Premium Parking: The average driver in North Carolina willing to pay $11,565 for the perfect parking spot, reveals survey.
- 15% of drivers also believe the actual parking laws in their local area are too strict.
- 4 in 5 believe that over-priced parking spots are a sign that residential, or work areas have become unaffordable.
- 71% think there should be official limits on rental prices that private parking bay owners can lease.
- Infographic showing how much drivers would pay for the perfect parking spot by city.
For many drivers, there’s few things more frustrating than entering a parking lot and having to cruise watchfully down the aisles hunting for a spot. And it’s even worse when you have to resort to finding one on the street, coupled with the tricky task of parallel parking with pedestrians and other vehicles continually surrounding you. Not only can it make you late for work or a meeting, if you don’t find a parking spot in time, it can leave you turning up red-faced and sweating buckets if you’ve had to walk further than anticipated to your destination! A luxury residential real estate group in Boston has recently listed a single parking space in an underground heated garage for sale for the staggeringly high price of $375,000 – more expensive than the average cost of a single-family home in America.
Gunther Mazda, based in Fort Lauderdale, surveyed 3,259 drivers across the country to determine what would be the maximum amount they would pay to escape the nightmarish parking where they work. It was discovered that the average driver in North Carolina would pay $11,565 to own the perfect parking spot in their closest city!
When it comes to the top cities in which drivers would pay high premiums to be able to park in the same space, year around, the survey revealed that drivers commuting into downtown Portland (OR), would pay the most in America for a perfect parking spot – a whopping $24,122!
Unsurprisingly, New Yorkers would be prepared to pay over $15,000 per year for the privilege of escaping the daily train or subways en route to work. A study also found that New York ranked #1 of the list of top 10 large US cities with the most expensive hourly parking rates at $27 per hour on average. This was followed by Chicago in 2nd place at $17 per hour and Boston in 3rd place at $16 per hour.
Infographic showing how much drivers would pay for the perfect parking spot by city
It seems the parking problem may not only lay on the aspect of road congestion, as the survey revealed that over 1 in 10 (15%) drivers also believe the actual parking laws in their local area are too strict and need to be loosened. Moreover, and on the opposing end of paying for expensive parking spaces, 85% of people believe that over-priced parking spots are a sign that residential, or work areas have become unaffordable.
Furthermore, 44% of people said they think their local residential and business area should develop more approved, affordable public parking areas. And nearly 3 in 4 (71%) people also think there should be official limits on rental prices that private parking bay owners can lease, in order to prevent exorbitant amounts.
When asked whether they think parking fines are a legitimate attempt to stop people parking illegally, 42% people said they think parking fines are rather a revenue raising exercise.