I know. I was supposed to learn many, many, many years ago during drivers’ ed. But all I really remember about that was my math/drivers’ ed teacher screaming at me about lining something up with something and guessing wildly as to whether those things were in line and it never really worked.
And the only reason I passed that on my drivers test is that the two cars I had to parallel park between were so far apart that you could probably park three or four cars between them. And it still took a lot of adjusting.
But I now live in a neighborhood where parallel parking is not just a good idea, it’s a necessity and I can’t do it. And I can’t figure out how to do it. Working against me - I have faulty spatial relationship skills. I can rotate objects in my head, and turn them around and inside out, but I have no idea how big they are. This makes figuring out whether my car would even fit into the space nearly impossible. It goes downhill from there.
Pull up beside the car that will be in front of you until your back bumper is lined up with the car. Start to back up, and as you clear the bumper of the other car, turn your steering wheel to the right lock. When your car is halfway past the other car’s bumper, turn the wheel all the way the other direction to the left lock. You should be right where you need to be when you’re done. If you bum the curb, just make adjustments from there.
Since you have no experience with this, I would suggest borrowing some cones and working with those, because they don’t hurt anything if you bump them.
Airman pretty much has it. But you can’t always go lock to lock on the wheel. Different cars have different turning radiuses. If you have electric mirrors, it may help to turn your right mirror down a bit.
Pull up next to the car in front of the space, lining up your passenger’s side mirror with their driver’s side mirror and getting as close to the car as possible, ideally within a foot.
Turn your steering wheel all the way to the right, shift into reverse, and start backing up until you can clearly see the entire license plate of the car (but not much beyond that) behind the space in your rear view mirror.
At that point, turn your steering wheel all the way to the left while continuing to back up.
Once you’re pretty well into the space or are touching the car behind you, shift into drive turn the wheel all the way back to the right and pull forward and towards the curb. Some slight maneuvering may be necessary, but if you’re more than a foot from the curb, pull out and start over - it’s easier than trying to fix it.
Reverse the right/left parts if you are parking on the left side of a one-way street, or live somewhere that drives on the left.
I have fairly lousy spacial skills, so I find this helpful because it gives me landmarks to look for rather than forcing me to guess when the car is a certain angle relative to the space. I actually have a harder time parking in a larger space (unless it’s so big that I can just pull into it), because it screws up my landmarks.
This has worked well for me on various sedans and my mother’s Subaru wagon. YMMV on el gigundo SUVs, tiny subcompacts, and cars with weird turning radii.
That video is crap IMO. 2 feet away from the side of the car in front? That’ll only work if the spot is like 35 feet long. In any realistic city parking situation you’re gonna want your mirror 1-2 inches at most from the car beside you, before you turn the wheel.
I know this sounds stupid - but how? I can’t see my bumper. And if I’m close to the other car, i can’t see theirs either.
what do you mean by this? if I do manage to get the cars lined up (without getting out of my car and checking), what part of my car is supposed to have gone past the bumper of the other car?
I live, and park, in Manhattan. Here, if you are afraid to touch the bumper occasionally, you’re gonna be paying a lot of money to park in lots. I didn’t say ‘smack the bumper of the car behind you,’ but tapping is permitted, and frequently necessary.
First off the way you learn to parallel park is the same way you get to Carnegie Hall. Practice. Trust me it does get easier with practice.
Also understand that going backwards your car steers way different than when you are going forward.
True you can’t see your bumper, but you can see the fender. Sit in your car and look toward the right front corner of your car. see just how far you can see. It might be helpful to have someone move their hand back and forth to mark the spot. Get out of the car and look how much further away the corner of the bumper is. It might be six inches, it might be two feet. Now you have a good idea where your bumper is. For the other car you will either have to eyeball it as you pull up to start parking, or just estimate about a foot off of the top corner of their fender.
FTR I disagree somewhat with few of the suggestions given above. Turn on your right turn signal as you approach the open space, so the numnuts behind you doesn’t block your ability to park
Pull up next to the car in front of the open space. Don’t get too close, a couple of feet is fine.
Reverse, as your rear wheels are even with his rear bumper turn the wheel full right. It is not necessary to stop while turning the wheel, just keep backing up and turn the wheel.
