pretty secure and you take your keys with you.
Probably better than most public car parks.Loads of cameras and doubt if anyone is there to do any mischief,just to drop and pick up cars.
I've seen very high end stuff left there unmolested.

Yep used that sort before. Its the only option I'd choose now since I got the GTD (this year). I have used 1 where you leave them your keys once, and whilst there wasn't any issues, I did feel very uneasy about it.

Probably going to be a while before we get to go abroad again, but I think I'd leave it at the airport so long as I could park it myself and take the keys with me. Probably safer than leaving it at home with 1 or both sets of keys sitting in the house, which may invite a break-in.

[itavaltalainen]

I have left my car at airports time and again, even for weeks at a time. Personally I tend to use the car parks close to terminals rather than remote ones, the cost if booked in advance is usually not a lot higher. Although having said that I once paid over 30 quid for 18h in Brum airport while away on a short business trip to Dundee.... alternatively I have friends drop me off to airport and do the same for them in turn (saves on parking fees).

Never had a car broken into etc, but I follow the same principle wherever I park, don't leave anything valuable in sight. Pick a spot that is frequently visited by other pax, if possible last in a row or near pillars if multi story. Reverse park after taking luggage out as close to walls and pillars as possible to make it impossible for a human being to squeeze in.... much more difficult to steal a built in sat nav if you can only open drivers door as they are behind glove box. Also you only get dings on one side.....

[Exonian]

I've used airport parking quite a few times and each time I do I dread coming back to the car and finding damage.
Thankfully so far I've not had any issues but it's bound to happen at some point.
Conversely I'm less keen on the ones where you park up yourself and take the keys as I dread a family of six pulling up in their people carrier with their excited kids bursting out the back doors with bit of luggage each leading to the inevitable clang of metal on metal.
I tend to use only car parks recommended to me and generally the same ones each time.

Other options are hiring a car, leaving it at the airport hire company desk and collecting it again after your holiday. I've known people do this before quite often.
Or good ol' public transport.

[Brenbo]

It is the potential for damage and scuffs on body work which concern me as much as it being borrowed permanently so to speak.  I know what people are like with their cases while in holiday mode.  It's a case of everyone bundle out full of excitement, only to scrape their cases up the sides of your pride and joy. 

We have used airport shuttle services etc,. before.  I have also thought about if I were to go hols again in the future whether to hire a car and leave it with the car hire provider at airport but I do not live near any car hire places so If I were to to go on hols I would have to trek to nearest city to get a car from relevant company to leave car at airport so this would not be an option for me in the future.

At present we take my wife's car as it is just an A-B kinda car she does not care about her car as much as I do mine.  But it is small and she tends to prefer to drive her car as she feels I will rag it and get a speeding fine.  I tell her this would not be the case I don't speed just drive safe and efficiently. 

[Watts]

I agree with your concerns but ultimately I have a car for the convenience and freedom it offers. As such, I have used lots of airport car parks and whilst it can be a bit worrying you take the same risk everytime you park your car away from home. Those that are careless enough to bash into your car in one scenario are likely to do so all the time as they are thoughtless idiots. I'm off on a cruise soon so will have to leave my car at a seaport - god only knows the depth of seagull s**t I'll come back to!

[Bungleaio]

Did it last week other than being dusty it was fine. This was at the Luton medium term car park. 

I wouldn't leave it at one of those places where you need to give them the keys. 

A good alternative is parkonmydrive.co.uk