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Gatwick Rent and Earn Long Term Parking

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Has anyone used the official Gatwick Park and Earn Long Term Parking where they rent out your car while you are on holiday to offset the cost of parking and earn extra cash?

I am intrigued by this as I think its a great way to make use of lumps of metal sitting idle and partially disrupt the traditional [ripoff] car rental market.

https://www.gatwickparking.com/our-car-parks/parking-options/rent-earn/
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Wow! Don’t qualify as my car is over 100k. Hasn’t seen this.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Hmm - Cars being rented to UK& I residents who don't have a car of their own. Zipcar etc exist for the main population of no car owning drivers in London so one wonders what the clientele would be Suppose it helps that it's not just any tourist who steps off a plane but I think there is a potential for some quite high risk there & some insurance problems.
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@Dave of the Marmottes, Just found the website of the company and looks like well thought out service.

https://www.carandaway.com/help-support

They market to tourists / travellers that arrive at Gatwick or Bristol airports and provide all the insurance and breakdown cover which seems to replace normal insurance during the rental period. Also have a rating system much like airbnb. Cars can be rented though rentalcars.com or at the Car and Away website. Hope it catches on and extents to Geneva as would be great to have an alternative available that can just be collected form carpark P51. I personally would not be too keen to rent out my own car (or house), for the inconvenience in case something goes wrong, but I guess many people would do this for some extra cash and savings on car parking fees. I am all for disrupting the car rental industry who seem to be a law unto themselves.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Just tried a trial booking for a 3 day weekend 6 weeks out - 3 cars available - Fiat 500 at £106 not exactly stunning value and the Merc C convertible or BMW 4 series at £236 look like bait for a reckless yoof out to impress a girl by ragging around in a motor out of his league. (or the sophisicated international business traveller who is a UK resident without his/her own prestige motor who wouldn't rather rent from a proven rental agency) . I understand peer to peer is a sexy business model for the middle men and when it scales sufficiently is attractive for consumers but it isn't without its considerable pitfalls not least a middle man who thinks having a platform is all and isn't necessarily concerned with finer legalities and problem solving/redress when things go wrong.

Interestingly who do you think is putting up a Merc and BMW for rent - outright owners who are so strapped for cash they need it or people on lease deals?

FWIW I declare my biases re car rental industry - yes its a hassle and some of the upselling/blackmailimg malarkey endemic in the business model is a PITA but most of my car rentals end up being pretty good value for money considering the distances I drive etc. Caveats are that's provided you plan adequately in advance, aren't a worrywart about a specific model of car, avoid the SUV gouge etc. For me I feel that the people who don't plan or use the car more than to drive 20miles to their hotel, subsidise my use. I don't see what an AirbNB for rental cars gets me.


Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Wed 16-10-19 13:15; edited 1 time in total
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Dave of the Marmottes wrote:
Interestingly who do you think is putting up a Merc and BMW for rent - outright owners who are so strapped for cash they need it or people on lease deals?

Or people with an environmental conscience who think this is a really good idea? wink
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
£106 a week? You'd have to be mad. I predict it'll turn out just like the notorious Gatwick 'Our nutter juvenile drivers will thrash it within an inch of it's life and park it in some quagmire' scandals (plural). Give it a year or so, and we'll be seeing distraught owners on camera saying "I didn't realise that if it got written off it'd take six months to get the insurance and then I've got nowhere near what I think is the car's replacement value.", "I've just lost my license for speeding offences when it was on hire and no one can tell me who the renter was." and "They seem at a loss to explain how it ended up in Morocco."
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
I think car sharing is a great idea. And if you made £200 whilst saving £100 on parking, and did it for 5 trips a year you've cleared £1,500, which is not to be sniffed at.
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sugarmoma666 wrote:
Dave of the Marmottes wrote:
Interestingly who do you think is putting up a Merc and BMW for rent - outright owners who are so strapped for cash they need it or people on lease deals?

Or people with an environmental conscience who think this is a really good idea? wink


Yeah the same ecowarriors who replace a perfectly functional older car with a new expensive lump of big engined metal wink
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I think that car sharing is a good idea too, but this isn't it. This is a business where you hand over your car and they rent it out. With no risks to them. You have issues with a hirer thrashing your engine to death? Your problem. The extra cost of racking-up miles and needing servicing sooner? Your problem. Car gets written off? Delays and arguments about value - your problem. Car gets dumped somewhere and they can't trace the hirer? Your problem. Arguments about dents and scratches that they say were already there but you say weren't? Your problem.
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According to the site renters are offered insurance similar to that of normal car rental which carries a high excess and restrictions which should help how cars are treated and I assume majority of renters will be sensible. Cars are also checked out and in for damage, they have a process and charges for handling fines and even offer child seats as addons. For all instance and purposes it feels like renting a normal car for the renter.

