Meet and greet parking at Gatwick
Hand your car over at the terminal and walk straight into departures. The fastest option, and the one where the operator's credentials matter most.
Last reviewed . Prices and car park rules change often — confirm the current details before you travel.
Meet and greet inverts the usual arrangement. Instead of you travelling to a car park, the car park comes to you: you drive to the terminal, hand the keys to a driver, and walk into departures. When you land, the car is brought back to you.
How it works in practice
You book in advance and are given a meeting point — a designated area on or near the terminal forecourt — and a phone number. On the day you call ahead when you are close, park where you are directed, meet the driver, complete a handover and go.
The handover normally involves a condition check and paperwork recording the car's state and mileage. Take this seriously: it is the document that settles any later disagreement about damage, and it takes two minutes.
Coming home, you call when you have landed and collected your bags. The car is brought to a collection point, you check it over, and you drive away. In the best case you are in your car within a few minutes of leaving arrivals.
What you are paying for
Time and effort, almost entirely. There is no car park to find in the dark, no bus, no wait, no walk with luggage. For a family with young children or anyone travelling with a lot of bags, that is worth a great deal on the return leg in particular.
It costs more than long stay or off-airport self-park. How much more varies by operator and by how far ahead you book, and the gap narrows when you weigh it against the airport's own premium products rather than against the cheapest compound on the perimeter.
The checks that matter
Because you are giving someone your car and your keys, the due diligence here is different in kind from booking a self-park space. The things worth establishing:
- Where will the car actually be stored? A named, secured compound — fenced, lit, monitored, with controlled access. Ask, and be wary of vagueness.
- What insurance covers the car while in their care, both while it is being driven and while it is parked? Get this in writing rather than as a reassurance.
- Is the handover documented? Condition report and mileage at both ends, signed.
- What happens if the flight is delayed, or lands in the middle of the night? This is the scenario that generates most complaints.
- How long do they say collection takes, and what do recent reviews say it actually takes?
- Are they a member of a recognised scheme, and do they hold the appropriate permissions to operate at the airport?
Protecting yourself at handover
None of this implies bad faith — it simply removes ambiguity:
- Photograph the car from all four corners, plus the wheels and any existing damage, with a timestamp.
- Photograph the odometer.
- Remove valuables and anything you would mind losing, including documents from the glovebox.
- Hand over only the key you need to. If your car has a spare, keep it.
- Keep the handover paperwork rather than binning it at the gate.
Repeat the photographs at collection, before you drive off. Checking the car over in the car park is far easier than arguing about it a week later.
Meet and greet versus valet
The terms are used loosely and often interchangeably by operators. Broadly, meet and greet describes the handover model — you are met at the terminal — while valet may imply additional services on top, sometimes including cleaning or servicing while you are away. What matters is not the label but what the booking actually includes, so read the inclusions rather than the name.
When it is worth it
Meet and greet earns its premium when time or effort is genuinely constrained: an early flight with children, a late return with a lot of luggage, a tight schedule, or a traveller who would find a transfer bus difficult. It is a comfort purchase rather than a value one, and there is nothing wrong with that as long as you are buying it deliberately.
For a straightforward trip where you are relaxed about a twenty-minute bus ride, the money is usually better spent elsewhere.
Common questions
What is meet and greet parking?
You drive to a designated area at the terminal, hand your car and keys to a driver, and walk into departures. The car is driven away to a compound and brought back to you at the terminal when you land. There is no car park to find and no transfer bus.
Is meet and greet parking safe at Gatwick?
With a reputable operator, yes — but you are handing your car and keys to a third party, so the operator matters more here than with any other parking type. Check where the car will be stored, what insurance covers it while it is being driven and parked, and what recent customers say about the collection process.
Will my car be driven?
Yes, by definition — a driver takes it from the terminal to the storage compound and back. Reputable operators record the mileage at handover and return. Note it yourself as well, along with the condition of the car.