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What Happens to Your Car While You're Away

With Park & Ride, nothing - it sits where you left it. With Meet & Greet it is driven twice and stored off-airport. Here is what happens either way, and what to do before you hand over the keys.

5 min read · 25 July 2026

It depends which service you booked

The honest answer splits in two, and the difference is bigger than most people realise when they are comparing prices.

Park & Ride: nothing happens to it

You drive to the compound, park in a marked bay and keep your keys. Staff meet you, help with luggage, confirm your return details and photograph the car's condition with you.

Then it sits there. For the whole trip. In a CCTV-monitored compound, in the bay you chose, with nobody else's hands on the wheel. When you come back, it is where you left it.

If the thought of a stranger driving your car bothers you, this is the service to book, and no convenience argument should talk you out of it.

Meet & Greet: it is driven, twice

An insured, vetted driver takes the car from you at the terminal and drives it to a secure compound. When you land, another journey brings it back.

So there is mileage - a short drive each way. There is also a period where your car is in someone else's possession rather than parked in front of you. That is what you are paying for, and it is worth being clear-eyed about it.

How is the handover recorded?

This is the part that protects you, and it is worth taking seriously rather than rushing.

The car's condition is checked with you before the keys change hands, and photographed. Walk round it. Point out anything already there. If you have a dashcam, note whether it will record while you are away.

Take your own photos too. Four corners and the dashboard, thirty seconds. If a dispute ever arises, contemporaneous photographs from both sides settle it far faster than memory.

Who are the drivers?

Operators listed on urbook use vetted, insured drivers for Meet & Greet. Vetting typically covers a DBS check, a DVLA licence check and Right to Work confirmation.

The specifics vary by operator and are set out in their own terms. If it matters to you - and it reasonably might - ask before you book rather than after.

Where is my car actually parked?

Not at the terminal. Meet & Greet compounds sit off-airport, which is how the price works. The car is driven there and stored in a CCTV-monitored compound.

You are entitled to know where. Any operator unwilling to tell you is one to avoid.

Is my car insured while it is parked?

Car parks listed here operate CCTV-monitored compounds with insured drivers. The specific cover - what is insured, to what value, and what excess applies - varies by operator and is set out in each one's terms and conditions.

Read them. "Fully insured" on a listing page is a summary, not a policy. If your car is worth a lot, the detail is worth ten minutes.

What should I do before I hand over the keys?

  • Take valuables with you. Not into the glovebox - with you.
  • Mention anything unusual about starting the car. A hidden immobiliser switch or an odd ignition is far better explained at handover than over the phone from another country.
  • Leave only the key you need. Not the whole fob with your house keys attached.
  • Note the mileage. Photograph the odometer. It takes two seconds and removes an entire category of argument.
  • Do not leave the car unattended before staff have met you.

The short version

With Park & Ride your car does not move and nobody drives it. With Meet & Greet it is driven twice by an insured driver, stored off-airport, and photographed at handover.

Both are legitimate. Just book the one that matches how you actually feel about it, rather than the one that is cheaper by four pounds.

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