Choosing where to park your car

Short answer:

The best place to park your cars is in areas where there’s high demand, but also enough free on-street parking that your borrowers can easily return the car. Your car should be located in a position that’s respectful of your neighbours and other owners on our platform too.

How to choose a good park

As a starting point, you need to make sure that you choose a parking location that complies with local parking laws and where there are no time limits, parking meters, clearways or other restrictions.

If your cars will be parked on the street somewhere other than outside your own home, then you should park:

ideally, adjacent to public land, council or government land, business premises or apartment blocks, and
if that's not possible, then along the side of residential properties (rather than in front). Parking in front of residential properties may upset those residents - whether or not it's logical, people often feel quite possessive of the street just outside their house.

Finding the perfect park

Finding the ‘perfect’ park can be a matter of trying a few different spots before you find the location that works for you.

Whilst you’ll need to check your vehicles from time to time, you don’t necessarily have to park close to your home or office. All your ongoing monitoring can be done using our online tools.

Assess demand

Parking your cars in a high demand area will increase the number of bookings you receive and help you achieve the best return on your investment.

Using our search map, locate other vehicles in your desired areas so you can avoid parking too close together and instead fill in areas where there are gaps.

Search google maps within your chosen area to find locations that are close to activity centres or lots of people who might need a car, such as:

lots of apartment blocks
shopping centres
convenient transport
tourist accommodation
storage units

Find good, free parking

Locations that are busy may not have much free parking available but this is a very important consideration. You don’t want your borrowers driving in circles trying to find parking when they return the car.

To check out the parking options in your chosen area take a virtual tour of the neighbourhood using Google Streetview.

Look for parking that meets the criteria above under 'how to choose a good park'.

When you’ve found a couple of streets as options for potential parking, take a drive to check the locations out. Try to visit at a few different times so you can see what parking is available throughout the day and week.

Consider off-street parking options

Having a dedicated parking space saves borrowers time and effort and provides a smoother experience and you may find that you can offset the cost with higher rates and more bookings.

Services like Parkhound let you find local people who have a carport, garage or driveway they’re not using, and you can often rent them for a reasonable price. This cost may be tax-deductible like your other sharing expenses.

If you already operate a business, running your share car out of your business premises is a good option.

Another parking solution is to find a borrower in the area with a parking space that they’ll exchange for some time using your car - check out the Car Sitting Program.

Respect the local community

One of our core values is that we are shaped by our community. When you list your car, it's important that you take into account any sensitivities in the local communities where your car is parked.

To make sure that the local community continues to support both your cars and the car-share network overall, it's important to be sensitive to any local concerns about parking. This doesn't mean that you need to move your car as soon as someone complains (as long as it's legally parked) - it's about working collaboratively with residents and maintaining good neighbourly relations for long-term success.

If you share more than one car, try to space them out so that there are no more than two cars in close proximity - ideally only one car per street block. If we receive complaints from local residents or councils relating to your car's parking arrangements, we may ask you to find new parking locations and respond directly to the complaints.

Pro Owner Experience

Vince made the strategic choice to position his vans close to densely populated areas with high vacancy rates and rentals (so people are moving in and out frequently).
One of the vans is located between two storage facilities, which means it’s often booked to move items in and out.
The other van is located close to his home where he can quickly and easily check on it on a regular basis.