Parking woes peak during festive period

As festive shopping trips crank up, so too do reports of car park confrontations, dented Christmas pride and crunched panels.

According to AA Insurance, car parking leads to more claims than any other single source as woeful stories of parking scrapes are relayed to claims staff.

Mike Lloyd, director of AA Insurance, said: “Patience is sorely tested in busy car parks at the best of times but in the run-up to Christmas when parking spaces are even more scarce, tempers can be frayed and parking mishaps are more likely than at any other time of year.

“AA insurance statistics show car park catastrophes peak in December and January.

“And, although the numbers are small, there is a clear increase in the risk of cars being broken in to over Christmas. It’s hard to think of more miserable act than stealing just-bought Christmas gifts, making shoppers go through the whole trying and costly shopping experience for a second time, if they can afford to.”

A new AA-Populus study shows that over the past year showed 47 per cent of nearly 30,000 motorists who responded, have seen damage inflicted on their parked cars over the past 12 months.

Some 42 per cent said that their car had suffered a dent or scratch caused by someone or something else. Judging from insurance claims they include careless parking, opening of doors, ‘too small’ parking spaces or shopping trollies.

Yet only one in 20 admit that they have suffered damage that they caused themselves.

Just three per cent say that their car was deliberately vandalised while it was parked.

And, while the numbers are small, less than one per cent of the total, of those reporting that their car had been broken in to and items stolen while parked, this was more likely to happened around Christmas time.