Paid parking: damage, theft and overcharging

This is the law that turns "the sign says they are not responsible" into an argument you can win. It regulates parking areas that charge, gives DACO primary jurisdiction over users’ claims for vehicle damage and overcharging, and — the detail that decides cases — requires that for adjudicating those damages the operator be deemed to have acted as a depositary of the vehicle. It also requires minimum insurance and gives DACO’s Secretary the power to set the rates.

Any user of a public parking area, which the law defines as any premises, lot or area used by any person to allow motor vehicles to park there in exchange for payment of some sum of money. The "operator" is any person operating that area, whether owner, owner’s representative, lessee or possessor; the definition of "person" expressly includes the Government of Puerto Rico, its agencies, instrumentalities and public corporations and municipal governments, though the law itself clarifies that no criminal penalty shall apply to those entities. There is an exception worth checking: Article 14 says the law does not apply to parking areas operated without direct profit motive, that is, operated principally and essentially as a service for the convenience of customers, patrons or persons connected with a business or activity carried out in that area. But it adds something important: all those areas **must** still comply with Article 5, the insurance one.

• Having been a user of a public parking area, that is, having paid to park.Verified against the official source
• That the claim be for damage suffered by your vehicle or any part or accessory of it, or for having been charged a rate higher than the one set.Verified against the official source

• The entry ticket to the parking area. The law uses it as a central piece elsewhere: Article 15 requires the operator to demand from anyone attempting to remove a vehicle the vehicle registration and their driver’s license if they cannot present the ticket.
• The operator’s license and insurance or bond details. The law requires a copy of the pertinent data to be in a visible spot in the parking area and available.

1. 1

   Step 1: The operator is a bailee of your vehicle

   This is the sentence to cite. Article 8 gives DACO’s Secretary primary jurisdiction to consider and resolve, after an administrative hearing, any claim a user has against a public parking area operator arising from damage suffered by their vehicle or any part or accessory of it; or arising from the operator having charged a rate higher than the one set. And then it adds: **provided that for the purpose of adjudicating those damages the operator shall be deemed to have acted as a depositary of the user’s vehicle**. That characterization — depositary — is what orders the obligations of someone who receives another’s property for safekeeping. The same article protects the other route: filing a claim under this Article shall not bar a party who suffered personal injury from bringing the corresponding action before the court with competence and jurisdiction.

2. 2

   Step 2: The insurance the operator must carry

   Article 5 sets the minimums and they are checkable. Every operator shall maintain public liability insurance for personal injury with a coverage limit of no less than $10,000 per person and no less than $20,000 per accident; and for damage to others’ property with coverage of no less than $10,000. And it adds the one that matters most when a broken window or a missing item appears: every operator shall maintain insurance covering the risk of theft, fire, explosion and collision with a deductible of no more than one hundred (100) dollars on vehicles parked in their custody. The law contemplates an alternative if no company in the local market grants those policies: the operator may post a bond, which at no time may be less than $40,000, and which may be in cash, pledged, mortgaged or joint. A warning about the text: in the compilation we read, that article first writes the figure as "$40,00" and later, in the same article, says the bond may at no time be less than $40,000. We publish $40,000 and note the discrepancy rather than choosing silently.

3. 3

   Step 3: The rate is set by DACO, not the operator

   Article 3 confers on the Secretary full powers to regulate the operation of public parking areas, and the first on the list is setting the rates to be charged, after the necessary economic studies and investigations. Article 2’s definition confirms it: "rate" shall mean the maximum hourly remuneration the Secretary determines an operator may receive for each vehicle parked in their area. That is why charging more than the set rate is one of the two claims Article 8 places under DACO’s primary jurisdiction. That same Article 3 gives the Secretary other useful powers: issuing, suspending or revoking licenses; setting by regulation the minimum safety standards every area must have for customers, visitors and employees; carrying out investigations and inspections on their own initiative **or through a complaint filed by a user**; ensuring the insurance and bonds are in force at all times; and investigating and taking action on the complaints users file.

4. 4

   Step 4: The license and the papers that must be on display

   Article 4 says no person shall engage in operating a public parking area without first having obtained a license issued by the Secretary, and adds something you can verify yourself before leaving your car: a copy of the pertinent data on the license and the insurance or bond shall be in a visible spot in the parking area and available. Article 6 multiplies it: anyone operating more than one public parking area must obtain from DACO as many licenses as areas they operate, and must also hold and maintain the insurance or proper bond for each area.

