Those Who Drive to Airport in Luxury Can Now Park in Luxury

For executives who want to take the risk out of parking at Burbank Airport, a business called Carter’s VSP (for very special parking) offers reserved spaces up to 10 feet wide, free shuttle service to the passenger terminal and maintenance or repairs while your car is idle.

Reservations cost $10, and extra-wide spaces, in which your Rolls or Porsche will be roped off to prevent nicks and dents, cost $12 daily.

“We found that there’s definitely a market for reserved parking at airports,” said Douglas Carter, whose father, James, started an auto repair business 35 years ago on Hollywood Way.

Doug expanded to parking in 1979 and now appears to have the only parking facility at Burbank (or LAX, for that matter) taking telephone reservations. Callers can hold a space by giving a credit card number.

Annual revenue is less than $700,000, Carter said, but lately the company has seen a minor upswing in activity, thanks to a rate hike for covered parking in the building right next to the passenger terminal. Fees there were raised to $24 from $8 a day but were rolled back to $18 last November because customers stayed away in droves.

Carter’s, which is a quarter mile from the terminal, makes a big deal out of security. There are closed-circuit cameras monitoring every part of the facility, and Doug Carter says he’s never even had a gas cap stolen.

Airport authorities, who said they’ve had no complaints about the company, acknowledge occasional reports of stolen Blaupunkt radios and other thefts from cars parked in airport lots.

Carter’s 250 spaces are all park-and-lock, and 22 of them are 10-foot-wide “premium” stalls that tend to be occupied by Mercedes-Benzes. There are also a fair number of Jaguars, Porsches, Audis and not a few Rolls-Royces, Doug Carter said.

Another 40 spaces are 8 1/2 feet wide, with the rest a standard seven or eight feet. The cheaper spaces start at $8 and, while they won’t wash or gas up your car (for insurance reasons, Carter said), Carter’s will do a smog check, tuneup or brake job.