5 Apps and Hacks To Save on Parking Costs in Major Cities

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Dealing with parking costs can be a huge headache if you regularly commute. It’s not only frustrating and time-consuming but also drains the wallet. 

What’s worse is that it eventually dents your monthly expenses and budget. A study by INRIX, a transport analytics company, shows that Americans spend 17 hours a year searching for parking spaces, costing drivers $345 in wasted time, fuel and emissions on average. On top of that, Americans spend $20 billion a year overpaying for parking spots.

Fortunately, it’s possible to slash the amount of time lost and all of these expenses. You just have to find the right apps and hacks — from AI-powered apps and parking subscriptions to ride-shares. Here’s a look at some of the creative ways to save on (otherwise costly) parking costs.

Parking Apps 

Parking apps aim to make your life much easier as you navigate through the city. Parking apps provide real-time data on which parking spaces are available, where the garages are located and how much they cost. 

But how will you be saving money using these apps? They offer pre-booking discounts, which can reduce a large portion of your monthly parking expenses. 

Some apps have price comparison features. This allows you to pick a cheaper parking garage. You can also make a parking reservation, which is perfect for airport parking. The following parking apps are highly recommended if you’d like to pay less for parking.

ParkMobile 

With over 50 million users, the ParkMobile app enables you to locate and purchase a parking space at a discount. What makes it stand out is its integration with parking gate equipment, which lets you scan garages for entry and exit. 

SpotHero

SpotHero is available in more than 300 cities in the United States and Canada. You can guarantee a parking spot through its pre-booking feature. You can also avoid costly tow fees and parking tickets by searching for off-street parking spaces.

ParkMe

With over 84,000 locations in over 64 countries, ParkMe has the largest parking database in the world. You can compare parking costs and make reservations up to 2 weeks in the future. It’s also great if you want to compare off-street and on-street parking rates. 

ParkWhiz

You can save up to 50% of your parking costs using ParkWhiz app. That’s because its objective is actually to save you money. And the parking app achieves this by offering a myriad of discounts. You can also compare pricing from various parking garages. 

Parker 

Parker is fast and helps you get the best parking spot in seconds. You’ll love its filter option, which lets you filter parking based on location, payment type, parking garage, etc. The Parker app has built-in GPS navigation that guides you to the nearest open space. 

Basically, when you’re picking a parking app, go with an app that fulfills the following: 

• It displays real-time parking
• It allows you to compare prices across various parking lots 
• You can make payments via mobile
• It facilitates pre-booking for cheaper reservations and guaranteed spots

Hidden Municipal Discounts 

You might not know this, but your municipality may offer programs to help its residents save on parking costs. 

There could be a government initiative to curb city congestion and they usually devise ways to encourage commuters to use certain parking garages. 

You will need to do a little digging to find these lesser-known programs, most of which come with late-night or early-bird discounts and parking permits for the locals. 

An example is New York City’s “Resident Parking Permit,” which offers discounts to the locals. There’s also Austin’s EV parking program, where residents get free meter time for their electric vehicles, saving drivers up to $15 daily.

Park-and-Ride Option 

There’s no better way to minimize parking expenses than with Park-and-Ride. Instead of wasting your hard-earned money on downtown parking costs, why don’t you park your car at a cheaper spot close to your home for free or at a much better rate? You can then take a train or a bus ride. 

How’s this going to save you money? Well, downtown parking averages $20 to $25 all day, according to Planetizen, a planning community for towns and cities. 

But a Park-and-Ride is generally free or may cost you only $5 to $8 for all-day parking. If you work this out monthly, you can save hundreds in parking costs. Better yet, you’ll also be saving on gas and your car will last longer. 

Incentivized Ride-sharing

Major cities normally have programs incentivized to encourage commuters to share rides to minimize decongestion. If you share rides with other commuters instead of driving, you save on parking expenses. You’re also making your commute much easier. 

In cities like San Francisco, the city administration works with Lyft and Uber to offer residents discounts for sharing rides. This discourages competition for expensive parking spaces and as for you, you’ll be saving money.   

Even better, you can carpool to work with colleagues. This way, you split the gas money and get to dodge those parking fees. Instead of spending $14 to park daily, you can save up to $7 when you carpool or use incentivized ride-shares. 

Parking Memberships and Subscriptions

If you’d like to cut down on parking bills, parking subscriptions are a great solution. Daily parking payments without a subscription can add up quickly and before you know it, you’re losing tons of money on parking garages. How does a monthly parking membership save you money?

Take this example: if your daily parking cost is $15, that’s about $300 monthly. But if you opt for a parking subscription, you may get an offer of $200 monthly, which saves you $100. 

So, grab a subscription and keep the extra money in your pocket rather than pay those daily parking fees.

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