# Garages being used to actually park cars **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 25, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808 "2019-09-25T16:03:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/81 "2019-09-28T00:43:09Z")
Two car attached garage. One car and three scooters go in the garage, and one car stays in the driveway. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/82 "2019-09-28T01:05:03Z")
My next door neighbors retired this year, sold one car, and started parking the other in their small garage. They’re the only people on the block who do. My previous house we didn’t have a garage. Most of our neighbors did. Very few used them for cars. Both streets had older housing with small garages, which may make a difference. Certainly in the more suburban areas nearby, where houses are newer and garages are bigger, it’s much more common to see garages being used to park vehicles. I don’t know exactly what the connection might be, maybe just a function of age of housing stock, but it’s also true around here that where there are sidewalks people do not tend to park in garages; where there are no sidewalks they do. —Anyway around here it’s a pretty clear urban-suburban split. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/83 "2019-09-28T02:30:08Z")
The thought never occurred to me to not park in the garage. It’s sure a lot of fun to remove a foot of snow off your car, then scrape the ice off, then find that the locks are frozen, all on an unplowed driveway, when it’s zero degrees outside. I have a basement for junk. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/84 "2019-09-28T03:02:46Z")
I don’t understand this concept of parking a car in your garage. How on earth can that be done? There is no room to put a car in there with everything else taking up all the space. You do understand designations of one-car or two-car garage are referring to the number of cars you are not parking in your garage because it’s full of other stuff, right? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/85 "2019-09-28T05:49:12Z")
It varies pretty widely. In my neighborhood in Burke VA, it was a but 50-50 those who used 'em for storage to those who self-righteously insisted that only hoarders would do so. In my Dad’s neighborhood, Aiken SC, the HOA will fine you if you park a car overnight in the driveway. If you are having guests you have to register their car and license plate, but otherwise, all cars have to be in the garage after dark. In the current neighborhood, Alexandria, VA, most folks park in their garages. But this neighborhood all the houses have basements, so storage is easy. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/86 "2019-09-28T06:24:05Z")
We have two garages. One 2 car attached to the house and a 24x30 garage in the back facing the back alley. The one in the back is used largely for storage plus my old hobby car. The attached garage has the car plus some stuff we might want to take into the house with more regularity. There’s no way in h\*ll my cars ever sit outside at least overnight. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/87 "2019-09-28T18:46:28Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > …In my Dad’s neighborhood, Aiken SC, the HOA will fine you if you park a car overnight in the driveway. If you are having guests you have to register their car and license plate, but otherwise, all cars have to be in the garage after dark. 😕 IMHO, this is insane. My house has an attached garage with two bays. We have three vehicles for the three drivers in our house (me, my wife, and adult son), along with a trailer (for hauling mulch, etc.). I couldn’t put all of our vehicles in the garage even if I wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/88 "2019-09-28T20:21:09Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > In my Dad’s neighborhood, Aiken SC, the HOA will fine you if you park a car overnight in the driveway. So can’t you just park in the street? Even if the street isn’t public, there’s no way to know which house is responsible for the cars in the street. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/89 "2019-09-29T02:01:13Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > So can’t you just park in the street? Even if the street isn’t public, there’s no way to know which house is responsible for the cars in the street. I can park in my driveway. But the town forbids overnight parking on the streets. If it’s not snow-season, you can call the police and get a short-term exemption when your friend visits. But they enforce that rule fairly actively when snow is predicted, or if your neighbors complain (and you didn’t call the police, first). ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/90 "2019-09-29T03:10:50Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I can park in my driveway. But the town forbids overnight parking on the streets. If it’s not snow-season, you can call the police and get a short-term exemption when your friend visits. But they enforce that rule fairly actively when snow is predicted, or if your neighbors complain (and you didn’t call the police, first). So every single house in your town has a driveway? Not doubting you, just surprised. I’ve never lived in a place remotely like that. What about apartment buildings, or don’t you have any, or do they all have off-street parking lots or garages? ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/91 "2019-09-29T03:22:50Z")
I’ve been a lifelong city dweller dealing with either street parking (most of the rentals I’ve lived in), paying the equivalent of half my monthly rent for a garage space (when I lived and worked Downtown), or shuffling two cars around a narrow driveway in a house that had a garage barely big enough to store a standard lawnmower in. A couple of years ago we bought a house with a 650 square foot garage that takes up half the footprint of the basement. It’s glorious. Sometimes when it’s raining buckets I open one of the garage doors, and smile at the downpour while admiring my car’s bone-dry exterior. We have space for two cars, the trash and recycling cans (we have a racoon problem otherwise they’d be outside), a couple of bikes, and a few shelves/racks of yard tools, paint cans, etc. There’s not enough room for a lawnmower, but I pay somebody to do that so who cares? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/92 "2019-09-29T06:44:42Z")
