We had a vacation booked up with departure from JFK. I found a parking lot slightly less expensive than JFK parking. The catch is that you need to drop off the car and they drive you to airport. I did that in the past and it was a reputable operation with a shuttle. This one turns out to be a fly by night parking lot between two restaurants. On departure there was no one there so we kept calling and eventually a guy picked up and said will be there soon. He came with a van and another customer. He had to get that car out first, and it was in the back of the lot. Took him forever to get that car out. Meanwhile we chatted with that customer who happened to be an immigrant from Dominican Republic, more precisely from Punta Cana, our vacation destination. When he got his car back, the parking lot attendant started to put the other cars back. We were getting impatient. The Dominican guy offered to drive us to JFK. We accepted and arrived exactly 1h before departure. I gave him a nice tip. We missed the deadline for luggage check in so the guy said he can check us in without luggage. Miracles happen and wife was able to move all our stuff into carry-ons which were obvious underpacked. We got through security with some additional screening (toys, epipens, etc). and missed the "golf cart" for late passengers which was now full, so we had to run to the gate, which was obviously the last one at the one of the terminal. I arrived as they were closing the gate, told them to wait as wife and kids were running. Eventually they came and we boarded the plane. The irony is that plane was full so they had to check in our carry-one. We arrived in Punta Cana and had a good vacation.

On the way back we found more surprises. As we landed at JFK we got a voicemail that something is wrong with the car. Apparently the axel is broken and they could fix for $150. I landed at 8 PM, voicemail was stamped around 5 PM. We took their minivan and arrived there to find a broken car. Now it was 9 PM on a Saturday night. We decided to spen the night at our friends in Brooklyn only it turns out they are out of town, unexpected trip. We manage to get in touch with their parents and got the key to the apartment. We stay here and tomorrow morning (Sunday) I need to get the family to NJ (easy part) and get the car fixed or towed to NJ.

I will avoid these parking lots like Ebola. Either park myself or take a taxi, I will never leave the keys to one of these parking lots.

Apologies if there are any typos (I would be surprised if there weren't any), it has been a long day and I am posting from a small iPhone.

Wow - what a story. Glad you made it back OK.

I'm not a fan of off-airport parking either. While it costs a little extra, I've been using a shared shuttle service when I fly out of PHL. I'm sure there are similar shuttles to JFK.

I've paid a limo ( and a cheaper limo-van once ) rather than pay the airport parking at Logan for more than 3 or 4 days.
I prefer to fly out of PVD because it is a much smaller airport and parking is half of Logan.

Logan has Logan Express bus service out to the burbs. Where the parking is $7 / day. I've done that but I can usually get someone to drive me/us to Braintree which avoids at least some of the worst traffic.

I've only left my keys in the car in one of those cram lots once - and that was for a concert at the civic center in 1970 or so and I didn't realize that's how the lot worked . Leaving was a flustercuck of waiting for people to show up so you could get out..

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Holy crap. Dude, that's a lot of work to save a few dollars.

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Hurts like a bastid...

I never heard of leaving keys with a parking lot, but then again, I would not touch a third world airport like a JFK with 20 ft pole....

A broken axle? Not even easy for them to do. Bummer. On your Volt? Write the mileage down before you give up your keys.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2017 05:41AM by Speedy.

Not the Volt, I used the old Civic. I replaced both axels a few years ago, one probably 4 years ago and one 2-3 years ago. I don't drive much, my guess is the broken axel has less than 20-30 k miles on it. The car is in bad shape otherwise. I was going to sell when I got back. I am tempted to sell it as is here in queens, rather than deal with towing and repairs.

"I am tempted to sell it as is here in queens, rather than deal with towing and repairs."

Do that right now!

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Space,

Gotta say this is a situation where I wouldn't have taken your own car to the airport, regardless of whether you let the attendant(s) park it or parked it yourself. Just take a limo/cab/uber/etc and be done with it. Would've saved you a _whole_ bunch of agita. I'm just glad to hear everything worked out in the end. I'm still a little skeptical about the broken axle. The timing is particularly suspicious, especially since you left the car in a lot whose staff seems shady and unprofessional.

