Backing into parking spots

[lanejudy]

Well, I am about to back my 1965 Mustang into a parking spot at our weekly Sunday morning Cars and Coffee gathering. That is the practice there. Primarily so you can open the hood and show off the engine. Not a lot of fun because my Mustang doesn't have power steering or a back up camera!

Obviously not enough practice since you don’t think it’s all that easy. If the Mustang isn’t your usual vehicle, you may want to practice on the other.

 

[tvguy]

That's when the dollies come into play. Tow truck drivers have seen it all.

Put all 4 wheels on dollies, pull it out of the garage, and then get it situated for a longer tow.

Will that be included with AAA or other roadside assistance? Probably not. I have found AAA and auto manufacturer or auto insurance roadside assistance to be almost useless. Calling a local tow company directly gets a much better response.

Pretty much all tow companies are AAA here. My classic car insurance IS different. Always a flat bed, and always a tow company I have never heard of.

 

[tvguy]

Obviously not enough practice since you don’t think it’s all that easy. If the Mustang isn’t your usual vehicle, you may want to practice on the other.

Or just pull in front first. LOL.

 

[kdonnel]

Pretty much all tow companies are AAA here. My classic car insurance IS different. Always a flat bed, and always a tow company I have never heard of.

While they might be partnered with AAA, I doubt they are all owned by AAA.

I recently had a horrible experience trying to get a tow using my auto insurance roadside assistance.

I finally gave up and pulled up Google maps and typed in tow truck. Called the company closest and they were there in 10 minutes.

Doing the same thing for random cities in California finds dozens and dozens of tow companies in each city. I promise you will get better service as their direct customer instead of an indirect customer via AAA or your auto insurance.

 

[tvguy]

While they might be partnered with AAA, I doubt they are all owned by AAA.

I recently had a horrible experience trying to get a tow using my auto insurance roadside assistance.

I finally gave up and pulled up Google maps and typed in tow truck. Called the company closest and they were there in 10 minutes.

Doing the same thing for random cities in California finds dozens and dozens of tow companies in each city. I promise you will get better service as their direct customer instead of an indirect customer via AAA or your auto insurance.

I doubt AAA operates any towing companies. Like UBER and LYFT they operate a dispatch network and local tow companies have contracts to be providers. I have had Allstate Motor Club for over 50 years and every tow I have ever had through them came from a Yellow Tow Truck with AAA logos and the name of the local tow company painted on it.
I got the dispatcher at that company really angry at me one time when the fuel pump went out on my mom's car. We left it overnight on the side of the road and I went back the next day to get it towed. Took three hours. I had a Highway Patrolman check on me, and I told him I had a tow on the way. I had my scanner with me and I was monitoring their dispatch channel. I listened to four different drivers offer to handle my tow and three were told no, to go off duty and the fourth told to go to lunch. I called the dispatcher who only THEN sent a truck adding a message to "Any Allstate members listening in on a scanner" . The driver said the dispatcher had a message for me that he could not repeat. Fortunately that Highway Patrolman happened by again and stopped, and asked the driver why it had taken hours. I didn't say a word. He apparently had his dispatch inquire as to what the delay was. I got a call a few days later from the Manager/Owner? of the tow company apologizing for the entire situation and he said that dispatcher no longer worked there. Apparently they are also a Highway Patrol contract towing company and they get dinged if they take too long to tow a car without calling the Auto Club back and asking that another tow company be dispatched.

 

[citruscurtis]

And it makes leaving the spot safer.

....well....in my lot...I look for backup lights... though in the newer models they are harder to see from the side.... and with the unsafe backup many seniors depend that you will see the lights and civility be offered by stopping and let them continue... unfortunately...it is a road rage parking lot because pedestrians doesn't care.... pedestrians???... evolved from driver's in the lot who were just pedestrians... but now angry....and please don't get me started on the 5 foot trucks in handicap parking ....

 

[bluezy]

To be honest, if you can't back into a parking spot, maybe you shouldn't have a license. It is not that hard to do.

The area we live in is very rural but the very first part of the on-the-road driving test is to parallel park. If you don't pass that, you fail the test -- you don't even leave the parking lot to do the rest of the test. The number of times people have to parallel park in this area is very low. Even if you're parking on a street, there is usually plenty of space to just pull up along the curb. I understand the importance of being able to parallel park -- people drive to other places where parallel parking skills are required. However, I've always said that driving tests should be given in a busy retail parking lot. People should need to prove they can back in and out of parking spots; navigate the somewhat unregulated traffic patterns, etc. Getting in and out of a parking spot (with cars parked on either side and in front of the empty spot) in a parking lot should be a required part of the test. JMO.

