Guest has broken down car in our driveway

[Karen1378]

Guest is staying (2) months. A few nights ago, her car broke down forcing me to park on the street overnight. She offered to pay the parking fee. The car was moved to make room but is still disabled. I am not comfortable having a broken down car in my driveway or having her mobile mechanic come on my property to fix her car. Suggestions?

[Sarah977]

@Karen1378  So what do you expect her to do? Pay a fortune to have it towed? It was very responsible of her to offer to pay for your parking fee. 

I can't imagine why you would have an objection to her mobile mechanic coming to get her car going.

[Karen1378]

@Sarah977  I agree she was responsible to pay the fee. However, she had the car towed off the street into my driveway already, rather than to get it fixed. Its been there a few days with no move to fix it.  One concern, will her mechanic be covered under AirBnb insurance? Vehicles are noted as "excluded property". 

[Sarah977]

@Karen1378 Will her mechanic be covered for what? I'd say you're overthinking this. He's going to come and fix her car and leave. It doesn't sound like any big deal to me.

Plus, you live there. You can keep an eye on things, although I don't understand the concerns.

And if her car being in the driveway is preventing you from parking there, just get a timeline from her as to when she will get her mechanic out and let her know it needs to be done ASAP.

[Anonymous]

@Karen1378  There is no "Airbnb insurance" that would cover a guest's car breaking down. Neither of you is in a position to make a successful claim with Airbnb on that issue.

I'm impressed that the guest was proactive enough on the situation to offer to pay a parking fee and arrange a tow truck, but I'm perplexed about how a tow truck called to your property moved the car onto a parking space that you didn't explicitly offer for your guest's usage. I'm not a driver, so maybe there's something I'm totally naive about here, but if you're already footing the bill for a tow truck, wouldn't you have the car towed to a place that you were given permission to park, rather than one whose owner is holding a grudge about it? It seems like something broke down in the communication there.

The guest's auto insurance should cover expenses directly attributable to the breakdown. I'm not aware of a way you can extract a tangible value for the inconvenience of moving your own vehicle onto street parking, as insurers don't tend to recognize vague discomfort as a condition with tangible value. But that's pretty much an issue for you to take up with your own insurance; there's nothing in Airbnb's very limited "Host Guarantee" that can compensate you here. When all is said and done, if you have incurred unexpected expenses as a result of the car situation, you can initiate a claim via https://airbnb.com/resolutions . It's clear that your guest is making a good faith effort to resolve an awkward situation as well as she can, so if I were in your position I think I'd work with her as much as possible to minimize the expenses to everyone involved. Hospitality and inconvenience aren't exactly synonyms, but they're super duper close.

[Sarah977]

@Anonymous "The guest's auto insurance should cover expenses directly attributable to the breakdown".

I can tell you're not a driver 🙂 Basic auto insurance doesn't cover car repairs. It covers accidents where another driver's car is damaged or totalled if the accident was your fault, and it covers damage to your own vehicle if you were at fault or a driver who hit you doesn't have insurance. It also covers liability for medical expenses resulting from an accident. You can buy additional insurance that would cover roadside assistance, towing, etc, but I've never heard of anyone having auto insurance that covers regular car repairs, unless it's a newer car that is still under warranty.

[Anonymous]

@Sarah977 Ha, yes you're totally right, that was a blind spot on my part as a non driver, I forgot that car insurance and stuff like AAA aren't the same 😂

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Karen1378 My suggestion is to get comfortable with the guest having the car fixed on your driveway. The mechanic will have their own liability insurance so the risks are minimal to you. Clearly if an engine change or some massive work is needed then they need to tow the car to a worshop but most small repairs should be doable with no risk to you or your drive.

[Helen3]

In your situation @Karen1378  I would let the guest know she has say two days to have the car fixed on your driveway or the car needs to be put back on the road or taken to a garage.

in the UK we have AA or similar services where they carry out same day repairs on site or tow to a garage if the car can't be fixed on site.