Hello all,
I'm looking to move to start a new job in downtown SF next year. I'm an avid hiker and want to keep my car just to drive to some local bay area hiking areas (and less frequently, other areas in CA). However, with parking expenses being so high, would it make sense to get rid of the car and try to rent/uber as needed, or is it possible you can get to places in the bay area without a car?
Posted Nov 3, 2021, 11:10 AM UTC
If you already own a car, I would recommend trying to find an apartment with covered parking, often for a reasonable fee. My old building charged $200 a month for a reserved underground parking spot.
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I agree! Looking for street parking super sucks…especially after hiking and being tired and lugging your gear hiking back to your place lol
Second this but want to add that if you rent from an owner the parking spot is often free.
Moved here couple weeks ago. Wasnt sure whether to bring my car with me would be a great idea ( reading posts here on ho break -in are common, and gas prices are way over priced) anyways 2 weeks into living here I realized how much of a great decision I madt. Although public transportation is here, but it isn't as good as compare to NYC, and won't get you to some places. Not to mention some steap hills you might be walking to get to some spots with the views. Not only that imo all the best spots (with views and hikes, not to mention all the great national parks ) are outside the city that public transportation won't get you there. Also groceries, I personally like to go to different supermarkets to shop for products, having a car has been huge. The traffic isn't that bad either, as compare to NYC.
With cars prices being up 50-60% after the pandemic, the rentals market are up as well. So you'll be paying a lot more this time to rent a car than compare 2 years ago. Finding parking isn't that bad, you just have to move it certain days and never leave anything in the car, I mean anything, even a charger. I personally decided to pay for parking garage at my place which runs me a out 200 a month, saves me a lot of hustle.
Are you living downtown or outside of the city, and are you commuting for work or anything?
I walk to work about 30 minutes walk one way, I don't mind, getting extra steps. Live about 7 minutes driving from downtown. But other than that I'm driving for sports activities, shopping and sights and etc haven't had troubles with finding parking too.. if you could afford having a car I'd suggest to bring it. Although city is nice and there a lot of places to see but at the same time places outside the city are gorgeous as well, and you would enjoy going for a drive on the weekends somewhere outside the city. Both my wife and I agree bringing my car was a great choice so far.
Same here. Just having the ability to get up and go it was made me decide to bring my car. I specifically looked for apartments with garage parking and was extremely lucky that I was able to have it included in my rent.
If you plan on using your car more than twice a month, don’t get rid of it. Getaround is a scam, and you’ll end up paying just as much in membership fees and rentals for ZipCar as you would for parking. Turo and Gig are both insanely expensive as well, about $100/day average.
I wish it were more feasible to buy a car with friends. In theory, a car share should be a better price, but the lack of trust drives up the cost too much
somewhat depends where you live in SF but you could potentially keep a car and do street parking and purchase an SFMTA permit (~$120/year) if your address has permit parking
agreed with u/l_a_i_n_ re hikes & public transport. there are marin/golden gate transit buses but it is certainly less convenient
We did this for several years and used Zipcar on the weekends. But when COVID hit the inventory of available cars plummeted. Eventually we moved away.
i did the math and decided a car was not worth it. but if you have parking in your neighborhood or building your calculation could be different.
i have had good luck getting to trailheads through a combination of bus, ferry, and Lyft/Uber for the last mile when necessary. and borrowing or renting a car for longer trips.
Depending on where your job is, you might look into an apartment in a neighborhood where parking is possible.
If you are going to be downtown, you must get an apartment with off-street parking. It’s not worth the hassle of fighting for limited parking, and the possibility of a break-in.
If you don’t need to be downtown, there are numerous neighborhoods with available parking, and many with garages attached to the house or apartment.