 

[tvguy]

Obviously not enough practice since you don’t think it’s all that easy. If the Mustang isn’t your usual vehicle, you may want to practice on the other.

Although reading through responses, if parking lots are posting signs not to back into parking spots, it must have caused problems.

 

[kyton]

I back in 95% of the time. I’m much quicker at backing in than driving into a spot.

 

[Southernmiss]

DH is another backer inner. I am a find a spot that I can drive all the way through and head out as if I backed in. Even if it means walking a bit to my destination.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I thought of this thread today. I saw a driver working to back into a spot in a McD's today. That was one heck of a sight, cars backed out to the street. The driver finally got in. Not sure what was the purpose of that.

For me, always pull right in, back right out.

 

[NotUrsula]

Apropos of today's weather: Just an FYI for all you backer-inners if you're teaching a young person to drive and encouraging the same habits: remember to also teach them NOT to do it in snowy conditions if the lot is poorly plowed, unless they also are able to walk around to the back of the vehicle and check the ground clearance. It's a really easy way to end up with carbon monoxide in the vehicle if you have backed it in and the snow piled on the lot has blocked the exhaust, especially since in really cold weather people tend to sit awhile with the windows closed to let the engine warm up.

I saw a car in the same hotel lot I was in yesterday doing this; they were backed into a snow bank but sitting there letting the engine warm.

 

[Mikey15]

Although reading through responses, if parking lots are posting signs not to back into parking spots, it must have caused problems.

That’s only ever about security being able to read your plate with a camera scanner, with front plates no longer being a thing in most states.

*Yes, you also shouldn’t back in in lots with one-way aisles and angles parking, though perhaps because that would be common sense, I’ve never seen a “don’t back in” sign needed in those.

 

[John VN]

on a diagonal = straight in

straight in = back in (camera with boundary lines is great)

 

[ronandannette]

Costco is one of the few places I won’t back in, simply because I need access to my trunk for everything I’m loading when I get out of the store.

This is exactly what I’m thinking about. Backing in might be fine if you’re going to an appointment or a movie or something but if you’re shopping, how do you load goods in if the trunk/hatch isn’t accessible? It’s practically never possible to get a cart down between vehicles and sometimes the vehicle behind is so close you can’t even stand between the bumpers.

 

[dizneegirl]

...if you’re shopping, how do you load goods in if the trunk/hatch isn’t accessible?

I just load it in my frunk.

 

[ronandannette]

I just load it in my frunk.

Lucky, but most don’t have that option. How does one get the stuff there? Hand bomb it down between the vehicles and put it in from the side? That’s awkwardness I find very bothersome.

 

[Mikey15]

Lucky, but most don’t have that option. How does one get the stuff there? Hand bomb it down between the vehicles and put it in from the side? That’s awkwardness I find very bothersome.

I believe the idea was backing in, so the frunk is facing out. You access these head-on, not from side.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

*Yes, you also shouldn’t back in in lots with one-way aisles and angles parking, though perhaps because that would be common sense, I’ve never seen a “don’t back in” sign needed in those.

IME though there are a camp of people who back in just about basically all the time and the parking configuration isn't taken into consideration because well that's how they want to do it backing in. Then there are the people who back in only when the actual space allows for it.

I'd like to think the majority of posters are taking the second one where they know their parking lots and garages and adjust accordingly. That is not how everyone does it and IME it's not as prevalent around here, common sense and preference aren't always the same thing. Those who insist on backing in irrespective of the angled spots, the one way direction, the very tight parking garages they just don't care and will take however long they deem to back into that spot because come heck or high water they will back in, it's how they want to do it. Parking far away from other cars doesn't do any good if you're using a main path and then suddenly back in. A turn signal indicates you're going to take that spot but not how you're going to get into it.

You're correct that in general the parking garage not backing it is usually due to license plate but a parking garage is a very tight space to try backing in and out of with little to no visibility of other cars coming and going and the potential to cause a lot of congestion by doing so. Going forward when leaving (after you've backed into the spot) takes the same finesse as going straight into a spot and backing out of it wherein you should be backing up slowly/going forward slowly while looking both ways not gunning it out, taking into consideration the safety in parking garages.

We have a decent amount of shopping parking lots with angled spots and with one-ways. Our closest Walmart is full of that, some aisles are one way direction (narrower aisle) some are dual direction (wider aisle) but they are all angled.


Across the street the entire shopping area is angled for the majority of the spots with exception to the back part of the shopping area


But the big thing to keep in mind is that you can look like you backed in but you actually pulled in. In those cases you do have to make sure you can leave the correct way you're supposed to based on that aisle's directional path. I myself will pull through a spot if I can but it does depend on the actual lot but the direction of my car may make something think I just backed in.