Valet parking insurance and liability in New Jersey.
What to require, what the paperwork is called, and what happens if a car gets damaged.
The moment your guest hands over a key, somebody is responsible for that car.
Valet is one of the few services where a stranger drives your customer’s vehicle on your property. Most venue managers screen for this before they screen for anything else, and they are right to. The question is not whether a company says it is insured. Every company says that. The question is what they will put in writing, and how fast.
Atlantic Parking is fully insured and provides a certificate of insurance naming your venue before the first car is parked. Not on the night, not after you ask twice. That has been the standard here since Thomas Ferry founded the company in 1987, and four decades of repeat work in Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties is what it bought.
What to ask any valet company for
- A certificate of insurance, in advance. Often shortened to COI. It is a one page summary from their insurer confirming the policies are active. If it takes more than a day to produce, that tells you something.
- Your venue named on it. Many venues and most municipalities require being listed as an additional insured. Ask for this early, because it comes from the insurer and not from the valet company.
- Coverage for the cars themselves. General liability covers a guest who slips. Damage to a vehicle in the attendant’s care is a separate thing, usually called garage keepers coverage. Confirm both exist.
- Workers compensation. The attendants are somebody’s employees. Make sure they are covered as employees.
- Licensed drivers, and how they are checked. Ask how attendants are screened before they are handed a key.
- The claims process, in one sentence. If something happens at eleven at night, who do you call and what happens next.
If a company hesitates on any of the six, that hesitation is your answer. None of it is difficult for an operator who has been doing this properly.
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Three things that prevent most of it.
Keys tracked, not pocketed
Every key is logged to a ticket and a location. Most valet problems are not accidents, they are a key nobody can find while a guest stands at the door.
A planned route, not improvisation
Where cars go and how they get there is decided on the site walk. Damage happens in tight turns nobody planned for and in reversing out of somewhere a car should never have been.
Crew sized for the wave
Rushed attendants make mistakes. Staffing for the busiest ten minutes rather than the average hour is a safety decision before it is a service one.
See also how many attendants your event needs and how valet pricing works.