Americans and their garages.....

The 4-car family at the corner of my street parks on the street, annoyingly. Their garage is jammed floor to ceiling with crap. They park two of their cars on the outside apex of the corner and I keep hoping some drunk dude will come barreling through there and wipe them both out. It causes a traffic jam almost every day when there are cars coming from both directions and they can't squeeze around the corner.
 
Same thing in my neighborhood. People keep cars outside and junk in the garage.
I raised our bikes on the wall. It is still bit tight with 3 cars, each two sets of tires plus BMW has track set of tires. Tools, lawn mower, wife’s shoes, kids bikes (always in circulation) etc. But, since this is hail capitol of the US, I have to have cars in from April to September. In winter it helps too. Last night it was -6, and garage is at 47.
 
This is a big problem in Ontario as well, And the point about people paying to rent storage units is also about keeping junk in protected environs.

I keep my 2 car garage for cars. I also store my motorcycle, ladders, lawnmower, planks of hard maple, 3 sets of snow tires on rims, 2 bicycles, recycling bins and garbage pails. Oh, almost forgot, my motor oil stash, my filter stash, my car cleaning chemicals.
 
I find most garages today, especially newer built homes by major homebuilders, are built to "say" two or three car garages. But the square footage of the garage is minimal. Just enough room in the garage to fit the garage door. Try to get two full size cars in a modern two car garage built by a major homebuilder. No room for tools, bikes, etc.

The reason you see MBs parked in the driveway might be that garage is simply to small on the width.
 
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I have a 2 car garage and keep 2 cars in it. Grew up on the prairies where snow and ice were a winter long issue. The biggest luxury I ever got was a garage and the ability to keep my car indoors. Keeping your cars indoors reduces the amount of work and (yes) damage.

Someone commented that parking indoors was not good for a vehicle because of salt on the body. I understand that is true for a heated garage. But it's not a problem in an unheated garage where you get protection from snow, ice, hail, bird crap, tree sap and sunlight. My 18 year old Volvo and my 20 year old BMW had no cracks on the dash.
 
I own no garage. I rent a storage unit to store my 91’ Toyota during the winter as well as all my tools, and outdoor recreation equipment. Whenever I see storage unit “neighbors” open with contents visible, the contents are either junk or collector cars or motorcycles. But the junk storage is baffling. These storage units are not cheap monthly.
 
I find most garages today, especially newer built homes by major homebuilders, are built to say two or three car garages. But the square footage of the garage is minimal. Just enough room in the garage to fit the garage door. Try to get two full size cars in a modern two car garage built b a major homebuilder. No room for tools, bikes, etc.

The reason you see MBs parked in the driveway might be that garage is simply to small on the width.
We've speculated that a full-size crew cab pickup won't fit with the door closed. The Canyon fits if I touch the license plate to the lawn mower push handle. This garage is ridiculously small. Super fun with two Mustangs and their long doors. Everything has to hang on the walls, as there's no floor space.
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This is such a pet peeve of mine. When buying our house, a two car garage was a must. I’ll be ****ed if I’m not organized/clean enough to park our cars in it.

Three overhead storage racks, two shelving units, a work bench, and both cars happily fit in my garage.
 
No real suburbs here, similar house prices though (until I get around a lake!). I suspect most garages are used though for cars.

My house has an “oversized” garage, but everyone gets upset with me when I insist it is not. Try to roll around under a car, or otherwise work on one—right size for compacts, nusiance on mid size, and forget about it on truck size.

I didn’t have to park in mine too many times, pulling in out of the rain, to realize I was spoiled, and never wanted to give that up… no project car will be allowed to steal that spot from me!
 
In our neighborhood, we have a mix of 2 and 3 car garages. I'd say at least 50% of the houses have cars parked outside. We have a 2 car garage that is deeper than most, so we have 2 cars and a Bantam military trailer parked in the garage, but sadly, my 4Runner gets parked on the street. I would love to have a 3 car garage to keep them all covered.
 
I built a new garage 32 deep X 40 wide, 12 foot walls.
2 overhead doors 12 wide X 10 high. There is 6 feet space between the 2 doors to park a smaller boat, which still gives me enough space to use both bays for vehicles.

Enough room at the front to store a ATV between front of truck, & work benches.
I sure like the extra space. Some garages feel so tight to open doors, or do any work inside with vehicles inside.
 
I think it’s regional and dependent on the neighborhood.

Live in Texas so snow really isn’t an issue. When it does snow people don’t usually go out. Also I live in “middle class” area with older houses where almost everyone parks outside. Friends and family in higher end areas mostly park in the garages. You might assume because of nicer vehicles but you’d be wrong. There are some really nice trucks and cars setting outside.

I’ve had folks ask why I don’t park such an expensive item inside. 1) It won’t be worth much in ten years anyways. So what’s the difference. 2) The garage is my workout space. I don’t care what happens anywhere else in the house, but the garage is mine.
 
I have considered that but does it actually buy you much room? Seems like the bars would be down at head level.
Like many have commiserated my garage is small, so common in newer homes. It is however high, the bikes are above the Jetta and are not in the way in the slightest. That would not have worked in our former home, but being much older it was much larger.
 
We've speculated that a full-size crew cab pickup won't fit with the door closed. The Canyon fits if I touch the license plate to the lawn mower push handle. This garage is ridiculously small. Super fun with two Mustangs and their long doors. Everything has to hang on the walls, as there's no floor space.View attachment 82971
Are set up is very similar, garage is very organized with items on the walls and high shelving. We can get our two cars in but there's no extra space, it's just too small but we make it work cars and all.

I noticed in newer homes despite the three door charade garages are not that big, perhaps that is contributing to my neighbor's plight. Garage size is deceptive when empty, of course it was empty when we looked at the house and even then I could tell it wasn't big.

Next time around the tape measure is coming out.
 
The area where I live, the houses are all really old (100+). My house has an external "garage" but it's more like a carriage house, you can't open car doors if you put the vehicle in there so it is used to store lawn equipment, the ladder, ATV's...etc. Many of the houses around me are similar, or they've removed the buildings because they became dilapidated due to neglect (because they weren't functional as a garage). There's the odd palace that has a double carriage house, those are functional, but by and large most people are parked in their driveways for the same reason I am.
 
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