How to Park in a Garage

Find out why Tom and Leslie recommending driving rather than reversing into your garage, unless you live on a busy street or need to drive through heavy snow.

LESLIE: Welcome, Ken. How can we help?

KEN: Hi. Yeah, it’s a dilemma between me and my wife here concerning parking our vehicle in a single-car garage: how you park a vehicle in the garage (inaudible); whether you park it in with a front-wheel drive and which way is it better, into the garage or with the back end into the garage and pointing out.

LESLIE: OK, Ken. Well, I’ve got some suggestions for you. First of all, you’re going to put the car in drive or reverse, depending on whether we decide to park it in head first or tail first. Then you’re going to go slowly into the garage. Make sure you don’t crash into that back wall. Maybe you want to hang a tennis ball or something; sort of a visual indicator when you’re getting to the end.

KEN: Right. I was thinking about that. Yeah.

TOM: OK, so we got it solved then, huh? (Leslie chuckles) Well, I’ll tell you what, Ken. My suggestion – my practice is always to pull the car in head first because I think it’s easier to drive into a small doorway there when you can see where you’re going.

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Where you’re looking at it.

TOM: Yeah, exactly; and not back it in. However, there is one time I’ll back a car into a garage.

LESLIE: If it’s on a busy street.

TOM: No. Well, OK yeah. That’s it. Or when there’s going to be a heavy snowstorm and I know I want to kind of gun it and go through the snow and get out through my driveway. Give you a little bit of head start. This way you get a good 20 foot of traction before you hit the snow. (chuckles)

Well Ken, I don’t know that that’s a home improvement question, necessarily, but perhaps we’ve given you the options. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.