Small Business Idea

In the downtown areas of various U.S. cities, parking costs dearly and there are as many ways of paying for parking as there are lots in which to park. Sometimes there is a little toll booth in which an attendant works and charges you, either by the hour (take a time-stamped ticket as you enter) or by the entrance. In city lots, there might be a parking meter at each space, and in private lots, they number the spaces and put a machine (like a parking meter for all the spots in the lot) in the middle of the lot and you pay for your number. This payment might be good for the whole day, or maybe only for some specified time, depending on how the lot works. Don’t pay, and there’s usually a phone number posted for the towing company that will have confiscated your car.

The black and yellow sign is there because someone is pulling a scam.

This is a private parking lot that has a manned booth during the day to collect parking fees, and has an automated fee collector (like a vending machine) at night.

The guy in the booth takes off and turns on the automated collector and goes home.

Yet another guy is masquerading later as the fee guy, and has been collecting fees from unsuspecting drivers after hours, perhaps giving them an official looking ticket as a receipt, then after awhile pockets the fees he’s collected and takes off.

Someone else with a tow truck that works for the parking lot owner comes along later, doesn’t see the right receipt ticket on some of the cars’ dashboards, and tows away those cars. Consternation ensues when the owners come back with their cars gone.

Got the idea?

I have a parking lot that holds about 40 cars. I am about 200 feet away from the baseball stadium. It is good fun and extra cash to gouge people for parking on event days.

>>#1 – Probably because you don’t drive. In cities people have to pay for a safe place to park their cars, and I suspect it’s the same in Canada as in the States.

One time in Vancouver, Canada, we paid an obscene price to park in a lot with chain link and razor wire, since we were out-of-town tourists and had our stuff in the car with no hotel room to stash it. We figured it was worth the fee for the security.

We come back, and our car had been broken in. Glass broken, the car door literally pried open. Our stuff strewn all over the lot. Nobody at the lot had even noticed.

We were angry and the lot owner blamed us for having stuff in our car!

And, of course, the 3-point type on the parking stub cleared the lot of any legal liability for a break in. We didn’t even get our parking fee back.

#9 >>BUT, it Dont relieve them of liability….

I thought the same thing but as a tourist (out of country no less) it’s far easer — and probably less expensive — to just eat the cost of getting the car fixed and replacing the items.

The real scam is the amount they charge in San Fran for the privilege of parking to shop at some of the tourist traps down by Fisherman’s Wharf.

You’ll notice that, as you approach SF from the south or east on the interstates, the city has signs that will coax you right into the Fisherman’s Wharf parking garage. City-owned.

At the entrance to that garage will be a big white sign. The biggest number on the sign is something like “$5.95″.

But if you park there for, say, four hours, you’ll have to pay around $60 to get out.

Then you vow never to park in another city garage. Which is fine by the City, where the meter maids are just waiting for you.

In a similar vein, I was reading a blog over Xmas about a guy who discovered a “scam” going on in a mall in Los Angeles. The mall’s parking lot was full and there were calls crawling all over looking for an empty stall. The blogger found that this guy (a Mexican guy) was spending the day snagging prime parking spot with his car and then selling the spot for $30. He would then do laps around the best areas, grab the next available spot, and sell it.

The blogger was fuming angry about this since the mall featured free parking and people were desperate enough to pay this guy. I have mixed feelings. I think the guy was an entrepreneur. He sees demand for a product and sells it. However, in this case he was stealing since the parking lot belongs to the mall, not him.

I’ve always thought it would very EASY to steal a car (or several) by posing as a valet service infront of some happening place. Put up a “valet” sign, wear a suitable monkey suit (or jumper with a name on it) and take keys. Pick the best car of the bunch, and…..hey…..try and have anyone identify me!! No one looks at the car parking guy.
I’ve always wondered why no one has done this.
So, meanwhile, even with the sign, the scammer can keep working, very, very FEW people read signs. Shouldn’t put much of a dent in his business.