A tighter squeeze: SUVs are outgrowing garages
Vehicles’ growth spurt is creating big problems when it comes to parking
Parking your truck is becoming a tighter squeeze.
Across America, the drive for bigger vehicles is bumping into physical limitations. SUVs and pickups are getting so large that they’re struggling to fit into some home and parking garages and public parking spaces.
Homeowners may need to think twice about purchasing larger vehicles, while parking lot operators are starting to charge oversize fees to accommodate behemoth SUVs and trucks.
SUVs such as the Chevrolet Suburban and Ford Expedition and pickups including Fiat Chrysler’s Ram are examples of popular vehicles that have grown in size in recent years, testing parking limitations.
When Kristen Trevino moved to her new home in the Dallas area recently, she ran into a problem.
Her 2016 Ford F-150 did not fit in the garage. Undeterred, she bought the 2019 model. That one also didn’t fit.
“It’s too tall. It’s too long,” she said. Now she keeps it in the driveway.
Her next-door neighbor has an F-150, as well, and has just enough room in his garage.
“He can squeeze his in,” she said, but added that it “hits his front wall and just barely clears the door.”
Jake Fisher, director of automotive testing for Consumer Reports, said the trend is a problem. “They are very difficult vehicles to maneuver” and park.
Take Tesla’s Cybertruck. The massive stainless-steel-bodied electric pickup made its debut at a media event in November, as CEO Elon Musk bragged that the Cybertruck would be the fiercest and most efficient pickup on the market when it arrives in late 2021. Commercial demand, he said later, has already exceeded expectations.
But some fans who are interested in the Cybertruck are worried they won’t have enough room for it.
Jim Griffin is Exhibit A. The Pennsylvania resident recently placed a $100 refundable deposit to secure his place in line for the Cybertruck. But he’s not sure he’ll follow through with the purchase after reading chatter online about the vehicle’s immense size.
“They’re like, ‘This thing is massive and it won’t fit in your garage,’ ” he said. “That’s when I said, ‘Hold on a second here, timeout. This thing may not fit.’ ”
And fitting the pickup into his garage is a dealbreaker.
“Nowadays, there’s people buying Dodge Rams, Ford pickups that don’t fit, and they’ll park them outside,” he said. “The difference here is this is an electric vehicle and … you need to plug it in. I’m not gonna spend $50,000 $60,000, $70,000, $80,000 on a vehicle and then have to run an extension cord outside the garage or an outside outlet.”
After a Tesla blogger posted a video simulationshowing that the Cybertruck may not fit in some garages, Musk tweeted that the company is weighing some adjustments.
“We can prob reduce width by an inch & maybe reduce length by 6+ inches without losing on utility or esthetics,” he said.
Tesla engineers also are fitting the Cybertruck with an air suspension, he said. That would allow owners to lower the vehicle’s height to fit into a garage.
Would your garage fit the Tesla Cybertruck?
Home garages vary. Common sizes for new two-car garages include a number of dimensions: 18 feet wide and 20 feet deep; 20 feet by 20 feet, 22 feet by 22 feet and 20 feet by 22 feet, according to garage builder Danley’s.
At 231.7 inches long, the Cybertruck would have only about 8 inches to spare in a 20-foot-long garage.
It’s not the only vehicle that’ll have trouble fitting in. At 225.7 inches long, the recently redesigned and lengthened 2021 Chevrolet Suburban would technically fit into a 20-foot-deep garage, but it’ll have only 15.7 inches to spare.
Even if the biggest SUVs and pickups can technically squeeze in, many homeowners pack shelving, tools and other items into their garages.
“The next-generation Suburban is gonna be so big – my wife drives one – you’re not going to be able to park it in the garage,” said Jeff Dyke, president of Sonic Automotive, one of the largest automotive dealership networks in the U.S. “The Tahoe is the new Suburban, and the new Suburban is a school bus.”
But it’s what Americans want, he said. “Gas prices are low, they’re reasonable, and the country’s in love with SUVs.”
Oversize fees for parking
While home garages are getting tighter and tighter, public parking garages and public parking spaces also are feeling the pinch.
“The parking spots aren’t big enough,” Dyke said. “The parking garages aren’t big enough to deal with all the cars that are coming out.”
Trevino said she’s personally experienced the frustration associated with the size of her pickup.
“Trying to maneuver into a space totally sucks. If you go to the mall and it’s really crowded, looking for a spot is a huge factor. I really have to spend time searching.”
Parking.com, the consumer brand of publicly-traded parking and transportation provider SP Plus, is beginning to adjust its business to deal with larger vehicles. The company already is charging oversize fees for large SUVs and trucks in some lots, particularly in New York, said Jeff Eckerling, chief growth officer of SP Plus.
He said the company may need to consider going further if vehicles keep getting bigger.
“We would have to look at what our rates are and what we charge for those vehicles,” he said. “If you’re at a surface lot, we could (say) that if you’re parking and your vehicle goes over two spaces, we could charge you for two spaces.”
For SpotHero, oversize fees are limited largely to New York, where about 11% of vehicles must pay extra.
Now, some New York lots are starting to charge “super oversize” fees, which applies to truck-based SUVs and pickups, while the “oversize” fees are applying to crossovers.
Elsewhere, “parking operators could take a page out of the New York playbook and start to charge an oversize fee for bigger vehicles,” said Elan Mosbacher, senior vice president of strategy and operations at SpotHero.
While larger vehicles may pose some inconveniences, Americans don’t seem too bothered by it.
In fact, several recent announcements suggest vehicles are likely to continue getting bigger. General Motors announced that it will revive the mammoth Hummer as an electric pickup truck under the GMC brand. Ford is also poised to show off a redesigned F-150 this year, and it’s likely to be bigger than the previous generation.
“People buy what they want to use,” IHS analyst Brinley said. “Whatever their personal reasons are, however it fits in their life, they’ve decided it’s worth it to them.”