Meet-and-greet parking is one of the most convenient ways to park at the airport: a driver takes the car from outside the terminal, and it's waiting, ready, when the traveller lands. But that convenience is exactly what rogue operators exploit.

A quick search turns up plenty of car parks promising the same thing, and telling the genuine, well-run operators apart from the cowboys isn't always obvious.

Here's what to check before booking…

Make sure there's someone to talk to: First and foremost, make sure there's someone contactable, and trustworthy, to look after the car. It's worth thinking through whether they'd actually help if something went wrong. Anyone can set up a website and claim to be a parking company, so if there's any doubt about whether a car will be properly looked after, it's worth getting in touch and checking before booking. A provider with a proper, staffed contact line, rather than just a booking form, is generally a good sign.

Check for photos and videos of the parking service on offer: Reputable providers tend to have visited, reviewed, photographed and filmed the car parks they list, so customers can see exactly what to expect before they book. It's worth checking whether a listing includes real photos of the actual site, rather than stock imagery, and whether the company can show it has genuinely visited and checked the car park out.

Check for an approved operator scheme: Where an approved operator scheme exists for meet and greet parking, it's worth confirming the chosen provider is on the list. Booking through a supplier that's part of an approved scheme is one of the simplest ways to rule out rogue operators before handing over a set of keys.

Holiday Extras
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Make sure the drivers are insured professionals: Any legitimate meet and greet company should require fully insured, professional drivers. Before handing over the keys, it's worth checking that the car is insured for the entire time it's in someone else's care, not just while it's parked.

Read some independent reviews: Fly-by-night parking operators tend not to hang around long enough to build years of consistently positive reviews on independent sites. Before booking anywhere that looks too cheap to be true, it's worth checking independently what past customers have actually said, and looking for a long track record rather than a handful of recent five-star reviews.

Holiday Extras
(Getty Images)

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