Small parking spaces are damaging cars

Cars are being needlessly damaged regularly due to parking spaces that are too small for modern vehicles.

More than half of drivers in the UK have reported car damage occurring in car parks, mainly due to the doors of other cars and those maneuvering into spaces.

The problem has been exacerbated over recent years, as the average car size has increased dramatically. The average car size is now 20% larger than it was when most car parks, especially those in city centers, were designed and built.

Industry experts are now calling for the introduction of a standardised parking space, such as the SizeMark, which would take new car dimensions into account.

Harrison Woods, Managing Director of YouParkingSpace, said: ‘When it comes to parking spaces, it’s certainly a case of bigger is better. We see it every day – after location, the number one concern of motorists is the size of the parking space. The number of drivers who are now actively requesting driveways over car parks, purely because of their size, is remarkable.”

He continued: “It’s time that the industry introduced a recommended minimum parking space size so that drivers know what to expect. Our proposal is to introduce the SizeMark standard, where all car parks that meet this minimum size are awarded an instantly recognisable SizeMark badge to help drivers minimise damage to their cherished cars.”

It is an issue that is unlikely to go away as time passes. Today’s Mini Cooper is 24% wider than the 1959 original, while the current Honda Civic is 18% wider than 1973’s original.

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