When it appears that your car is at a 45 degree angle to the curb, turn the wheel all the way to the left and continue backing into the space. Watch the front corner of your car to make sure you don’t hit the car in front.! as the car straightens out, use your mirrors to make sure you don’t hit the guy behind you.
Common errors: Right rear tire runs into curb. You aren’t turning the wheel left soon enough. Front bumper wants to hit the car in front. You were either too close to the car when you started, or you turned the steering wheel to the right too soon. In the space, but too far from the curb. Turning the wheel back to the left too soon. Run out room behind your car, plenty of room in front, car is not straight Either too far away from the car in front when you started, or you waited too long to turn the wheel to the right. Car not straight, no room in front or behind the car space too small.
Do it your own way for all I care, but that’s not the wrong way.
Oh boy. How can you drive without knowing the dimensions of your car? Do you ever hit the guy in front of you? If not, you know intuitively where your bumper is. When you look in the mirrors, can you tell if something is close to you? If so, you know where your other bumper is. Can you pull up right beside somebody? If so, then you’ve got step 1 down.
Cones are your friend. Beg, borrow or steal some and find a parking lot.
Another Manhattan driver here and I agree that sometimes tapping is inevitable. I wouldn’t exactly say it is permitted. If someone tapped my bumper and then realized I was standing right there, I would expect an apology. Not a crazy apology, but some acknowledgment that a mistake was made. “Sorry 'bout that” would be fine.
The best thing to do is practice, but here are my rules (taught to me by a kick-ass driving instructor). Note, these are standard rules, you may have to vary them somewhat for a smaller spot, or a car with a worse turning radius:
Pull up next to the front car until your front wheel (or mirror) is parallel with their front wheel (or mirror). You should be about 2 feet away from the car you are parking off of.
WITH YOUR FOOT STILL ON THE BRAKE, Turn your wheel one full rotation (not to the lock position, which is 1.5 rotations)
Put the car in reverse, and start backing into the spot. Turn your body to look over your passenger side shoulder. When you see the other car’s headlight past your rear bumper/rear roof support, slowly start turning your wheel the other direction as you keep backing in. – note: this timing varies based on how tight the spot is; practice!
When you have backed in as much as possible, stop the car, and put it in forward. WITH YOUR FOOT STILL ON THE BRAKE, turn your wheel towards the curb. Release the brake and pull forwards.
PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE
Further notes: If it’s a tight spot, I back in until my bumper touches the car behind me or my rear tire hits the curb. What is unacceptable for the driver’s test is totally acceptable in real life - I have never damaged a car by touching it while parallel parking (and yes, I’ve checked). The other trick about fitting in a tight spot is to turn your wheels to where you want them BEFORE you release the brake. I’ve had people tell me that this will wear out your tires somewhat faster, but my friends live in awe of my parallel parking abilities. YMMV. Good luck!
I would disagree with this method. When you are backing up and you turn the wheel the car will pivot about the rear axle. if you are in a Geo Metro and you pull up mirror to mirror with a Lincoln Continental or a Suburban turning the wheel as you describe will probably put a dent in the left rear corner of the Lincoln/Suburban and a scrape on the side of your car.
If your car is the same size as the car in front or slightly larger your method will work.
Looking over your tight shoulder to see the back corner of the other car will always work.
none of it. I’m very short. I know it’s there because of object permanence and the fact that it was there when I got into the car - but unless I’m going up a very steep hill, I can’t see it at all. Plus estimating “a foot” or “six inches” or “two feet” is beyond my spatial abilities.
Thanks! I knew things were going wrong, but I had not been able to figure out what went wrong to get me into the states I’ve found myself in.
I leave a ton of space between me and the car in front of me. Luckily, I drive in Seattle - so that’s generally ok.
I don’t know if it’s this way everywhere, but where I live you can drive down to the DMV’s course and practice whenever they’re closed on their parallel parking thing. It’s nice, because it’s big wooden things that you can easily see, and there’s no stress or other cars or anything.
Go to a craft store, or the Home Depot and buy a small round dowel. Use some duct tape and tape it to the right front corner of your front bumper. Paint it red if it helps you see it. Now you know where the corner of your car is. After awhile you get a feel for its location.
I made a mistake in what I wrote above here is the corrected info: Front bumper wants to hit the car in front. You were either too close to the car when you started, or you turned the steering wheel to the [del]right[/del] left too soon.