Does anyone know the proper etiquette for parking a vehicle on the street?

Zukey14

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Dec 6, 2018
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Lambertville Michigan
I just recently purchased a new house and for the first time ever I will be living in a neighborhood. We are in a cul-de-sac which will be much better for our kids than the busy streets we were on before. We have a 2 car garage and a short driveway 2 cars wide. I have three vehicles including the Jeep and I prefer to park both my wifes and my daily drivers in the garage during the Michigan winters. The wrangler is not driven during the winter because of the salt so I am wondering if anyone knows the proper etiquette of keeping a vehicle parked in the street. I cant park it in the driveway because I couldn't get both cars out. My current house the driveway has a turnaround that the jeep was parked in but there isnt any room for one at the new house. I could potentially park it in the side yard but I feel like that might be a bit too redneck for my neighbors lol. I know there aren't any official rules against parking in the street, I made sure of that, also no worries with trash day or the mail service. I am thinking I am just going to do it and see if anyone says anything but again I dont want to upset my new neighbors. We will already stand out as we are 28 year olds and all our neighbors are 40-60.

Thanks for any opinions.
 
If there is nothing against parking it in the street then do so, move it every 72 hours just to show your neighbors it isn't abandoned and it moves under its own power.
 
Shouldn't be any issue to park on the street as long as your township allows overnight parking. My advice is get to know your neighbors...a case of beer and/or a bottle of wine goes a long way where I'm from. Cut their grass or shovel their driveway in the winter and you'll have a friend for as long as you live there.
 
Do you have any room to pour a slab on the side of your house as an extension to the driveway? Here in Utah that's the thing to do in neighborhoods for RVs and extra cars
 
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Do you have any room to pour a slab on the side of your house as an extension to the driveway? Here in Utah that's the thing to do in neighborhoods for RVs and extra cars


Longer term I will probably expand the driveway into the side yard but its rough getting anything done in winter.
 
I don't care if it's a cul-de-sac or not, and I'm not being mean, but that Jeep will suffer from salt being plowed under and onto it every time it snows.

The thing to do is park whatever you want to save inside the garage and whatever you want to drive in the driveway. And I'll add that by typing "whatever you want to drive" I'm talking about your car, not you wife's car. Don't even ask how I learned that.
 
man I would be screwed with the 7 cars in our household...as long as you are not parked opposite another driveway put it on the street. My TJ stays covered outside during the winter but it is a long way from the street. It gets the garage in the summer as once the top comes off it stays off.
 
The neighbor down the street would park his camper several houses down so it wouldn't be in front of his house. Unfortunately, that meant it was in front of someone else's house. Don't do crap like parking it in front of someone else's house 4 inches from their driveway with 2 wheels up in their yard and you'll probably be fine.

If in doubt you're probably better off parking it in the grass just off one side of your driveway if you have the room. Make sure that's not your neighbor's front yard. Several houses in our neighborhood that have 2 car garages, have added a 3rd drive width of concrete for their kids to park on, but high school kids park everywhere.

Move it into your driveway on weekends and that will solve a lot of issues.
 
The thing to do is park whatever you want to save inside the garage and whatever you want to drive in the driveway.

Ding ding ding ding ding

I’d sooner put my washer & dryer outside than leave my TJ out there for mother nature to have at it. Salt or not, just sitting there getting rained on, snowed on & cooked by the sun will hasten slow death, that kind of treatment is not the best for these older vehicles while it’s perfectly suited for the daily drivers we all get, drive & flip every X number of years without batting an eyelash. If you lived in the low humidity no snow no ice no salt barely any rain desert southwest and had a shade tree to park it under then, nah fuck it I’d still keep it in the garage.
 
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I don't care if it's a cul-de-sac or not, and I'm not being mean, but that Jeep will suffer from salt being plowed under and onto it every time it snows.

The thing to do is park whatever you want to save inside the garage and whatever you want to drive in the driveway. And I'll add that by typing "whatever you want to drive" I'm talking about your car, not you wife's car. Don't even ask how I learned that.
I’m with him on this..save the Jeep!!!..or, I personally don’t like when people leave cars in cul-da-sac. Or take it to a store all and cover it. Just my opinion😬
 
Park the Jeep in the garage. Park your daily driver outside, it’s going to be a rust bucket in a few years anyway. Save the Jeep.
 
I'd much rather park my toys in the side yard than the street. The county here says you can only park on the street for 2 days. Otherwise it gets reported as abandoned & impounded.
I keep a boat on the side of the house now, behind a 10'x6' gate. And the HOA is good with that.

Frankly it sounds like your buying a place that almost doesn't work for your current needs.
 
If you are going to park the Jeep outside. park it in the sideyard. Regardless of the legality of parking on the street it will be a target for every drunk arriving at your neighbours and if it is a sharp Jeep it'll attract attention you don't want from school kids looking for a joy ride to professionals casing the neighbourhood looking for an easy score. Anything parked on the street for weeks on end is a target.
 
Lay some gravel down in the side yard and call it a driveway extension. $100-200 and a few hours of work, problem solved. Unless your area has a rule against gravel driveways, that should cover you from any complaints. When the weather gets nice, you could build a lean-to on the side of the house, or put up a portable carport.
 
If there is nothing against parking it on the side yard, prepare it for storage and then do so.
 
What I want to know is why do we park in the driveway and drive on the parkway?

That's been bugging me for years.
 
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I'm in a culdesac as well and my neighbors think the front of my house is perfectly fine to park their cars because oh hell parking them in their own driveways inconveniences the cars in their garages that eventually have to come out. Whenever. I've gone around and around with them about this in subtle ways and funniest part is my next door neighbor who's pretty cool.. is a cop and gets annoyed at his own list of items in and around the neighborhood but doesn't think twice when one of his daughters parks their POS cars in front of my house.

So.. if it's your own house, you can park whatever the hell you want in front of it if you choose to do so. If you're parking in front of someone else's house well then you're asking for it because I think it's a dick move even tho parking in the street is pretty much everyone's right.
 
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Thanks for all the replies! I agree with the comments to park what you want to save in the garage, my wrangler is already rusty, looks decent but most people on the forum would tell me it belongs in a scrap yard. I have a 2015 Grand Cherokee which is in great shape however it will die from the mileage I drive before it has a chance to rust out. Parking in the garage is for the convenience of not having to scrap snow and ice off the cars before leaving for work early in the morning.

I have a wide yard so there is space to park it in front of my own house, which I plan to do. All good points though.

I would like to add a turnaround but that's hard to do after the ground is frozen and we cannot have gravel so it would have to be paved.

Neighborhood has a rule that you cant park in the yard, but I would like to put up a privacy fence and park it behind that in the side yard but that wont happen till after winter. I also don't want to move in and immediately start breaking rules lol. I think once I get to know people it may go over better.

To the comment that the house doesn't work for my needs, its the best thing for my family which is my priority, the Jeep is a summer / off road toy. All things considered its far down the priority list of needs. But I agree the setup right now doesn't work for 3 vehicles and parking in the street isn't ideal but sometimes we have to make compromises. I will ask the neighbors to see if any have an issue and if so it will end up in the garage until I can add the turnaround.