5. 5

   Step 5: When the operator can lose their license

   Article 7 lists the causes, and one is written with the user in mind. The Secretary may revoke or suspend a license upon finding that the authorized person, knowingly or negligently, has committed a violation of the law or failed to comply with an order or regulation; has knowingly made incorrect statements in the application; has failed to satisfy a payment under resolutions or orders imposed by the Secretary or a court regarding their responsibility to protect vehicles in their custody or for personal injury or damage to others’ property; or — the one of interest here — **when malicious damage or theft of vehicles, accessories or objects inside the vehicle occurs** and the Secretary determines, after an administrative hearing, that there was negligence on the operator’s part, based on the frequency of the damage, the form or manner in which it occurred, and the actions the operator took to prevent the claims from recurring.

6. 6

   Step 6: The hearing, reconsideration and judicial review

   Article 9 describes the administrative hearing: it shall be conducted by whomever the Secretary delegates, and the proceedings shall be conducted so as to allow the parties to offer all the evidence they deem necessary, present their witnesses and question the other party’s witnesses, and argue their case as extensively as the swiftest resolution of the matter permits. The parties may be represented by attorneys if they wish. Then come two short clocks. Article 10 gives ten (10) days following the issuance of any regulation or order setting rates or minimum safety standards, or denying or suspending a license, or of a resolution imposing liability or a penalty, to file a petition for reconsideration specifying the objections. And Article 11 gives fifteen (15) days following the date of notice of a final order or resolution of the Secretary to seek review before the court, review limited exclusively to questions of law; filing does not suspend the order unless the court so orders upon posting of a bond.

7. 7

   Step 7: The fines, and the "free" lot that also answers

   Article 13 allows the Secretary, after notice and an administrative hearing, to impose and collect administrative fines of up to a maximum of ten thousand (10,000) dollars per violation, and clarifies that each time the same violation is incurred it shall be considered a separate violation; what is collected goes into DACO’s funds to strengthen its consumer protection resources. Separately, Article 18 makes it a misdemeanor to violate the law or a regulation, order or resolution of the Secretary, or to file a false statement or report on a fundamental aspect of a required record: a fine of no less than one hundred (100) and no more than five hundred (500) dollars, or imprisonment of no less than thirty (30) days and no more than six (6) months, or both. And Article 14 carries the exception that must be read whole: the law shall not be understood to apply to parking areas operated without direct profit motive — those functioning principally and essentially as a service for the convenience of a business’s customers or patrons — **however, all those areas must comply with Article 5 of this law**, the insurance one. That is, the mall lot not charging does not exempt it from carrying the coverage.

Before the Department of Consumer Affairs. Article 8 gives its Secretary primary jurisdiction over users’ claims for damage to their vehicle or any part or accessory of it, and for being charged a rate higher than the one set, resolved after an administrative hearing. Article 3 adds that DACO investigates and inspects on its own initiative or through a complaint filed by a user, and that it investigates and takes action on the complaints users file. If you also suffered personal injury, Article 8 itself clarifies that filing with DACO does not prevent you from bringing the corresponding action before the court with competence and jurisdiction. What we do not publish: the form, address or filing procedure for a DACO complaint under this law, or its cost, because Act 120-1973 does not set them.

• Accepting the "not responsible" sign: for adjudicating damages, the law deems the operator to have acted as a depositary of the vehicle.
• Going straight to court over vehicle damage without knowing DACO has primary jurisdiction over that claim.
• Believing that filing with DACO closes the judicial route for personal injury: Article 8 says otherwise.
• Throwing away the entry ticket, which is the evidence of the relationship and the time.
• Not checking the license and insurance data, which must be in a visible spot in the area.
• Paying more than the set rate without complaining: overcharging is one of Article 8’s two claims.
• Giving up on a lot that does not charge: Article 14 exempts it from the law but not from Article 5, the insurance one.
• Letting the fifteen days for judicial review or the ten for reconsideration pass.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Asuntos del Consumidor (DACO)

  DACO

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov

• Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO)

  DACO

  www.daco.pr.gov