- Detroit temporarily closed three parking lots that were found to be charging $999 per spot.
- The massive price was in effect for Saturday’s Lions game against the Washington Commanders.
- The parking lot company claimed the price was simply a mistake and a judge ordered the lots reopened.
Parking in the city of Detroit will normally cost you around $20, but that can increase significantly during sporting events and concerts. Unsurprisingly, it’s happening again as the Detroit Lions are set to battle the Washington Commanders on Saturday in the NFL Divisional Playoffs.
A quick search on ParkWhiz shows a number of lots are sold out on Saturday, while others are charging up to $120 per spot. Expensive, but not exactly outrageous.
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However, that’s cheap compared to three parking lots that were charging $999 per spot during the game. The Detroit News is reporting they were shutdown earlier today and there’s good reason for that as tickets to the game itself can be found for as little as $410 on Stubhub. In fact, $948 gets you a seat in row 39 near the 50 yard line.
The parking lots were located near Ford Field on Gratiot and Randolph, and the director of the city’s Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department told the paper they were only supposed to be charging between $10 and $100 per space. That means they were charging 10 to 100 times more than they were supposed to.
Given the rather blatant price gouging, the city sought to revoke their license. However, Park Rite’s attorney argued this was simply a mistake and they’ve used $999 as a placeholder for years, but it accidently got posted. The attorney went on to claim no one purchased a spot at that price and the judge hearing the case apparently considered that good enough.
In particular, the paper quotes Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Allen as saying, “They’ve corrected the mistake” and “I can understand why the city would want to pursue it if it was a $900 rate.” However, he went on to say “let’s get the lots open today for folks who work in the [nearby] courthouse and other folks who want to use those lots, and let’s open up charging the rates that are acknowledged.”