Couldn't say what to do about the damaged axle other than to question if you're actually responsible for the repair. The axle isn't that old and wasn't damaged prior to your departure from the lot. The axle is broken by the time you return, after the vehicle has been in the care of the lot for X amount of time? And, they can fix it for $150.00? Yeah, right. Seems like an opportunist cash grab on their part.

Robert

What was the name of the lot you used?
I fly out of JFK often and want to avoid these problems.

Quote
billb
I've paid a limo ( and a cheaper limo-van once ) rather than pay the airport parking at Logan for more than 3 or 4 days.
I prefer to fly out of PVD because it is a much smaller airport and parking is half of Logan.

Logan has Logan Express bus service out to the burbs. Where the parking is $7 / day. I've done that but I can usually get someone to drive me/us to Braintree which avoids at least some of the worst traffic.

I've only left my keys in the car in one of those cram lots once - and that was for a concert at the civic center in 1970 or so and I didn't realize that's how the lot worked . Leaving was a flustercuck of waiting for people to show up so you could get out..

We're in MA, too (South Shore) and I'd much rather fly out of Providence, too. But when we have to fly out of Logan, we use the Thrifty lot/shuttle in Revere. It's very efficient, they usually have deals, and yes, we leave the keys with them. But it's far from a fly-by-night operation. We'll probably continue to use them when leaving from Logan. But PVD is a dream by comparison.

Quote
Joseph C.
What was the name of the lot you used?
I fly out of JFK often and want to avoid these problems.

Best Kept Secret I think.

Avoid them at all cost. I looked up long term parking at JFK last night and it was not that much more expensive.

i fly out of jfk in two weeks.

i think i'll uber.

hope you all get back to nj in one piece.

be well.

rob

I use [theparkingspot.com]
They are a national chain and have good service with quick pick up and drop off to the airport.
I've used their services at JFK, LGA and NEW with few issues. (They lost my car key once, but I always travel with a spare. They paid for a new key and comped the parking.)
HTH

Hmmm, broken axle from sitting in a parking lot?!

You might want to check with the police to see if your car was used in the commission of a crime. Just kidding... kind of.

If a parking lot had a"attendants" who were responsible for moving my car and an axle broke while they were doing so, I would be asking them for repair money, not the other way around.

Quote
AllGold
Hmmm, broken axle from sitting in a parking lot?!

You might want to check with the police to see if your car was used in the commission of a crime. Just kidding... kind of.

good point. I forgot to mention last night, as I was tired and typed from an iPhone. They move the cars in and out of the lot, apparently to expedite check in and check out

As mentioned earlier, when we got there, there was no one there, and they showed up late. In a rush, we left the car on the main street, they said they move it in the lot later. As we were about to miss the flight, I had no choice but to accept it. When we got back, they supposedly took the car out one day earlier. My guess is that they have a small lot that can accommodate a dozen car or so, and they shuffle around 2-3x as many cars. What they do is the parking is free on some adjacent streets and they probably move cars around a lot. I left my car in the main street where there is a sing with no parking Mon 11 AM- 3 PM (street cleaning). The secondary street has no sign regarding parking. My guess is you can park there for free, I am not sure of there is a time limit.

I think the car broke when they moved it around. I saw the axle broken, but it was dark and I did not get a good look.

Today I went back to retrieve all things from the car (EZ-Pass, child booster, a small tool-box, a dash cam, etc) and I looked at the parking signs on that street, as mentioned, no sings at all so I plan to leave the car there for 2-3 days until I decide the next move. I called my insurance which provides road side assistance and they cover the first $100 in towing. They quoted $380 for towing back to NJ (about 60-65 miles). That was $480 - $100. I am not sure if it is worth it. I would have to pay the repair, and then sell the car for less than 1k. I will probably just donate it to some charity.

Yeah, don't know how the axle would break while moving a car back and forth, but it's probably not worth a lawyer, but you can certainly bring them to small claims court, around here it's $50 (and your time, of course).

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Hurts like a bastid...