In Texas, who pays for damage to a car while parked in a paid garage? Here’s what to know
What happens if you enter a parking garage, get your ticket and return to find your car has been hit? Or, even worse, it has been stolen.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re responsible for the damage done to your vehicle. Under three different legal theories, the parking lot owner may be liable, according to FindLaw.
1. Bailment
When you park your car at a parking garage, you create a bailment, a legal arrangement in which you who paid to park there (the bailor) transfer possession, but not ownership, of personal property to the parking garage owner (the bailee) for a specific purpose, under an agreement or understanding. This applies to leaving your car with a valet service as well.
The bailee has a duty to use reasonable care, which includes preventing vandalism and to not letting your car get stolen. Because of the transfer of possession, the burden is then on the bailee to prove that they used reasonable care under the circumstances. Some may try to get around it by writing: “Parking here does not create a bailment,” which works in some states but not others.
2. License
A license is a contractual grant of permission to park at the parking garage in exchange for payment, making the owner of the garage the licensor and you the licensee. There are certain terms of the contractual agreement between you and the parking garage operator, such as you have to pay the garage to park there and they have to ensure that your car isn’t damaged or stolen.
Parking garages try to avoid liability by writing on your claim ticket or signs posted around the garage disclaimers that say they can’t be held liable for anything that happens to your car. That might work depending on the circumstances. The disclaimer needs to be prominent or else a court won’t enforce it, but if you can show that you didn’t see any disclaimers before you parked your car, you may be able to make a breach of license claim if your car gets damaged or stolen.
Also, disclaimers don’t work if the parking garage is grossly negligent. If you can show that there was an extreme departure from the standard of care, you’ll likely get around any disclaimers.
3. Negligence
Negligence is the failure to use reasonable care under the circumstances. Unlike the duty to use reasonable care under a bailment, however, the burden is on you to show that the parking garage failed to use reasonable care, not the other way around.
Reasonable care depends on the predictability of the risk of car theft or damage. Because the parking garage is trying to minimize the chances of a car owner accusing them of negligence, they may have an attendant in the booth, security cameras and a security guard.
Still, you may be able to use the assumption of a duty. If a parking lot operator installs security cameras, it assumes a duty to monitor them. If it hires security guards, they have to be competent and actually patrol the garage. If you can show that the security guard was asleep at the monitors when your car was damaged or stolen, for instance, you may be able to make a negligence claim.
