Drivers Spend Billions Overpaying, Looking for Parking Spaces

American, British, and German drivers are paying for more parking space time than needed, avoiding parking tickets that would probably cost them less. Additionally, drivers spend billions annually just looking for parking spots. This is according to Washington state-based traffic data aggregator INRIX.

As cities grow, many local governments discourage driving to help reduce traffic and air pollution, but at the same time, drivers want plenty of affordable parking options.

Using its parking database and survey responses from 18,000 drivers in the aforementioned countries, INRIX concluded the following: The average U.S. driver overpays $97 a year for buying extra time than needed while average parking ticket costs are $12 a year. American drivers in major metropolitan areas also spend an average of $345 a year for the lost time and fuel used to find a parking space.

English and German drivers have it worse. In the U.K., drivers spend an average of $269 (209 pounds) for excess parking time with the average parking ticket costing $50 (39 pounds) a year. Time and fuel used to find parking costs an average of $944 (733 pounds) in the U.K. German motorists, trying to avoid paying an average of $9 (8 euros) in parking fines, spend an extra $112 (98 euros) for parking time. Hunting for parking spaces in Germany costs time and fuel valued at $1,023 (896 euros).

INRIX provides traffic data to automakers and owns the ParkMe parking reservation app. BMW currently offers this parking locator service in its 5 Series sedans. However, less than 10 percent of survey respondents stated that they use an app designed to help drivers find, reserve, and pay for parking spaces in advance.

Source: Reuters

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