Would you pay $250/mo for a parking spot?

The Critic

The Critic

Joined
Aug 30, 2004
Messages
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Location
CA
My sister lives in San Francisco and parks on the street. Her apartment complex offers covered (but not gated) parking for $250/mo.

Over the last few months, her car has been damaged twice.

First time: something landed on the hood, something fell out of an apartment unit's window. $2k in damage to the front-end. The person compensated her for the damage.
Second time: window was broken and her radio was stolen. Repairs will be around $400 since I will DIY them.

Her car is older and not in the best cosmetic condition, so to me, paying $250/mo (or $3k/yr) to house a $4-5k car seems silly. As a family, we are split 50/50 on whether it is worth it. Thoughts?
 
How does her experience compare to the neighbors in open parking lots? You present an assumption that parking in lots is completely crime-free.
 
I would only do this if there was no on street parking available. And never put an aftermarket head unit in a car parked outside overnight.
 
I would skip it. I park on the street too and have had my window smashed by the local druggies looking for change. I have full coverage and I know better than to keep valuable stuff including change in the car so it presents as empty with nothing of value in sight. Get full comprehensive coverage with zero deducible on glass and get a cheap radio or even get a nicer one with bluetooth and a backup camera, those shouldn't cost $400. And after 2 months you will be ahead rather than paying $250/month. I average a smashed window every 2-3 years. Looks like you only lasted 6 months.
 
Ouija says

ouija.jpg
 
atikovi said:
How much is the rent? If it's $3,000 or $4,000, another $250 for parking isn't too bad. Probably a lot more in Manhattan.
Click to expand...

My wife grew up in NYC and her parents have the rare home in Brooklyn with a driveway. But she has relatives in NYC living in apartments with sucky parking. If they happen to get a close spot, they don't wanna lose it so they try to avoid driving unless they really need to.
 
I was born in SF. in 1953. Both my grand parents lived in SF and I grew up in Millbrae and bought my first house in San Bruno in 1976 and spent lots of time in SF. for work and recreation. By 1988 San Francisco turned into a not so nice place and in 2000 moved out of the peninsula. The weather is pretty good all year.
 
Me, no, but I have always lived in the sticks. Might just be the cost of living in the city and having a car, so I could see myself paying regardless of my thoughts about it.
 
The Critic said:
My sister lives in San Francisco and parks on the street. Her apartment complex offers covered (but not gated) parking for $250/mo.

Over the last few months, her car has been damaged twice.

First time: something landed on the hood, something fell out of an apartment unit's window. $2k in damage to the front-end. The person compensated her for the damage.
Second time: window was broken and her radio was stolen. Repairs will be around $400 since I will DIY them.

Her car is older and not in the best cosmetic condition, so to me, paying $250/mo (or $3k/yr) to house a $4-5k car seems silly. As a family, we are split 50/50 on whether it is worth it. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
H E double toothpicks NO. Given that two years of paying for parking would be worth more than the car absolutely not. What she SHOULD be doing is open a savings account somewhere like Marcus that pays better than banks and pay herself $250 per month. NOT TO BE TOUCHED unless LITERALLY her arm falls off or similar level catastrophe. In two years paying herself she'll have something over $6,000 and combined with selling her car could upgrade a good bit. Or maybe even move out of Purgatory.
 
How much does she use her car? What is the street parking like in her area? If she can go car less then it maybe worth trying that, but if she needs it then I would keep the parking spot. If you want to live in the big city then you're going to pay for it.

Just go with no radio and don't keep anything in your car maybe?
 
It’s San Francisco. From this side of the Mississippi, we hear it’s crawling with homeless, drugs, feces, disease, and super expensive housing. Things got so bad that they recalled the DA.

Question will really be, are things going to get better? One of the two damages was blatant property crime. If things are getting better, notionally property crime will be going down.

I think the item falling on the car was a fluke. This just doesn’t happen a lot. And, there are plenty of slobs in parking lots that slam doors into other cars, back into other cars, etc. So it’s no safer in that regard.

So in the end I think it actually amounts to this: is your sister safer parking in the parking lot for $250/mo, vs on the street. In a place with a lot of crime and drug issues, which has even resulted in her car getting broken into, is the parking lot a safer spot? If so, and she has the means to pay for the safety and convenience, then that’s the answer. You’ll never get the answer based upon a $3k car.
 
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