Your car is your pride and joy. It’s something you love to own, and have likely spent a great deal of your earnings to secure. Yet, if you live in the city, the chances are that you often have to park on a busy street and hope for the best.
Cities simply aren’t built for private parking unless you’re incredibly rich. On-street parked cars in London alone take up around 14 square kilometers (roughly 10 Hyde Parks), according to an article by standard.co.uk. And the situation isn’t much better in cities across the country.
Luckily, whether you’re new to on-street parking or are simply looking to do it better, this savvy survival guide could help keep your vehicle in top condition wherever it’s kept.
Step 1: Always Park on Corners
As an on-street parker, you may avoid corners with everything you have for fear of someone crashing into you. Certainly, it would be foolish to park on a blind corner that’s likely to lead to potentially nasty accidents. But, parking on quiet, fully-visible corners can be a great on-street option for a few reasons. For one thing, parking on the end of the line can significantly reduce any driving anxiety you might experience when attempting to parallel park between two tightly packed cars. Equally, parking at the end of the row means you’re less at risk of finding yourself trapped by cars that have parked too close when you’re due to leave for work in the morning.
Step 2: Keep Track of Your Car
As well as posing an increased risk of vehicle theft, having to make do with street spaces that could be a five or more-minute walk from your home could see you losing your car. Avoid this by keeping track using simple techniques, like dropping a pin on your Google Maps before you walk away. You could also subscribe to GPS vehicle trackers like those offered by cartrackers-uk.com. These are especially useful because, as well as helping you to find your car, they incorporate 24/7 monitoring that’ll make it easier to locate your car if someone does decide to run off with it one day.
Step 3: Always Avoid Trees
Parking near trees might seem like a good idea for keeping your car in the shade, or for simply hiding it a little from passing view. However, any on-street parker who’s made this mistake before will tell you never to do it yourself. That’s because both bird poop and tree sap are acidic, and can ruin your car’s paintwork like nothing else. Unless you want to spend an hour every morning scrubbing that sticky stuff away, park in clear, unobstructed areas that are as far from trees or other plant growth as possible.
Is on-street parking what you had in mind when you purchased your dream vehicle? Possibly not, but it doesn’t need to be the end of the world. Simply keep your car safe and looking its best by keeping these vital survival tips in mind.
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