Parking spots: Bigger is better these days

[MUSIC] Cars are getting bigger both in terms of size of a given car. I mean just look what's happened to the 9/11. And in terms of the kind of cars we actually love SUVs and crossovers. They roamed the earth. [MUSIC] Meanwhile, doesn't it really feel like parking spots are only getting this way while cars go that way? What they call a compact sport these days can be as little as seven and a half feet wide. Measure your car. That doesn't leave a lot of room. The big spots are eight and a half, maybe nine. We're not talking about a big spread here. Back in the day, they used to do them nine or ten, when everyone drove a Lincoln or a big Impala. Not this Impala. But those days are kind of gone. Even assuming a normal-size compact space, pull in a Prius and you've got less than 13 inches each side remaining. And just seven inches on either side of a Range Rover, which you know someone's going to park in there. You know it's bad when a Honda Fit, doesn't. And look at this one I found at one of the priciest garages in Downtown San Francisco, a space barely six feet wide. I've seen tuk-tuks too big for this one. Now R18 Impala is about 73 inches wide not including mirror projection. That's another what? 5 inches of side But you've got to get in and out of the thing. So first of all, detent number 1 on the doors is going to add 22 inches. I haven't hit this guys car yet, but I'm kind of looking at a tight opening here on the door. What I really want is detent 2 but I can't. The cart next to me is in the way. It's either ding city or I kind of have a very small ingress egress Adding 30 inches per side. Depending on what's next to you and how badly it's parked, getting in and out of parked cars these days is increasingly done by the touch method. Good news only for the paintless dent removal guy. So who's in charge of the regulations around parking spots. Well, it turns out almost every municipality has got a code says a compact spot is y wide, and a full sized bodies is much more. But the composition of how many compacts versus big spots, is up to the parking lot owner in most cases. Here is some survival tips. As parking lots increasingly look like Lilliput. Look for angled spaces. They created a little less of a door battle. Find an end slice, even if it's in the south 40. Look for spots where you can snug up to a wall and leave plenty of room for your driver's door. Consider some of those magnetic door bumpers, to prevent dings. Or go all the way and do a Lambo door conversion [MUSIC]