If you’re an SUV owner or driver you should prepare to pay more for parking, as a strange practice is beginning to spread across the United States, especially in big cities with limited space. SUV and truck drivers are required to pay more for parking, with garages arguing that these vehicles take up more space and thus are charged more.
MarketWatch discovered that many parking garages in Manhattan routinely charge $10 or $15 extra a day for SUVs and oversize vehicles. In San Francisco, garages usually charge $10 or more for SUVs, while in Boston some garages charge an extra $40 a day for SUVs. It’s not just parking garages, though. Hotels and airport parking lots are also following the trend.
Washington D.C.’s Hyatt Regency hotel charges $55 a night for valet parking for vans and oversize vehicles, with the fare for ordinary vehicles being $48. The Crowne Plaza Times Square in Manhattan charges drivers $56 a day for SUVs and large vehicles compared to $46 for smaller ones.
The examples go on and on, with the trend of paying more to park a larger car rapidly expanding across U.S. cities, while some garages even deny entry to SUVs and other large cars. “It’s another way to nickel and dime customers and make a few extra bucks. Most SUVs fit in pretty much the same parking space,” told MarketWatch William Maloney, the founder of travel fee site Feezing.com.
There doesn’t seem to be much logic here, as some luxury sedans are actually bigger than SUVs. For instance, the BMW X5 is shorter (4,886mm) that the BMW 5-Series sedan (4,907mm), but it is wider (1,938mm vs. 1,860mm) and taller (1,762mm vs. 1,464mm). Feel free to voice your opinions on this in the commentary section.
By Dan Mihalascu
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