how to parallel park in tight spaces

[caspar9198]

Just passed my test and have to park on the street
How do I parallel park in tight spots

[kambites]

There's no magic bullet unless you have a car with auto-park. It's just a question of practising until you get the hang of the combination of angles and positions. Dipping the passenger side mirror so you can see the bottom of the rear wheel can help judge the position of the car relative to the pavement.

[Hoofy]

Take your time, be prepared to reverse out and start again, think about which way the front wheels are pointing*.












* - does not apply if you're driving a forklift truck.

[anothernameitist]

Bump the other cars out of the way

[AdeTuono]

[IIIRestorerIII]

The tighter the space the quicker you need to steer. Use full lock and as mentioned earlier don't be afraid to pull out and try again.

[Hoofy]

Parallel parking is much like making love to a beautiful woman.

[Johnnytheboy]

Johnny's tip (assuming you are parking on the left):

When you start to reverse in, line up the view in your right hand door mirror with the middle of the car behind.

As soon as your nose is clear of the car in front, turn right.

[CS Garth]

I tend to approach from an angle of about 15 degrees to the straight ahead at about 25mph, give it a small scandanavian flick a few yards out and then bring the rear round with the handbrake before coming to a halt a uniform 9 inches from the kerb as per the textbook.

[vanordinaire]

Hoofy said:

Parallel parking is much like making love to a beautiful woman.

Yes, if you're a spotty 'youf' who's just passed his test, you won't be doing it right.;)

But seriously, I call troll, anyone who has just passed their test will (unlike most of us older drivers) have been taught and tested on parallel parking.

[Theophany]

Buy (or procure) a pair of traffic cones where you intend to park and follow some of the threads in General Gassing...

[Shaw Tarse]

vanordinaire said:

Yes, if you're a spotty 'youf' who's just passed his test, you won't be doing it right.;)

But seriously, I call troll, anyone who has just passed their test will (unlike most of us older drivers) have been taught and tested on parallel parking.

I'm old (ish) parallel parking wasn't part of what we were taught day to day.

[Speed Badger]

Full speed ahead, slam on brakes and turn full lock whilst yanking up handbrake. Get it right and you'll be a legend.

Sensible advice - do it really slow, there is no shame or embarrassment in taking your time, I still do the tight parks slowly to give myself as much chance as possible if I have to correct or adjust.

[vanordinaire]

Shaw Tarse said:

I'm old (ish) parallel parking wasn't part of what we were taught day to day.

Yes, that's what I was saying, parallel parking is part of the current test and anyone who has just passed the test shouldn't need to come on here asking us oldies (who weren't taught it) how to do it.

[kambites]

It was part of my test in 1998. It's not that recent a thing. However, the space they used for the test was long enough to park a bus in.

[Hooli]

Swing the nose in & dump it, works for everyone around here.

[xRIEx]

Or once you've been driving a couple of months you can do a bit of showboating:

[romeogolf]

Indicate well in advance - Make sure those behind you know you intend to park, so they won't be too close to you when you stop.

Pull along side the car in front of the space you intend to park in so your wing mirrors are side-by-side. I'd say be around 60cm away from this car.

Turn the wheel full lock towards the kerb and back up slowly. As your front wheels line up with the rear of the car in front, turn full lock to the opposite direction.

Sometimes this will line you up a little wrong. Don't panic. Head out and try again - At this point it might be worth holding still and letting a few waiting cars go past if there's a queue.

My advice would be to go to a quieter side-road and just practise without the pressure of other cars trying to go past.

If you have electric door mirrors, tilting the passenger-side mirror down when you park can help with judging where the kerb is. If not, you can use the cars ahead/behind as markers. If you're going in with your steering turned, you'll hit the kerb with a tyre not an alloy, so there'll be no damage. If it happens, stay calm. Stop, look around and pull out to try again. You're not on your test and you haven't failed!

[callmedave]

Find a quiet open section of road, a cul -de-sac or side road preferably, get your mate to park his car and then put a cone or obstacle about 3 meters behind him. practice getting in that gap, then move the cone/obstacle forward a foot and do it again.

repeat until you can get it in a gap with around 1 foot in front and one foot behind.

another tip for tight spots is use a reflection, when parking in town center, I look sideways to the glass in a shop front and from there i see see the distance to the car behind me.

[valiant]

Didn't they teach you this sort of thing when learning to drive? And isn't it part of the test? Was when I learnt 25 years ago.

You'll be asking how to do a hill start next.