This will only work providing the scheme has stock - there are quite a few cars available in October due to school holidays. There must be thousands of cars doing nothing in these long term car parks.

Also would be great if Geneva adopted this which could tilt the economic balance of leaving a newish second-hand car parked at the airport which could be rented out when we are not using it ourselves hence subsidising some of the parking fees and saving of the cost of us renting..
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@LaForet, there are many many people out there who are not so precious about their cars that are seldom driven or cleaned - especially us living in London where due to on-street urban parking I have many dents and scratches on the body and wheels and as such have given up. It's a 2 year old e-class that does 5000 miles a year (excluding driving to France). Our streets are lined with German cars that are all in the same state. The BMW X5's have all been nicked.
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Ozboy wrote:
@LaForet, there are many many people out there who are not so precious about their cars


I'm not precious, it just seems to me more of a simple economic cost/benefit/risk judgement. I'm giving a complete stranger an asset I've paid for that's worth, say £10-£20K and taking the risk of a variety of adverse possibilities, for a relatively modest return of £106 a week. I don't think it's worth the risk. And for any car with a lower residual value, what's the probability of anyone wanting to hire an old and/or high mileage model? But I could be wrong, obviously.

BTW I'm all for local ride-sharing. In that event, the other party is likely to be local as well. And the arrangement is reciprocal in terms of my using other people's cars.

Although I agree about the X5 - police stats for 2015 showed it as the #1 stolen car in the UK - and that's by number, not %! It's always in the top 5. And the majority are never recovered, according to the police: stolen 'to order' for shipping abroad.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@Ozboy, not wanting to sound to sound like a tw*t but learn to park, how can. 2 year old car be full of dents and scratched alloys, it has sensors, most likely has self park. If you can afford to have new Mercedes & not care about it I don't see the need for the rental income.
Also as more & more cars a leased these days I would think the lease company would be looking at this
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
LaForet wrote:
Ozboy wrote:
@LaForet, there are many many people out there who are not so precious about their cars


I'm not precious, it just seems to me more of a simple economic cost/benefit/risk judgement. I'm giving some an asset I've paid for that's worth, say £10-£20K and taking the risk of a variety of adverse possibilities, for a relatively modest return of £106 a week. I don't think it's worth the risk. And for any car with a lower residual value, what's the probability of anyone wanting to hire an old and/or high mileage model? But I could be wrong, obviously.

Although I agree about the X5 - police stats for 2015 showed it as the #1 stolen car in the UK - and that's by number, not %! It's always in the top 5. And the majority are never recovered, according to the police: stolen 'to order' for shipping abroad.


Apologies - I just had this picture of you washing and polishing your car daily. It looks quite clean in your famous Jura video Wink I personally would not rent out my main car (yet) mostly due to the inconvenience and faffing involved if something goes wrong. Lots will though given they are happy to rent out their apartments and have strangers sleep in their beds.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Jonny996 wrote:
@Ozboy, not wanting to sound to sound like a tw*t but learn to park, how can. 2 year old car be full of dents and scratched alloys, it has sensors, most likely has self park. If you can afford to have new Mercedes & not care about it I don't see the need for the rental income.
Also as more & more cars a leased these days I would think the lease company would be looking at this
My car parks itself but we have other cars and delivery drivers, narrow streets that barely fit 2 cars side by side and trees that line the streets. I would not do it for the money but think it is a great idea for those who would value the extra cash.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Seeing as I believe 9 out 10 cars are on PCP’s, so the owners haven’t actually paid for their cars, I’m sure that the PCP Company would be very interested in ‘their’ car effectively being sub-let to unknown third parties. I also believe most insurance policies are for domestic and commuting use, not hire and reward, which this clearly is.

Not that I would ever use this service, the killer is the line “Must have fully comprehensive insurance”. Which suggest liability is under your insurance. Surely anything that happens to the car while under their control or when being hired out by them is under their insurance.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@PowderAdict, yes I would have thought that most PCP restrict sub-leasing or rental.

This is their Q&A on Insurance:

What insurance cover do Car & Away provide?
We have arranged insurance cover with our Insurer for whenever your Vehicle is rented. Owners and Renters are covered by fully comprehensive insurance, which includes cover up to a maximum liability of £20 million for third party property (and an additional £5m for third party costs). Your vehicle itself is covered for its replacement value up to £50,000. Please see the Allianz Insurance Information here (PDF).

