kklems

I an traveling to NYC in July with a party of 7. When you use a website to reserve a slot for multiple days do you get in/out privileges? For example Parkwhiz. Looked at rate terms and it doesn't mention in/out or not except under monthly rates. Many of the hotels specify no in/out.

Any other parking advice is appreciated? (Other than don't drive, take train) My stays will vary from near battery park, times square, LGA, Philadelphia near the Liberty bell.

cestmoi123

Typically, garages (whether booked online or a walkup) don't include in/out privileges for non-monthly rentals.

Are you driving the SUV to NYC, or picking it up at LGA? If it's the latter, I'd suggest picking up the SUV when you're ready to leave town, rather than having to deal with it in the city. If you must have the SUV in town, be aware that most garages charge a surcharge for oversized vehicles.

Analise

I have never heard of garages offering in/out priviledges and did a search for you. Nothing. Here is a link to garages and you can contact if you like but you probably won't find a garage that has unlimited or a fixed # of arrivals/departures for a set fee unless it's monthly parking. http://nyc.bestparking.com/

Just curious, why can't you just leave your SUV parked in one place? As was said already, you'll be paying an SUV surcharge every time you park your car. The longer you stay, the cheaper the rate per hour no matter what size vehicle you have because the rates are much higher the first 1/2 hour to hour in a garage.

You essentially answered your own question. In the city, leave your car in the garage and take public transportation. As for Philly, go to the Philly forum for advice for Liberty Bell parking.

themicah

In/out privileges are common at hotel parking facilities in more car-centric cities. But they're virtually unheard of in Manhattan, where cars get packed into parking facilities much more tightly and parking or retrieving a car at most facilities takes significant time and valet manpower.

Follow the advice in this thread. If you were planning to rent a car at LGA, skip it and wait to rent the car until you are ready to leave Manhattan. If you were planning to drive here from elsewhere, park your car when you arrive and use other modes of transport once here. Even if you have to split up between two taxis or Uber/Lyft/Gett vehicles, it's not likely to cost significantly more (and may actually be quite a bit less) than parking an SUV in a different garage every time you go somewhere. And it'll be more convenient.

cestmoi123

Slightly OT, are there even any true self-park (i.e. non-valet) garages in Manhattan? I can't think of any...

themicah

I can think of a few:

• Essex Street municipal garage
• Port Authority Bus Terminal garage
• Park and Lock at 42nd and Dyer Ave
• My co-op (not open to the public)

Coincidentally (and straying a bit further OT), my co-op is having a big contentious meeting tonight about switching our garage from self-parking with assigned spaces to valet so they can squeeze in more cars. We currently have less than one parking space for every four apartments and it's priced significantly below market, so there's a ridiculous waiting list (the last person to get a spot waited over 12 years and a new signup can expect a roughly 30-35 year wait based on recent turnover). But a lot of the folks who already have parking spaces are very, very angry about the change.

AMflier

I believe that the Battery Garage is also self park. (No in and out)
And yes you will be paying an oversize premium for the SUV.

And there is parking by the Liberty Bell in Phila.
www.philapark.org/autopark-at-independence-mall/

kklems

Actually picking up at Newark, dropping off at LGA ($5 more so it was cheaper than taking transportation from newark to LGA and no time involved)

Most of my time in Manhattan is during the week which is why I planned on parking and leaving the suv for the majority of those days. I do understand that when I park for the day I would not get in and out but I had never pre-bought multiple consecutive days of parking from a garage online so I wasn't sure how that worked. ie pay for parking May 1,2,3,4. Ie I pull in May 1, if I left May 3 to go somewhere and came back on May 3 or 4th how that worked.

I was aware of the SUV charge (looks like most places are $15) but if I can average around $45 a day in parking fees I still come out far ahead. It is insane but a 4 day rental($9xx) is more than a 10 day ewr-LGA rental ($8xx with fees) and throw in a second 3-4 day rental (Another $9xx for the 4 day) and it as much as another 10 day rental period. (cars are listed as $220+ a day..even the sparks are $88 a day) I do need to go back and reprice other agencies but my reservation info is via hertz.com.

Analise

Unless the other 6 people are infants and toddlers, I don't see why you all aren't taking public transportation or, even less expensive and easier, hiring a van from car service companies like Carmel or Dial 7. https://www.carmellimo.com/OurFleet.shtml

Nugget_Oz

Most of the pre-book rates don't allow you to take the car out during the pre-booked period. However, what you can do, and it's usually not a problem is to book at the daily rate (rather than the 5 day rate) and then you can take the car in/out once during the day. I can understand it's a hassle when you all want to go somewhere (especially if it's to the boroughs) with that many people. Factor in the parking hassle and you'll be fine or decide which days you will need to car and arrange it with the lot attendant when you get there and give him a tip for his trouble.

On a question by another poster there are some garages which provide main floor parking, which is basically self park, but the rate is outrageous.

NYCRachel

Here's the list. Cheap since it's owned by the city: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/mot...kinglist.shtml

Wenckebach

If you are willing to deal with the hassle, you CAN park on the street. There are spots on side streets that are free. You just have to move the car every third day or so to the opposite side as per the street cleaning rules. It can be a pain in the butt, but I imagine garaging the car will be extremely expensive. Battery Park will be more difficult, but if you're in Times Square area you could park on side streets of UWS... Not ideal, but a thought.

cestmoi123

How did the meeting go? If that few owners have parking spaces, I'd imagine there'd be a strong contingent from the non-car-owning majority to raise prices in the garage until the waiting list goes away.

themicah

Ha. The meeting didn't go well. Lots of screaming and yelling. The co-op board made the change anyway (Icon valets showed up for work a week or two ago), and now a handful of people who feel valet parking is the worst thing that ever happened to them are bringing in elected officials, lawyers and the media to try to shame the co-op board and find some legal technicality they can use to reverse the changes. It's pretty amazing how far people will go to avoid letting a valet move their car (I wonder if these people never park anywhere else in Manhattan when they go out?).

Setting rates using a Dutch auction every few years would be a surefire way of making the list go away and would have an economic benefit for the co-op as a whole. But this being a formerly limited equity, union-built co-op, there's plenty of support for keeping parking cheap even if there's a long waiting list (many folks feel you "pay" for cheap parking by waiting). In economic terms, raising rates would maximize utility, but wouldn't be a Pareto improvement, whereas finding ways to expand capacity is both a utilitarian AND Pareto improvement (unless of course you think having to use a valet is the end of the world).

Critic

42nd & Dyer is better known as the Manhattan Plaza Garage. It's not the cheapest, but the location is great if you're coming in/out of the city via the Lincoln Tunnel, and in 30+ years of my family & I parking there, we've never been shut out due to a full lot.