> [@robby](#): > > 😕 IMHO, this is insane. > > My house has an attached garage with two bays. We have three vehicles for the three drivers in our house (me, my wife, and adult son), along with a trailer (for hauling mulch, etc.). I couldn’t put all of our vehicles in the garage even if I wanted to. I agree. In that neighborhood there are houses with four-car garages. I think one of the reasons for the rule is to prevent people renting homes to multiple tenants. You wouldn’t believe the stories I could tell about this HOA. It’s a gated community with its own private golf course and country club. I can only say that the people who live there have all selected the community on purpose, and they like it that way. I would never have guessed there could be so many insane control freaks in one place. Here’s another one for you: On garbage pick-up days, cans can not be put out the night before, but must go out the morning of, and be put away before 5:00pm. What, you might ask, if you are at work then? There are a couple of retirees in the neighborhood who can be hired to bring your bins in for a small weekly fee. And yes, they are both on the HOA board. > [@Balthisar](#): > > So can’t you just park in the street? Even if the street isn’t public, there’s no way to know which house is responsible for the cars in the street. It is a private, gated community. There would be someone knocking on the door within a couple of hours and before midnight the car would be towed out to the city impound lot. They don’t just charge you for the towing either, they’d charge you with trespassing. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/93 "2019-09-29T15:55:36Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > So every single house in your town has a driveway? Not doubting you, just surprised. I’ve never lived in a place remotely like that. What about apartment buildings, or don’t you have any, or do they all have off-street parking lots or garages? Most houses have garages, and yes, they have driveways. Yes, the apartment buildings have off street parking, usually including garages. Many of the communities around here have overnight parking bans. It makes it a lot easier to plow. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/94 "2019-09-29T17:16:22Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > As alluded in the OP, we shop in Costco about once in 5 weeks or so, and when we do we load up on much more stuff than we want lying around the house. It’s a lot more convenient to bring the stuff from the car (even when parked in the driveway) into the garage for storage and then gradually bring in to the house as needed than to bring it in from the garage through the house to the basement and then back up to the house as needed. Same goes for any number of other bulky things that we don’t buy at Costco but stock up on when on big sales elsewhere (e.g. 2 liter bottles of soda, paper towel rolls etc.). > > Ditto for working on your car. You want your ramps and other tools and car parts etc in the garage where you can easily bring them out to the car in the driveway a few feet away rather than having them in the basement. > > In general, anything which is geared primarily for outdoor use makes more sense in a garage. E.g. a lawnmower, weedwacker, seedspreader, and any other outdoor-type tools (e.g. chainsaw), kids’ bikes, roller blades, baseball bats, inflatable boats etc. etc. You don’t want to be dragging these stuff up from the basement and through the house to get outside. (The only alternative for these would be to get a shed.) Maybe my garage is larger than I thought. I have two cars in it… one a full size (7 passenger SUV) and still have room for my work bench, snow blower, floor jack, tools, weed wacker, shelves for camping gear etc. and hooks for three bikes on the ceiling. Costco bulk items go in the storage area of the finished basement. A roll of paper towels isn’t that hard to bring up a flight of stairs. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/95 "2019-09-29T20:57:12Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > . . . > A roll of paper towels isn’t that hard to bring up a flight of stairs. I trust this is a statement of gratitude, rather than of judgement. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/96 "2019-10-01T00:08:31Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > There would be someone knocking on the door within a couple of hours and before midnight the car would be towed out to the city impound lot. They don’t just charge you for the towing either, they’d charge you with trespassing. How do they charge you for trespassing? That’s criminal, not civil, and there’s no prosecutor in the world that would charge a person without proof. The presence of a car is not prima facie evidence that the _owner_ trespassed, and of course, property doesn’t trespass. And whose doors do they knock on? Everyone’s? How do they know whose house the car is visiting? Frankly, fuck your neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/97 "2019-10-01T12:40:54Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > So every single house in your town has a driveway? Not doubting you, just surprised. I’ve never lived in a place remotely like that. What about apartment buildings, or don’t you have any, or do they all have off-street parking lots or garages? Every one of the In the Chicago suburbs I have experience with have similar restrictions. Generally, they specify a limited time period - say 2-4 a.m. - that street parking is prohibited. You can call the cops and get an exception for guests, or if your driveway is otherwise unavailable due to construction or something. Apartment buildings have to provide their own parking, or residents have to rent space somewhere. AFAIK, the municipal code has regulations specifying parking that must be incorporated into new construction. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/98 "2019-10-01T13:39:03Z")
My 2004 Avalon has been garage parked it’s entire life unless we are traveling or the one day or so each year when the floors are power washed. I think this is the main reason the car looks like new and has not a speck of rust on it. That’s reason enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/99 "2019-10-01T14:44:55Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > … > And whose doors do they knock on? Everyone’s? How do they know whose house the car is visiting? > … Does this car not have license plates? If the car belongs to one of the residents, it shouldn’t be too hard to track down which door to knock on. (My town would just tow the car if it was in the way of the plows, I think. I don’t know anyone who has actually left cars on the street during a snow storm, because, … Why on earth would you do that if you have a better place to put it? So i guess I’m not certain what happens.) ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/100 "2019-10-01T16:47:43Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Every one of the In the Chicago suburbs I have experience with have similar restrictions. Generally, they specify a limited time period - say 2-4 a.m. - that street parking is prohibited. You can call the cops and get an exception for guests, or if your driveway is otherwise unavailable due to construction or something. > > Apartment buildings have to provide their own parking, or residents have to rent space somewhere. AFAIK, the municipal code has regulations specifying parking that must be incorporated into new construction. Okay! Thanks. Guess I’m just not familiar enough with suburbia. Have never lived in a suburb and haven’t noticed no-on-street-parking in the ones where I’ve visited. Learn something new every day! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808.md?page=6)