Do you already own your car or are you still making payments on it? Do you know which neighborhood you will live in? In my experience landlords for smaller units are willing to negotiate on parking prices (as opposed to large high rise buildings that can charge $300+ for parking). Right now I pay $100/month for parking in the Inner Richmond. It’s also much cheaper to do street parking, but you really need to consider the safety of your neighborhood and ease of parking. I basically only use my car on weekends to visit family or go hiking, but for me it’s worth it since my car was already paid off and I like the flexibility it affords
Already paid off, and still considering the neighborhood. I'd prefer to live in a newer apartment, and most likely looking at living somewhere like San Bruno or Berkeley and commuting via BART.
Depending on where you live renting from major car rental services be really convenient, more reliable than zip car, and more cost effective. I live in Russian hill/north beach so easy walk to the hertz near fisherman’s wharf. I can generally rent a car for 30-60$/day + gas.
I’d recommend making an estimate of how many rentals you’d make a month or year and math it out against the other options. I ditched my car a couple years ago and the costs of just registration and insurance were more in a year than what I spend on rentals. That’s not considering the cost of a car itself.
You might get out of the city more than me and it might tip the scales. But I feel like everyone jumps to the car share services but I’ve found the good old fashioned car rental companies to be the best solution for me.
I've live in SF since 1997 and I have never paid for parking so I don't know what you are talking about.
12 down votes for saying I don't understand the question?! Fuck you all. Humans suck.
People probably weren't happy to hear that you don't pay for parking. Which bring my next question. Is paying for parking optional here on San Francisco? Beacuse I haven't seen any ticket guys enforcing any rules, I also noticed people would park at meters and just leave without parking. I'm just curious? Because in NYC Id be getting tickets left n right withing minutes
Thanks for the support! I'm too cheap to pay for parking when walking a block or two means I get to park for free, so I guess I'm just more cheap than I am lazy. I park in 2 hour parking or even better next to a park or hospital where there usually isn't even a 2 hour limit. It's free until street sweeping day when there is a 2 hour period you can't park there or you will get a ticket unless you are 100% sure it already went by from observation or ticket evidence on cars. These spots are all over town, even downtown in alleys and such. Only the main commercial strips really have meters except downtown where they are pretty much everywhere except the aforementioned places where it often is not metered at all. Take Geary and Van Ness, two of the most main thoroughfares in town, where there is a large movie theater. Just 2.5 blocks up Geary on cathedral hill by St. Mary's (Our Lady of Maytag) isn't even 2 hour parking, so I park up there to go to the movies. Or I did before covid. I would never, ever park at a meter without paying unless I'm literally going to be 60 seconds and then I look really hard before going in. Pro-tip: use google street view to scout out a promising block or two ahead of time... https://www.spotangels.com/san-francisco-parking
Oh i see, thank you for the feed back, much appreciated!!
You might want to look into car sharing services like Zipcar or Getaround. Many larger apartment complexes have Zipcars onsite, and I see Zipcar and Getaround spots in neighborhoods around the city. When I first moved to the city, sans car, I used City CarShare (since merged with Getaround) to book a car for weekend trips out of the city.
Some of my favorite hikes are in the North Bay and along the coast on the Peninsula. There’s no easy way there via public transportation. Muni will get you around the city fine for urban hikes (of which there are many in SF). BART and Caltrain aren’t good options because they’ll drop you off at stations that are in or near the hustle and bustle of the urban Bay Area.
Zipcar is virtually impossible to book for day-long weekend trips unless you plan very far in advance or are willing to travel some distance just to pick up / drop off the car.
This is my concern with zipcar. If it worked in theory and there was a car ready to go whenever I felt like it, it’d be different…but I’ve heard thats not the case.
Getaround is way easier for all-day trips. I never have a problem finding a car within a few blocks available for the day, and it’s usually ~$80-90 for the day
I just use Getaround or turo for these situations and it’s great.
We used to use ZipCar all the time but got tired of stuff like not being able to extend it when we were running late or alternatively the car not being there when we reserved it. Bought a car and now we drive all the time which I admit is not great.