This insurance cover works in parallel with your existing car insurance (which you legally must have in any case), replacing your car insurance for the Rental Period.

Any claims during the Rental Period are against the Insurance Policy – so your policy and insurance status remains unaffected.
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If anything did go wrong, I can't think of a much worse place to find out. Hours from home, in an airport, at the tail end of a trip.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@Ozboy, I would think you would have to tell your insurance company, finance company and anybody else with an interest in the vehicle, that it going to be given to a third party for use under hire and reward.

The worst case scenario being a complete write off, so that the vehicle being insured and under finance no longer exists..........and you get back a different specification vehicle, as due to the number of options these days the chances of two being made exactly the same is remote.

It would make handing the vehicle back at the end of the contract interesting.....What do you mean it’s not the same car we leased to you.......
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@ozboy {Apologies - I just had this picture of you washing and polishing your car daily.}

No apology necessary. I did give it some consideration in terms of our old Peugeot with its 80K on the clock. It's hardly worth anything in terms of residual value, so no issues there. But I'd have to drive it to the airport and I suspect they'd never manage to get it rented out, unless the rate was so low that I wouldn't get much income anyway.

I can see the logic of pointing out that people hire out their properties with no qualms, so why not a much less valuable car? Wear and tear is equally an issue in both cases, but it's not like you can crash your apartment into someone else's and destroy it completely. Although you can cause consequential damage through flood or fire, I suppose. But in property rental cases, the revenue is much greater for less risk, albeit the item is question is worth far more.
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Not sure how well this is going to work.

If it's a lease car they require the contract to allow (or not exclude) sub-leasing; I wouldn't have thought many contracts would permit it.

It's a bit odd that renters have to be UK/ROI residents, as that would seem to rule out the majority of passengers arriving at Gatwick. Perhaps it is aimed at undercutting UK local car hire firms in Crawley?

If your return flight is delayed, so you are not there to pick up your car at the expected time, you can only let them know during "office hours". (You can email them after 18:00, but they won't pick it up until 08:00). Not clear how you get your car back in that situation - you might have to wait until 08:00, perhaps on Monday!

You are only covered by their insurance while your car is rented out. There will be periods before/after the rental period when you have left your car and keys with a stranger - which appear to need to be covered by your insurance.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
The idea of handing over my pride and joy for someone to rag around, kerb the alloys and crash makes me go cold!!

But my car is quite nice.
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Ozboy wrote:


Also would be great if Geneva adopted this which could tilt the economic balance of leaving a newish second-hand car parked at the airport which could be rented out when we are not using it ourselves hence subsidising some of the parking fees and saving of the cost of us renting..


If you google travelcar geneva airport it should come up with a parking place that appears to do this, park for free but they rent your car out. Doing this on the phone so cannot copy over the link I am afraid.
However based on the experience I had a couple of weeks ago, the price commanded by parking anywhere near Geneva airport has attracted all sorts of chancers so buyer beware and all that.
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Ski the Net with snowHeads
I think the appartment/house analogy is bogus - there is a well established market there and insurance products to address it. Plus much lower probability of a catastrophic loss etc. But still would you AirBnB your home while you go away for a week? I'm sure there are opportunistic pimps looking to set up pop-up brothels or plenty of kids looking for a party house who can fake a convincing adult account.

My suspicion is that the economic incentives aren't there for lets say ordinary people who take car of their cars to risk it, while those on the margin for lease payments or the gullible might fall for it. Most people will do ok but I suspect there will be damage at least 1 in 100 (based on my own casualness with rental cars) and no incentive for the middle man to help you sort out minor dents and scratches as the business model is based on being an intermediary not an underwriter.


The world is awash with "platform" business cases - "It's like Uber for houseplants", hell we could easily put one together on here - AirBnB for premium ski equipment (your gear isn't used 13 weeks of the season how about making it work for you?) Doesn't mean they're all great ideas.
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Dave of the Marmottes wrote:
... AirBnB for premium ski equipment (your gear isn't used 13 weeks of the season how about making it work for you?) Doesn't mean they're all great ideas.
Now there's an idea...
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
NickyJ,

More expensive than our house! Shocked Shocked
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Bergmeister wrote:
NickyJ,

More expensive than our house! Shocked Shocked



Laughing yeah I have a gold plated Seat Toledo, really knocked the economy though.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
NickyJ,
Very Happy Very Happy
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