Private parking lots in Peru: who is liable if your car is stolen or damaged?

The mistake that confuses almost everyone

Almost every private parking lot in Peru — at a mall, an office building, a restaurant, a clinic — has a sign or a line printed on the ticket saying something like “we are not responsible for theft or damage.” Faced with that sign, most people assume they have no rights if their car gets stolen: after all, “they warned you.”

That assumption has been wrong since 2009. Ley N.° 29461, the law regulating the vehicle parking service, completely changed that rule: the risk of the vehicle’s loss shifted, by operation of law, onto the parking lot — and a sign cannot reverse that.

The rule since 2009: the parking lot is liable by law, not as a favor

Article 6, numeral 6.1 of Ley 29461 is direct: “civil liability for the loss of the vehicle or of the accessories that are part of it” falls, depending on the case, on one of two parties:

• If it’s parking as a primary service (a place dedicated exclusively to parking vehicles), the operator of that service is liable.
• If it’s parking as a complementary or accessory service (the parking a business with a different main activity offers, such as a supermarket, restaurant, or clinic), the property owner and the administrator are liable jointly and severally.

That second category is the one that surprises most people: the law does not require the parking lot to be a dedicated business, nor that you pay to use it. Article 2 defines the service as “an agreement by which” a business “grants a third party […] the use of a defined space for parking” — without ever mentioning payment. This means free parking at a mall or supermarket is also covered by this law.

Why the “we are not responsible” sign doesn’t hold up

Here’s the piece most people don’t know: article 8 of Ley 29461 expressly states that “the conditions offered for the provision of the parking service are void by operation of law and are considered not written into the contract when they contravene the provisions of this Law”.

In practice, this means a sign or a printed clause that tries to exclude article 6’s liability simply does not legally exist for that purpose — it doesn’t matter whether you read it, signed a ticket, or the sign is posted prominently at the entrance. Before this law, this kind of disclaimer was legally effective and the user bore the entire risk of theft; Ley 29461 reversed that rule.

What the law doesn’t automatically cover: your belongings inside the car

Article 6.1’s protection is specifically for the loss of the vehicle or its integral accessories — the parts that are physically part of the vehicle itself (tires, mirrors, auto parts). It is not a blanket coverage for everything you left inside.

Numeral 6.2 clarifies this: for items located inside the vehicle (a laptop, bags, a camera), the establishment is only liable “if it had been informed about them and had assumed the duties of watchfulness and custody”. If you never mentioned that you were carrying something valuable inside, those loose items are not automatically covered by this law — even though the vehicle itself still is.

What about damage without theft?

It’s important not to stretch this law further than it actually says. Article 6’s automatic liability specifically addresses the loss of the vehicle — that is, theft. A scratch, a dent, or a collision caused by another customer inside the lot is not, in the text of this law, the same scenario: it would be assessed under general civil-liability rules (who was at fault), not article 6’s automatic rule.

In fact, the law itself recognizes that damage can also come from the user’s own side: article 5, literal d) requires every user to “answer for damage caused to third parties inside the parking facilities for causes attributable to them” — if you hit another customer’s car, the duty to answer for it is yours, not the parking lot’s.

The procedure: what to do as soon as you notice the loss

Ley 29461 doesn’t just give you a right — it also sets a procedure with a concrete deadline (article 7):

1. Notify immediately the establishment’s owner (or whoever they designate) of the loss of the vehicle or its accessories.
2. File the police report within the 3 hours following the events, with the authority for the establishment’s jurisdiction — unless force majeure prevented it.

The establishment is required to give you the facilities needed for the police to carry out the corresponding investigation. Once the loss is duly proven before the competent authority, the establishment must proceed with restitution — though the law sets no exact number of days for that to happen.

In summary

Since 2009, no private parking lot in Peru — paid or free, dedicated or complementary to another business — can legally exempt itself from theft of your vehicle just by posting a sign: that clause is void. What does depend on you is notifying immediately and reporting within the 3-hour window, and understanding that this automatic protection covers the vehicle and its accessories, not necessarily whatever you left loose inside or any damage caused by a third party.